Where Did All the Hollywood Assistants Go?
While Hollywood’s strikes last year yielded certain protections for writers and actors, many other workers say they’re now seeing a higher barrier to entry level jobs on the other side of it.
Across the industry, organizers say they’re hearing of multiple assistant-level jobs being cut and of increasing requirements to get those starting jobs, while the pay remains low amid a rising cost of living.
“You essentially have to be overqualified in order to get this entry-level job,” says Alex Rubin, co-leader of Pay Up Hollywood, a grassroots movement that advocates for fair pay and safe workplaces for support staff. Rubin notes that even pre-strike, when she was seeking to make a career change, she applied to more than 100 jobs and feels she was only able to get a job as a showrunner’s assistant in January 2022 because she had experience working in different industries in New York. “I was often told that it’s harder to get your assistant job than it is to get your first writing job,” Rubin adds.
Assistant job consolidation cannot be solely attributed to the strikes themselves, but rather the moves made by major entertainment companies during it and after, including layoffs, other costcutting measures and consolation within studios, projects being shelved and a greater focus from Wall Street on making streaming profitable.
“This is not a business that sustains itself. This is not a business that is supposed to be for the workers,” adds TV writer and producer Liz Alper, co-lead of Pay Up Hollywood. “This is a business that is solely being transformed to maximize profits for board members, CEOs, everybody who’s at the top, while also telling people, ‘You just don’t have enough experience.’”
Even in this environment, working in a mailroom — titans from Michael Ovitz to David Geffen once started out there — is viewed as a valuable entry point to the industry.
One former mailroom clerk at a major talent agency notes to The Hollywood Reporter that while they were at the job, they would receive about five LinkedIn inquiries a day asking for tips on how to get the position. This person, who asked to remain anonymous, made it into the job thanks to an agency connection.
Once in the mailroom, the tasks do include dealing with mail and shipping packages, as well as moving furniture for events (while in business attire, the former clerk notes), wrapping gifts for clients — after going through an intensive gift-wrapping training — as well as directing calls to agents’ assistants. “I think when you’re at a job like this, you realize it’s an investment in your career, and at the same time, you’ve just got to be smart financially,” a current clerk at a major talent agency says.
The former mailroom clerk adds: “I personally couldn’t fathom the idea of staying in the mailroom for two years and then getting a desk and having the salary be the same minimum wage, but people who really wanted to become agents, it was worth it to them.”
Working in the mailroom also means learning about all different kinds of industries across the agency departments and getting to network with agents and others within the mailroom, with the hope of finding their next place in the industry. “I want to see what I’m best at, and what I’m most passionate about. So once I figure that out, then I’ll know where I want to be,” says one current clerk. “I think when you’re at a job like this, you realize it’s an investment in your career, and at the same time, you’ve just got to be smart financially.”
This story first appeared in the Oct. 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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