What image comes to mind when you hear “celebrity personal assistant”? Someone basking in the reflected limelight as they stroll down the awards ceremony red carpet alongside George Clooney or Jennifer Aniston? Or maybe a tortured minion working for the famous and real-life version of Miranda Priestly (”The Devil” in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA)?

YII caught up with Kimberly McFarland, Vice President and Board Member of the Association of Celebrity Personal Assistants, to find out the real story about the job and get the scoop on their ultra-cool professional organization.

YII: Thanks for agreeing to talk to us. We’d like to start out with some questions about being a personal assistant. As someone who has known many, many personal assistants, in addition to having been one yourself, you’re in a unique position to lend some insight to those on the outside. 

YII: What are the qualities that make a great personal assistant?  The number one quality is loyalty. Also, dedication. And you have to be able to think of things for your boss or your client before they would even think of them. Possess the willingness to go above and beyond, to be a go-getter and not take no for an answer. Last but not least, you must have a memory like an elephant…it is imperative in this industry.

A lot of things you are going to do are extremely challenging. Often, I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I know I’ll soon figure it out. Lastly, you must always have a hospitable mindset because you are taking care of your client or your boss and you must always remember you are working for a person, not a company.

YII: Conversely, what sorts of people don’t end up being very fulfilled and successful in the field?  If you’re in it for your own professional gain, for example, just trying to get contacts or run into the right person to help you, you’re not going to be successful because you’ll always be thinking about yourself and not the well-being of your boss, which should be your primary focus.

What is the most satisfying part of being a CPA as a career path?  Supporting and helping others in their personal lives and careers, helping them achieve their goals and aspirations. Even though you are in the background, you do share in their successes and that’s extremely fulfilling!

What is the most challenging thing about being a CPA?  The pressure of being so meticulous in all that you do in an effort not to make errors. And the thought of disappointing your boss or client. You should always go over everything with a fine-tooth comb to make sure everything is perfect. After you’ve been in the business a while, it gets easier, but you always want to anticipate potential hazards and fix them. You also have to think for everyone else working with your boss or client and help them avoid hazards as well.

What was the inspiration for starting the Association of Celebrity Personal Assistants?  The association was founded in 1992 by Jonathan Holiff. He saw a need for people to get together to network and help each other. Because of the nature of the job and the confidentiality involved, it’s not easy for people in these positions to get support and trade resources.

How many members did it originally have and how many does it currently have?  It stared in his living room with just a few members and now is over 150.

What is the criteria for membership?  In order to become a member, you have to have worked as a full-time celebrity personal assistant for at least a year. In terms of celebrities, it can be a high-profile dignitary, politician, businessman… a celebrity in their own field.

Applicants submit a letter of reference on official letterhead by a superior (who also works with the celebrity) usually a business manager- a bio and press coverage of them, as well as three other business references. And, of course, a copy of their resume and signed non-disclosure agreement.

The membership fee is $150/year for LA-area residents and $75/year for those a 75 mile radius of Los Angeles.

What does membership involve? I assume monthly meetings- what happens there?   We have monthly meetings with speakers who provide professional development to the attendees, such as experts on fashion or career coaches. We also have charities come and do presentations, in case our members or their employers are looking for an opportunity to work with a charity. It’s also our way of giving back. We meet at venues that are helpful to us in our jobs so that we can recommend to our boss or client, to out-of-town members or to others from our sister organizations when they come to Los Angeles.

Other membership features are job bank access, a membership directory, and an email request system ( if members need resources quickly). Also, we do a wage survey about our industry and offer a best-of-the-best service directory and a message board within our association website.

What is the biggest misconception people have about being a celebrity personal assistant?  The biggest misconception is that it’s a glamorous and fun job. It’s not always fun. It’s work! We do the work no one else wants to do or no one else can do. There are some perks, but it’s extremely challenging because you are responsible for running someone else’s life.

Also, people think that being a personal assistant is low-level, gopher work. The reality is that it’s not just getting someone coffee or doing each step as it’s fed to you. The job is a series of puzzles and you have to figure out every piece quickly with little or no direction.

What is the best way for someone who wants to be a personal assistant to break in?   I fell into it by default. I was in a database for a headhunter as an executive assistant and she told me she was looking for someone for a position she had to fill. It wasn’t until I tested and she looked at my results that she told me what the job was. I got the job five years ago.

To anyone who wants to be a CPA, I would suggest networking and seeking out work for entertainment companies, working with an agency or management company, for instance, or seeking out a position though a headhunter. I think just general experience as an executive assistant would give you the basic skills you need to do this job.

YII would like to thank Kimberly for taking the time to talk to us. For more information on the career path and on joining the organization, visit the website for Association of Celebrity Personal Assistants.

The woman behind the “Ali on the Air” blog, Ali MacLean, is an award-winning writer, actor, filmmaker and on-air radio personality. A classically-trained actress, she has a degree from Miami University of Ohio, and studied at the La Jolla Playhouse under Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff and then at the Groundlings Theatre, in their famous improv training program, under “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow.

Her professional career has included stand-up comedy, TV hosting and VJing, acting, and writing for television, web, print, and film, including her own comedy shorts which have made the festival rounds, some winning awards. She was a DJ back when DJ was a term for someone on a radio station playing music and talking and is now an on-air personality (see DJ for definition).

We wanted to find out what inspired this creative Jill-of-all-trades to put her distinctive voice and point-of-view on the web for everyone to enjoy and how it’s been going so far.

When and why did you start the “Ali on the Air” blog? I started Ali On The Air when I was on air at Little Radio and at Music Plus TV. I needed an AIM Chat for when I was on the air and taking questions from listeners and so one day I made an aim chat profile called Ali On The Air to differentiate from my private chat moniker. I started getting a lot of followers and the name stuck.

Meanwhile, I was blogging on Myspace and Facebook about behind-the-scenes of my life, interviewing these bands and going to festivals and movie premieres, art openings and fashion events. My friend Kyra Reed, who is a social media expert, suggested I move it to Wordpress and get official about it.

People found my behind the scenes stuff interesting and I think liked the way that I didn’t pull punches. If I saw someone acting like a diva or being obnoxious, I called them out on it and named names. If I thought a movie was crap or a party was a waste of time, I said so. Everyone that makes money in the entertainment industry is incredibly fortunate. There is no room for throwing your weight around and I also have little patience for half-assed and half-baked ideas being presented as gold. I’m not afraid to say so.

What is your favorite thing about writing your blog? I love that it’s mine and I have the freedom to cover what I want, when I want and I can say what I want. When I’m hired out for another magazine, it’s expected that I will turn in a specific piece. Although at this point, I think people know my personality. I have a wry sense of humor so that is going to sneak into even the most straightforward interview.

With my blog I can be as funny, insightful, wistful, silly, tenacious or snarky as I want to. It’s my beautiful beast of a blog. That being said, I take great care in my pieces. I do video when I have the resources. I don’t blog every day. I only write about things that I feel passionately about or that lights a fire under my ass to go out and cover.

What’s the best reaction you’ve ever had? People loved my piece on laptops and hipsters being a possible downfall of DJing and turntablism. That led the way for a silly short film I made called “DJ Intervention” which took off and was on the front page of Funny Or Die. So a blog rant went all the way to Will Ferrell’s website home page.

I also got a great response from my piece about how much I hated “Jersey Shore.” That piece got thousands and thousands of hits and eventually got me a gig writing comedy for Huffington Post.

What’s the most surprising reaction? Most recently, the “Jersey Shore” piece. If so many people hate it as much as I do, then how is it still on the air? C’mon people. Turn it off.

In addition to writing her Ali on the Air blog, Ali has recently shot several pilots and has been writing for the Huffington Post and several other publications. She also has a new web series on Comedy Time and is shooting a pilot for My Damn Channel this summer.

We here at YII HQ have been fans of “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross for many years. But it was a special treat to find the iPod loaded up with an interview of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong.

The description provided indicated that they would talk about the award-winning album, “American Idiot”’s transformation into a Broadway musical, which they did, but Terry Gross trained her anthropologist’s mindset on the process of becoming (and enduring as) a band, touring, performing, songwriting, and so much more.

For those who are fans of Green Day, aspiring rock stars, or just people who are particularly interested in the creative process, this is not to be missed. So check out this interview of Billie Joe on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” If you like it, consider supporting your local NPR station that carries “Fresh Air” (assuming you are lucky enough to have one).

Robert Schwartz is a veteran film producer with experience in both studio and independent features. Your Industry Insider profiled him for our “Inside Scoop” series last year, which focused on his path to producing and subsequent successes, but we wanted to check in with him about his consulting business, and his efforts to help others get their films made.

What made you create Seismic Scripts? I created Seismic Scripts to direct the flow of material and projects that came into our office, and ultimately help filmmakers chart a proactive direction for getting their movies made. On a regular basis, I would spend considerable time reading, then discussing the numerous aspects of a script, but then it would quickly crossover into legal, casting, festival circuits, distribution, etc.  I realized there was a substantial need for “producer’s coverage” to analyze their projects and assist them in all these areas.

There are a lot of script reading services that provide story feedback. How does Seismic take a more holistic approach to the script review process? Seismic Scripts is really not just a script reading or coverage service, though that element is an integral part of my process, as without a solid screenplay it all stops there.  I help writers, directors and producers improve their entire package (along with the screenplay itself) before submitting it in Hollywood, or to private investors. Alongside the creative story analysis, I also assess a project’s viability in the marketplace on a financial and strategic basis, and I help zone in on the elements that will drive the project towards production. In the end of the day, it’s really what I do as a working producer when I pull together a project I’ve decided to make inside our company. 

Who are your clients? Most of my clients are a mix of writers and writer-directors that are at various stages of development with a project, and occasionally that will include producers and investors as well. Many writers will use my services to look at the execution and commercial viability of their project, and explore how to best put it all together and focus their effort. Lately, I have worked with several teams (writer, director, and producer) that are financed, but in need of how the entire project should be viewed and structured, then put into motion to create the most commercial movie.

Explain the typical process of working with you. The process is fairly simple and starts with the writer.  In most cases, I first read the material and put together a 2-3 page summary overview of the project that speaks to a multiple of areas including story coverage, creative direction, financial, and strategic issues. The next part of the process varies greatly from project to project depending on the level of development of the initial material, and what the needs are. Sometimes, I will do a more in-depth story analysis or will reevaluate the material after the next draft of the screenplay. I am available to the project on various levels of involvement (see the Seismic website for details) from this stage forward, and on one occasion, I’ve consulted with a group all the way through their process of making and selling the film. It really depends on who is involved, but my focus is on all the elements with the script at the center.

What is the best thing about what you do through Seismic? I really do get a kick out of helping people realize their dreams, and after 30+ years in this business, I understand how complex the path can be between “having a good idea” or even a great script, and figuring out the smartest way to actually get it made. I really enjoy the process as a producer and sometimes it’s just helping people see what they have, and what they don’t, to begin fitting it all together. I am honest with people and that usually helps move the project forward if they have been relying on their friends for feedback and advice.

Are you still actively producing your own projects while doing your work through Seismic? And if so, can you share a little about what you’ve got in the works? I suspect I will be engaged in making my own pictures for a long time to come, as I really enjoy the process. My company, Seismic Pictures, is focused on studio-driven material and so the projects tend to be larger in scope. We are adapting the science fiction novel, “Mockingbird” at the moment, and completing a final draft on a fairly big war-based action film. Beyond that, we are always on the search…

To find out more information, go to the Seismic Scripts website.

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