Administrative Jobs in the Entertainment Industry: Scraping Below the Glitz and Glamour to Reveal the Truth about Common Admin Jobs
By Mary Waldron
Many people jump into administrative jobs, which include secretary, assistant, and receptionist jobs, in the entertainment industry because they seem glamorous, but these jobs are very demanding and offer few benefits aside from valuable experience and networking opportunities. Entry-level assistants in entertainment admin start out with low pay and poor hours. Executive assistants can make six figures per year, but they must be quick on their feet and dedicated to their bosses. Personal assistants enjoy more flexibility, but they make up for it, with many handling both the personal and professional needs of their bosses.
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Unless your uncle is the head of DreamWorks or some other multimillion-dollar operation in Hollywood, you have to do things the old-fashioned way to get your foot in the door, and administrative jobs are basically all you have to choose from.
Ah, a job in the entertainment industry. Rubbing elbows with celebrities. The glitz. The glamour.
Hold on! Stop.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to work in the Los Angeles film and television industry. So I did. But, it’s not that simple. You have to start at the bottom — and I mean rock bottom.
Unless your uncle is the head of DreamWorks or some other multimillion-dollar operation in Hollywood, you have to do things the old-fashioned way to get your foot in the door, and administrative jobs are basically all you have to choose from.
Read on to find out about some of the entertainment industry’s most common admin jobs and to learn if you should seek them or shun them.
Entry-Level Assistant Admin Jobs Are Good for Admin Job Experience, but They Require a Lot of Hard Work for Little Pay and Long Hours.
I would say that about 80% of the jobs you come into contact with in the entertainment admin sector will fall into this category. This type of admin job is an investment. You’re not going to love the job for the pay or the hours.
If you’re looking at this job, you’re probably one of two types: the wannabe director, manager, producer, and/or talent agent, or you’re looking for an admin job with some exciting subject matter and room to grow into a higher level assistant.
Everyone in entertainment knows it’s an industry where you have to slave to advance for rewards later. It’s standard for any wannabe entertainment big shot to work at the bottom of the admin barrel for at least two years before they move on to better things. And even then, it’s not that great. Some agencies will call the staff in these admin jobs “talent agent trainees.”
Others who dare to jump into an entry-level assistant job are yearning for admin experience. For most executive assistant positions, employers require at least a few years of experience. This is a job where you get that experience.
Besides getting to talk to big-time celebs, the pros of this job are few. For some of these jobs, you have to have a bachelor’s degree. The hours are usually 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and no, that’s not including your hour-and-a-half L.A. commute. The pay is really low — I’d say approximately $25,000 per year with healthcare benefits. If you’re living in Los Angeles, this will not be enough to live on so make a friend and crash on his or her couch. I’m not kidding — I know people who have done that.
Executive Assistant Admin Jobs Offer Strong Admin Professionals Great Salary Opportunities, but These Admin Professionals Must Be Superstar Assistants.
Now life gets a little easier with an executive assistant job. Well, at least the pay does. If you land a job as an executive assistant to someone very big in entertainment, you can take home up to six figures per year. To do this, however, you need a huge requirement of experience and skill.
An executive assistant should be the god of all assistants. You should have anywhere from two to 10 years of experience, depending on who the employer is.
This person does many of the same assistant duties as other admin professionals, but there is no room for flaws so you should be extremely organized, have a superb memory, and be a fast typist. You’ll be expected to make results happen almost on the spot. This job is great for the pay, and sometimes the hours if your boss is cool, but you have to be an admin master.
Personal Assistant Admin Jobs Are More Flexible Admin Jobs, but They Can Demand Odd Hours and Tasks.
This job is probably the most desirable of all the entertainment admin jobs I know of. It’s not really an office job — but it has variety.
Usually high-profile actors, managers, producers, and the like will hire people to basically help them manage their lives. This means the job essentially entails a balancing act between your boss’s personal and professional lives.
A day in the life of a personal assistant can include walking the dogs, dropping off the kids, preparing a spreadsheet for your boss’s meeting, and organizing your boss’s email. The list can go on, and anything and everything goes. This job’s hours can be reasonable and flexible, but don’t be surprised if you start getting calls on the weekend or late at night from your boss. If you don’t like someone telling you what to do all day every day, you might want to look into another sector of the admin industry.
The upside of being at your boss’s every beck and call is the pay and the perks. A personal assistant can also make six figures, and this doesn’t include the networking opportunities (meeting and getting to know all your boss’s high-power friends and business affiliates) and extra gifts you may attain. Many bosses rely on their personal assistants for a lot, and they become close with them. The perks can include shopping trips, tickets to concerts, and all-access passes to entertainment events.
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