- A Post PA's day changes significantly depending on the phase of the project
- Dailies always take priority over other tasks
- In TV, dailies and cuts overlap as multiple episodes are in progress simultaneously
- Flexibility and organization are the most important traits of a good Post PA
One of the exciting elements of post-production is that your typical day will change as the production moves through different stages. Below are examples of typical days during major phases of the project.
During Dailies
A typical day might start with organizing the digital dailies paperwork that comes in from the production office. This paperwork will need to be checked against the processed dailies footage that the dailies facility has sent to editorial. Verifying takes against the paperwork is a key element of ensuring all the material shot during the previous day is accounted for.
After paperwork has been checked and takes have been verified, the Post PA, along with other post team members, may do a QC pass of that day’s dailies. This involves watching the dailies on whatever file sharing program the show is using (PIX, Frame.io, etc.) and ensuring everything plays properly.
Once everything has been checked, the dailies will be released to the pre-determined distributions and recipients.
After dailies have been released, the Post PA may be searching for stock footage, getting lunch, shuttling hard drives, filing paperwork, and assisting the post or editorial teams with anything that might come up.
During Cuts
As the Editors begin assembling their cuts for distribution, requests for music, stock, graphics, and other creative items ramp up. The Post PA will assist post and editorial in sourcing anything the team needs. Dailies may or may not still be coming in. Dailies always need to go out first.
In TV, dailies and cuts overlap as you are working on multiple episodes at the same time. While production shoots the next episode, editors are working on cuts of the previous episodes.
The Editors will work on their cut during the day. After their work is done, they’ll turn the cut over to the Assistant Editor, and then hand it over to post for distribution. The Post PA will be on hand to aid in any way.
During the cuts phase, the workday can be longer to accommodate evening and late night cut distribution. Cuts are QC’d by the post team and then distributed.
During Finishing
Daily tasks during finishing may vary between TV and Features. In TV, production might be shooting later episodes while post delivers the earlier episodes. Feature dailies will have stopped by this point, unless the project is doing reshoots or pickups. Tasks will be split based on priority.
At this phase, the post team could be spread out at different facilities. Editors working in editorial, the Post Producer on the mix stage, the Post Supervisor and Post Coordinator doing VFX drop-ins at the finishing facility, etc. The PA will be where they are needed most, whether with the creatives or other editorial or post team members. And often moving from place to place. The days get busier as the project gets closer to delivery.
As you can see from any of the example days above, flexibility and organization are key characteristics of a good Post PA. What makes the job complicated also makes it exciting!