Reel Big Fangirl: PA’ing a music video

This weekend in Los Angeles was Bamboozle Left, a punk/pop punk/some ska music festival. And I am a ska fanatic! I only went Saturday, because I have a stand up comedy workshop on Sundays, but whatever, because I got to see my favorite band play, Reel Big Fish. Never heard of them? How dare you! Immediately go to their myspace page and listen to their songs: http://www.myspace.com/reelbigfish. They’re funny and have great banter and their music is awesome and peppy and they are really great guys and just ack! I love everything about them, can you tell?

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is because 2 years ago, I got the chance to PA on one of their music videos, a lil’ ditty called “Don’t Start A Band”. The concept of the video was all the bad clichés that happen to you in the early years of a band: your tour van breaking down, playing on the street for change, playing in smoky bars where no one cares, and practicing in the garage. It was an ultra low budget video, which I actually like to work on more because you have a lot more to do and aren’t just sitting around watching doors and getting coffee.

I ended up working as an unofficial assistant art director and for the second day of the shoot, so I got to bring any crazy props I had to fill out the garage space… and I own a lot of crazy stuff. Seriously, my apartment looks like a prop shop that only specializes in weird, totally random, useless stuff. So, if you look closely in the garage scene, there is a glass turkey, a gold Abe Lincoln bust and a bright green wig head (I lovingly call her Long-Neck-Green-Face) scattered on the back wall.

There is also a mannequin in that scene that belongs to me too… her name is Roxanne, but because Matt Wong, their bass player, was in Hawaii for his sister’s wedding, we dressed her up like him, Gaff tape facial hair and all! (**Nerdy Reel Big Fish fact: Their last video, for “Where Have You Been” had mannequins in it, and they hated the whole experience, so having Roxanne in this one was their way of saying eff you to that director. Sooo lame that I know that, but whatever.**)

I didn’t get paid for the gig, but I didn’t care. I got to give something back to a band that I have loved for YEARS… they were my first concert ever back in 1998. And besides, when else do you get to hang out with 6 of your favorite people and do the job you love at the same time?? There are definitely other perks to this job besides the lavish paychecks (HA!). Because of that video, now I’m buddies with a few of the guys, and all I have to do is shoot them a text when I’m coming to a show and I’m in for free, chilling on the tour bus. Last year I took most of them around to the different Smithsonians in Washington DC before a show later that night.

And the video led to more gigs, too. The director of “Don’t Start A Band”, (Jonathan London, check out his podcast, Geekscape, for all your video game, comic book, movie news) got hired to direct their Live DVD too, the third disc on “Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album”. Guess who got called in to PA?? And by PA, this time I meant hang out. But I’ve still got a credit listed on the DVD, and it’s my most cherished one yet:

Brandie Posey … Production Assistant (And Really Awesome Person)