"When I first started, I felt terrified to ask questions. I was fully qualified for my job, but I still had this feeling inside of me that I didn’t quite know what I was doing. Since then, I've learned to talk to Charlotte and ask, 'Okay, what absolutely needs to happen, and what can get pushed until later?'"
As a first assistant, how do you manage your time and prioritize tasks?
When I first started, I felt terrified to ask questions. I was fully qualified for my job, but I still had this feeling inside of me that I didn’t quite know what I was doing. Since then, I've learned to talk to Charlotte and ask, “Okay, what absolutely needs to happen, and what can get pushed until later?”
We keep a list of all the current jobs that we have and I update it every day on the status of where each job is at. I also keep two other lists, one for the things I need to be doing immediately, and the second for all the side tasks that are not as important. Once I get a free minute or two, I can work on those side tasks for a little bit, then go back to the more important things.
I feel like that's almost easier said than done though, no?
Yes, completely. I work on it every day and sometimes I'm better at it than others. But still, some things always slip through the cracks. We also have Charlotte’s agency, Mini Title, helping us. So if I can't do something I'll ask, “Hey guys, can you help me out with this?” We also work closely with the same post-production houses most of the time, so they’ll also email me asking, “Hey, I haven't heard back from you about this email.” And I’m like, “Oh whoops. Still, have to do that.” Being a team player and having good support networks is key -- we all need to work together.
On top of being Charlotte’s assistant, how do you also find time to focus on your own work?
I haven't been as good at that as I should have been over the last two years. Working full-time with a photographer that travels a lot, sometimes we find out if we're traveling only two or three days in advance. It’ll be like “Ok, pack your bags time to go.” So I've had to cancel some shoots due to that, and I’ve also gotten a little scared of planning shoots. So any shoots that I’ve done for myself, have been pretty last minute and just with friends.
So, that’s been quite difficult, but one thing that I always keep doing for myself is image research. On my own time, I'm always looking at content that I like, and saving those images and separating them into certain folders. So I try to keep my mind creative and aspirational about the projects that I want to be doing.
12.04.2018
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