<p>Mother of a junior here; I haven’t posted much over the years (started lurking when my daughter was a sophomore in HS) but am delighted to see all the names I recognize. My daughter’s ride has been a roller-coaster; started out as a music (vocal) major but with the intention of exploring film/television also. She started college with the intent of eventually becoming a first assistant director in film. She quickly discovered that music was a huge time commitment in and of itself (leaving little time for working at the campus television station) and also realized that the music coursework (e.g. theory, ear training) was too drill-and-regurgitate for her taste. But with a HUGE music scholarship and a great love of music, she was reluctant to walk away from her music major. Her advisor, the music department chair, suggested she write an individualized BA proposal, and he guaranteed her that if her BA included music she could keep her scholarship. By the end of first quarter her sophomore year, her proposal was approved, so she will be completing a BA in Global Music and Cultural Relations…think cultural anthropology with a music focus.</p>
<p>On her own, she started reading a lot of feminist theory, and by the beginning of this year was leaning towards grad school in Women’s/Gender Studies. She will be taking her GREs in June, but after a horrific winter quarter healthwise (her RA came out of remission), she is having second thoughts about the wisdom of throwing herself into the grad school grinder. She will still be applying to a few programs but is also going to be looking very seriously at non-profit type positions in major metropolitan areas.</p>
<p>I don’t see the light at then end of the tunnel for her yet, but my daughter has always been highly internally-motivated, so I’m not losing a lot of sleep. She’s working diligently on her senior honors thesis (something about women’s solidarity as expressed by female hip-hop artists), and this week submitted a proposal to the music department to produce a spring 2010 concert for the whole department, featuring women composers and multicultural music. There’s also talk about designating her as student director of next year’s opera, a position they’ve never had before. So while her path may be zig-zagging for awhile yet, I have no doubt she’ll find a way to take her “eclectic” experiences and weave them into something remarkable.</p>
<p>mezzomom - How great to get that update. I remember so well when the First Assistant Director quest showed up. Up until that time, I had no idea that it was a specific management job and a career of its own. I thought it was just a director’s assistant, but I was far from the mark. (For those who do not know, if you think of the director as the CEO of the production, the 1st AD is the COO - Chief Operating Officer, managing the total operations of the production.) </p>
<p>Wow, all us oldtimers, Hi Marite and Digmedia.
DD graduates from Dartmouth this June, law school is in the future, she is still looking for something for next year, there are some prospects, but it is tough out there. Dart was great, many opportunities for growth. Also defended her honors thesis this week.</p>
<p>Dig, it’s good to see you again too! I’ve been following your son’s film experience over the years and am thrilled for his opportunities and successes.</p>
<p>My daughter’s first AD dream hasn’t completely died (even with the recognition that she’d be lucky to start as a PA or a second second AD), as her love of organizing, coordinating, and directing events is still very much a part of her DNA. She’s still in touch with the Hollywood folks she met while in high school, and they have kept her resume on hand in the event there’s an opportunity that doesn’t conflict with her class schedule (so far that hasn’t happened…the one summer project she was hired for fell through at the last minute.) </p>
<p>I suspect if she could find an opportunity in documentary film, she’d jump at the chance, but her “network” is pretty much confined to directors, DPs and actors who are involved in television and movies. That sounds like an awesome network to just about anybody EXCEPT my daughter, who is less-than-enthralled with the “Hollywood scene.” But if she opts to delay grad school and jobs are not forthcoming, she may have to consider those contacts in spite of herself. Not the worst position to be in, but my daughter rarely hears the same drumbeat as anyone else!</p>
<p>mezzomom, my sister was an AD years and years ago. She started with a part-time job as a college student as a set guard–one of those people who keeps people from walking onto the set while the cameras are rolling. (She went to college at UC-Northridge.) From there she got into an “AD training program.” I don’t remember how long she was an AD trainee, but it was years, not months. She was paid while doing that so I just considered it a regular job. At some point, she became a 2nd 2nd, etc. I don’t think she ever worked as a 1st AD. She only worked TV or made for TV movies. My favorite was her three year gig on Magnum PI in Hawaii. Anyway, the job was too stressful for her taste and she became a “studio welfare teacher” until she retired a couple of years ago. </p>
<p>The teacher job works with the kids on the set to make sure the child labor laws are enforced in terms of time on camera, breaks, and required amount of time on schoolwork (usually 2 hours). It’s pretty easy because the child also has to have a guardian on the set at all times and these kids tend to be extremely smart and self-disciplined to make it as an actor. The studio teacher is not actually in charge of assigning work since these kids bounce from set to set (commercials, movies, guest appearances, etc.). They have either a public school, private school, or home school teacher who manages their overall education. The studio teacher is like the supervisor in a study hall so there isn’t much actual teaching involved. It is primarily a child advocate position–need to be able to yank that child from the set when time is up kind of thing. Anyway, it’s a union job so the trick there is to get enough hours to make it into the union and then you are set. </p>
<p>Just some ideas for people out there looking for this type of work.</p>
<p>TheAnalyst, I’m impressed…acceptance into the AD training program makes getting into Harvard look like a cakewalk! The level of stress in the AD world is one of the reasons my daughter has backed away from her original plan; she tends to thrive in those sorts of situations, but over the long haul, it would likely exacerbate her chronic illness. Although if someone could guarantee her that she’d live in Hawaii for three years and work with Tom Selleck, she might reconsider…oh wait, that’s my dream job!</p>
<p>Like a lot of jobs, it comes down to relationships and connections. All those years of working on the sets in menial positions while a student gave her a bunch of contacts. That was critically important for the studio welfare work as well. The parents can request who they want, other teachers call the substitute they want, the AD will black ball teachers they don’t like, etc. </p>
<p>Working with young kids and working with actors requires a pretty similar skill set from what I can tell. The adults (actors and directors) throw more tantrums than the kids. Whenever I would go out to visit, I hung out on the sets with her. Pretty interesting environment.</p>
<p>I have a child who’s a junior in college now. I am glad to see the updates from names that are familar.</p>
<p>My S is a junior majoring in material science engineering. He’s done very well at his school and is in two honor societies and has a major leadership position in another activity. We have been very suprised as he was a “late bloomer” and graduated only in the top 40% of his HS class but has really come into his own in college.</p>
<p>He has decided to take a 12 month co-op in his field and delay graduation for a year. At first we were sad that he wanted to do this as he is forgoing a couple of leadership positions at his school and won’t be graduating with his class. Now he looks like he made a great decision with this economy. He’s hoping that by delaying graduation the economy will be improving and that by the experience he is gaining that he will find a job in his field. He’s pretty excitied and the best part is that he’ll be coming home for a while before his co-op so we’ll be able to spend some time with him.</p>
<p>People from 2005 won’t recognize me because I only started posting when my younger D was a HS senior, but this thread made me think about the strides S has made over the past 4 years. He is graduating with an International Studies degree (emphasis in Asia/Pacific and Conflict/Security) and applying to spend a year or two in an Asian country as an ESL teacher to have an experience living abroad to determine if he wants to look abroad or domestically for a future path. Entered college with an international studies interest, had a 2-semester flirtation with psychology, then returned to IS. I have no idea where the conflict and security interest came from except it may be that he enjoyed those courses because he is a very talented strategic thinker. I guess the biggest change may not be in him but that we now see him maturing into strengths we didn’t recognize when he was younger. He is still a Type B person who seemed to glide his way through his reach school and pull a 3.4 without visible effort, but he is doing a good job on making responsible financial decisions and following through on complex application processes on his own, and showing remarkable self-awareness as he continues to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life.</p>
<p>cangel, dig, analyst…all so interesting…my eldest graduating from Duke was waitlisted at Dartmouth…so I like hearing how the four years were great there for your daughter, and second son has some notions about film industry work…all eye-opening to read about your children…who seem to all be both “thinkers” and “doers”</p>
<p>It’s great fun to see our kids growing into fascinating young adults & develop interests we had no idea they would follow. Glad to hear that everyone’s kids seems to be finding a good path.</p>