Tony the Production Assistant

We Are Movie Geeks welcomes guest blogger Tony Fernandez, a production assistant taking us inside the underworld of indie filmmaking.

I work as a production assistant for the directing duo McFarland and Pecci at Killswitch Productions. I’ve hung out with metal bands, covered naked women in blood, fired machine guns, been tasked with purchasing unflattering parts of animals, and have spent many nights curled up on a bathroom floor.

Every week I will be sharing stories, giving insight to what it’s like to work for McFarland and Pecci during the production of independent films and music videos.

A year ago I was searching through Craigslist and came across a posting looking for a photographer’s assistant; I responded and was soon contacted back and instructed to meet the photographer at his house. I arrived and saw a note written on the front door that read: “Around back, through basement.”

In the frame of the basement door stood a dark haired man with a full beard. I extended my arm, reaching for a handshake. The man grabbed my hand and with a firm shake said, “I’m Mike Pecci, come on in.”

Mr. Pecci brought me inside and described to me what I would be doing; help him light for an experimental short film, Capture Device. Mr. Pecci met the star of the short film through Suicide Girls, for whom he has done numerous high-concept photo shoots. She was, of course, naked for the first half of our shoot. This was my first experience working with a naked woman.

Mr. Pecci told me he was going to shoot a plate of the background, shoot the girl naked on one side of the frame, and then have her dress as another character and shoot her on the other side of the frame, and then put it together into one single shot. None of this made sense to me at the time. I didn’t learn a single thing that day; I was too distracted by breasts.

I went home that night thinking I would never hear from Mr. Pecci again, why would he want some know-nothing kid who stares at naked models to work for him ever again?

He called me the next morning. He told me that he needed a Production Assistant for a music video he was shooting. I agreed. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.

I showed up on set just before 6 am and met the crew. I told them that I was the Production Assistant and that Mr. Pecci told me to be there, the crew just laughed and put me to work. Three hours later I had loaded in all of the gear, and had started to set up the shoot with the other crew members. It was this day that I learned that being a Production Assistant means I am everybody’s bitch.

I was so nervous being on set. At one point I was instructed to move a ladder that was leaning up against a 20’ x 40’ green screen, I grabbed the ladder without being careful and almost tore a hole. Luckily no one saw.

The day was long, twelve hours of being nervous and not knowing what I was doing. I tried to be as helpful as I could and was constantly asking if I was needed for something. I never got a chance to talk to Mr. Pecci, he was pacing back and forth all day, stressed out of his mind.

I didn’t speak to Mr. McFarland on set. He intimidated the hell out of me. He’s a mammoth of a man, well over six feet tall, red hair, tattooed, and plays bass in the hardcore punk band Blood for Blood. He also seemed to be as stressed as Mr. Pecci. The two of them looked sleep deprived and anxious to finish the video. I’ll never forget the look of relief on their faces when the video was finished after a second twelve hour day of shooting.

Afterward, the cast and crew met up at a local bar for some drinks. After an entire day of avoiding McFarland and Pecci, I wanted to show my appreciation for having me on set. I gathered up the courage and approached the two of them, locked eye contact with Mr. Pecci, reached for a handshake and said, “Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.”

Mr. Pecci shook my hand, looked to his creative partner and said,” Ian, this is Tony.”

Mr. McFarland looked at me, grabbed my hand and gave it a giant shake, “Thanks for coming, Mike told me about you.” he said with warmth.

“Would you be interested in helping us out with some other stuff?” asked Mike.

I nearly pissed myself.

Next week I’ll talk about flying cross-country, using an experimental camera rig with the new Nikon D7000, shooting machine guns in the desert, and Mr. McFarland getting car sick.