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City Holds 'Bootcamp' Training For Jobs In Film And TV Production

Kate Richardson
/
WWNO
Bootcamp participants wire themselves for walkie-talkie training.

Since 2002 Louisiana has provided incentives for the film and TV industry. Under the program, the state reimburses 30 percent of production expenses in the form of tax credits.

The city of New Orleans and surrounding parishes run workforce training sessions called Production Assistant Bootcamps. These help ensure that locals get jobs in the entertainment industry. This year's bootcamp took place at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center. 

It's sweltering on the sidewalk outside of the Ashé Cultural Arts Center. The would-be Production Assistants spread out across a block of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard as instructors drill them via walkie-talkies on production call sheets.

Darcy McKinnon is Executive director of the New Orleans Video Access Center, or NOVAC.

"Right after Hurricane Katrina NOVAC got a grant, a federal workforce recovery grant, and we were able for four years under that grant [to] start training people to be in every department in film production," she says.

"That grant twilighted in 2011, and we were able to start a relationship with both the mayor's Office of Cultural Economy and Jefferson Parish Office of the President, both of whom have seen probably the greatest amount of production in the past few years and really want to make sure that locals are getting the jobs."

The city foots the bill in hopes of reaping economic returns in the long run. 

Carroll Morton is the manager of entertainment industry development in the mayor's Office of Cultural Economy. 

"The film industry means jobs for locals, and because people have jobs working in the industry they are able to buy houses, they are able to spend money in their community, they pay taxes," she says. "And jobs in the film industry are very, very above average in terms of what they pay individuals, so it allows people to have some sort of future here in the city of New Orleans."

But before you can get to that above average wage you have to learn the basics. Things like changing out a walkie-talkie battery at lightning speed. 

PA Bootcamp is actually a company — a small operation run by three Los Angeles producers. Jody Brockway has run training sessions from Atlanta to Montana. But she says there's something special about working in Louisiana. 

"What sticks out primarily is that you have work here,” Brockway says. 

Credit Kate Richardson / WWNO
/
WWNO
Producer Jody Brockway talks to the class about production assistant duties on set.

And the numbers back that up. According to the mayor’s office, there are currently about 2,400 jobs available in the local film industry. That’s up from 286 jobs in 2002. 

Brockway says the industry is so strong in Louisiana that it's even drawing people away from the other L.A. 

"A lot of people that we know have relocated here. They've relocated here and they've found that they like living here, they like raising their families here. There's a lot of steady work. And there's a lot of feature work, which is nice," she says. 

Tevis Jones is one of five people who got into the class through the mayor's NOLA for Life program. He's already had a taste of the entertainment boom here in New Orleans. 

"I've been on Treme. I was drumming with Mardi Gras Indians," he says. 

Jones says he's eager to start off as a PA, but he's really hoping to end up on the creative end. 

"I'm interested in the art aspect, so film is just another way that I can feel that I have a part of something. That I'm doing something for a greater cause, for some type of entertainment for the world." 

Apart from the flash and drama of walkie-talkie training, PA Bootcamp covers the more mundane aspects of life on set. Things like arranging script pages for a day's shooting schedule. 

Alexandra Jones has a film degree from the University of New Orleans, but she says that PA Bootcamp has shown her what it’s really like to work in the industry. 

"It's good. It's a eye opener. They didn't teach you this at UNO. They gave you all the good and not, like, you really have to work and pay attention and be detailed and listen… it hasn't discouraged me, but it really wasn't what I expected, and I'm happy to get this information," Jones says. 

As the workshop winds down, Carroll Morton assures the group that they mayor’s office is there to help. 

"So we're going to take your list and market that to the productions," Morton says. "We're going to do what we can to get your name out there and to get people to give you a call."

It’s clear that the city is ready to take on as many productions as it can get. But it’s the state who hands out the money, and many lawmakers see the program as a money-losing subsidy rather than an investment. So the question is whether or not the state legislature will continue to renew the production incentives.

If so, Louisiana's entertainment boom could continue indefinitely. If not: that's a wrap!