Tuesday, July 8, 2008

ISO -- A message board with useful info

The online message board is a fairly new addition to the Hollywood assistant landscape. They are designed to share information, post jobs, network and get answers to questions that'r readily available (if only the people asking would look). But editorializing aside, the message boards are useful tools. One thing you will notice is people belong to more than one, so a posting on one site will be the other sites in a matter of minutes.

Here's a list of the better message boards in Hollywood and what they have to offer:

L.A. Confab -- One of the larger message boards. A great source for job postings. Also chock full of inside jokes you won't understand, self-promotion and other emails that'll waste your time.

Witty Assistants
-- A small, but emerging group. A little light on content relative to the other sites (especially scripts). Not bad with job postings. No need to worry about the dreaded "Me Too" emails -- this site is more about efficiency. They have mixers every so often and people are pretty laid back.

NextGenFemmes -- There are two truths of Catholic School: 1) if you step out of line, a Nun is gonna smack you, and 2) in return for following the rules, you get a quality product. That's what this site is like. You have to be (or at least are supposed to be) a woman to be on this board. They are frighteningly well organized and have mixers, lunches and other networking stuff. Lotsa good info -- job postings, scripts, contacts and even tax updates. You name it, they have it. But don't you dare post "BOARD ABUSE", "ME TOO" or something slightly off topic or you're bound to get a knuckle thrashing.

LAProducer -- This site focuses more on producing needs and logistics. Periodically there are job postings, but more often than not you'll run into requests for "A Self-Contained Battery/Power System " and "How to get a U.S. Work Visa for a Foreign DP." Yeah. I don't care about that either. But some of you might.

Warren Report -- This is a email report run by Florida State University film school. Periodically there are job postings, but it's basically updates on which FSU film school alums recently had a kid or which film festival an alum is showing at. Nothing too exciting here. But a nice update if you went to FSU (I didn't -- go 'Canes!).

CAA Alumni -- Remember that college fraternity where you had to be a legacy to get in. This is their message board. Want an example? They recently debated what constituted being a true "CAA Alum." They have good -- but not great -- job postings. But if you need a script or the latest Spec-Tracking chart, this is the place to go. And after all, CAA is CAA, so the connections are usually really good. Resume and verification required. Is it me, or does this movie clip come to mind?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

LAConFab is closed at 500 members.

Anonymous said...

FYI - The 'canes (and the U logo) are University of MIAMI, not FSU

Anonymous said...

this blog post just locked up witty assistants too, good job!

Anonymous said...

LAConFab has been closed long before this was posted.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info!

Anonymous said...

Temp Diaries can clearly tell the difference between the "U" and Florida State. It was a playful jab on a school they don't like. But what do I know? I only read the thing instead of jumping the gun and only paying attention to the bright colors.

That being said, Go Gators.

Anonymous said...

There is a really cool industry site this blog didn't mention. Hollywood Mixer. www.HollywoodMixer.com

Anonymous said...

That's because Hollywood Mixer sucks. It poaches all of its info from other boards and doesn't even say "poached". AND they make money off of poaching other boards with ads etc. Not only that but here is NO flow of info on it...it will go days without a single piece of info. It's a sad little board. Temp Diaries knows what its talking about by leaving it off! HA!

Anonymous said...

Boy, the person above must be real angry!lol. I'm actually a member of Hollywood Mixer and LaConfab. They are both cool. Mixer actually has a tracking group section that is really good. As a matter of fact, I know for a fact, that a lot of the info from Hollywood Mixer is taken and then posted in LAConfab without giving the Mixer credit! IT's ok, i'm a member of both sites and love them both, but LAConfab seems to be mostly assistants, whereas the tracking group on HollywoodMixer is a more legit with higher ranking execs. The person above is probably talking about the Gossis board, which is mainly a place people talk shit about other people!! lol.

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