Listen to Alex Mosley discuss her career in entertainment, from working in production design to rising through the Paramount ranks and becoming Director of Physical Production.

Alik Artinian: Hello everyone, and welcome back to Entertainment Unscripted. My name is Alik Artinian, and this is a series where we sit down with individuals in the media and entertainment industry to discuss their work and the field overall. Joining us today is someone whose career has spanned from production design, legal affairs, to major film production. She has steadily risen through the ranks at Paramount, gaining a unique behind-the-scenes perspective on how films come together. Please enjoy my chat with Alex Mosley. Welcome Alex, how are you?

Alex Mosley: I’m good, thank you. How are you?

AA: Good. How has your day been so far? I mean, I know it’s only morning but.

AM: It’s been great. It’s been very busy and very exciting, and I’m happy to be here on a Friday.

AA: Nice. I want to start with early career. How did you navigate your way into the industry after college, and what originally drew you to physical production?

AM: When I was in high school, my very first job was as a boom operator for the Directing Workshop for Women – somebody’s project on that – and so that was my first foray into it. And then, after film school, I wanted to work in the art department, and so I just started making connections with people online, people I had gone to school with, and working on small projects. I did another project for Directing Workshop for Women as a prop master, and then I just started working on all kinds of different things: independent films, web series, music videos, things like that, and then I did also sometimes have to supplement my income. I would work in retail, I was a substitute teacher for a little bit, but those were all things that I would do while looking for work in entertainment, so I always pursued that. And I think what drew me to physical production specifically was what drew me to film in the first place, like I’d always been a movie person. I loved watching movies, but there was one movie specifically that I watched when I was like thirteen – and I don’t know if it holds up today, but it holds a special place in my heart – which is a movie called Twin Falls Idaho, and back then you used to be able to watch the DVD with director commentary, and they were talking about how they made the movie on such a small budget, and how they got people to, you know, give them good deals on the locations, and how they were able to spend money to build this big prosthetic device that they have to wear in the movie, and that’s when I realized that that is somebody’s job to figure out the logistics of a movie and how to make locations work and make the budget work and try to do things on a schedule, and so I started to kind of pursue like what would that look like, but at that time I didn’t know that physical production was where that happens, or the one of the places where that happens. And so then once I got into the studio after working freelance for a while, I came to really understand that physical production is a job, and that was the job that I really wanted to do, and then eventually I got into this department, and I feel like, you know, my best skills are being put to their best use.

AA: When you were doing freelance, did you get your gigs through connections, or did you use some websites?

AM: I did use websites, and then it sort of became connections after that, but there was a website that I think now is called Hollylist, but back then it used to be called mandy.com. They had posts for jobs, and they were looking for people, and at some point a connection that I had made when I was in high school gave me this list of films that were shooting in town and all the numbers that you could call for the production office, and stuff like that. So I started cold calling people and sending them my resume, and just trying to get a job that way.

AA: Oh, nice.

AM: And then the people that I met on jobs then would be like, “Do you want to come and do this other thing with me?” and so I did.

AA: Yeah, nice. What does a typical day look like for you when you’re actively working on a production?

AM: Well, in our department, we cover films while they’re in development as well as production, and then we are still involved in the process once they go into post, but that’s not our main purview. So a typical day can look like many different things depending on what stage a film is at, but I think once a film is really into production, we’re making sure that the films are making their days and we’re tracking the costs. Making sure that they’re on schedule, we’re dealing with all different kinds of problems. I kind of always say – well, they’re not always problems – but I kind of always say that it’s just like a bunch of things are kind of on fire, and then you just have to put them all out in the right order, and that’s what we’re attempting to do. But we’re talking to the production office, we’re talking to the line producer, we’re talking to our counterparts in the studio who are in, you know, creative production or people who are in risk management and people who are in labor relations, all of that, just trying to solve whatever things are popping up and just trying to keep everybody on track.

AA: Wow. What has been one of the most challenging moments in your career, and what did you learn from it?

AM: That’s a good question. I mean, I do think that one of the most challenging things that happened to me was really just trying to navigate what I was gonna do with my career. I think because I had come from the art department and as a freelancer, and then I wanted to have a job at a studio, and so I started off in rights and research, which was so valuable, but then I kind of was just always wondering “How am I going to make my goal of getting into physical production happen?” I left and went back to freelance. I came back into the Music Legal Department with a little stint at Fox in the above-the-line legal department, which was really interesting. And I still always wanted to pursue that goal. So I feel like the biggest challenge for me was finding out how to get what I wanted and make my career what I wanted it to be, and I mean, obviously, at this point I think it’s safe to say that to this point, it ended up the way that I wanted it to. But it was really hard, and I feel like there were points in my career where I thought it was just never going to happen, or perhaps I need to just consider something else. But I think – I always just say, if you keep your eye on one goal, anything is possible, and so I think that’s how I got through that.

AA: Okay. In such a relationship-driven industry, what advice would you give students trying to build meaningful connections early in their careers?

AM: I think it’s important to really put yourself out there and kind of say yes to every opportunity that feels good. I used to be a really shy person, and when I started really hitting it hard to like try to get into physical production, like I had to really push myself to have coffees with people and go to mixers and go to different events, and just try to stay tapped into what was going on around town. I really do think that that’s where relationship building started for me, and it obviously, it ended up panning out, and those relationships paid off. But then, a huge part of what we do now in our department is relationship building and relationship management, and so you can’t be shy when that kind of stuff happens, and I think it’s important to not be like, “Oh, I’m too tired to go to this,” or, “What if nothing comes of it,” and then you prevent yourself from moving forward. I think you just have to get out there and shake some hands and kiss some babies, as they say.

AA: How do you maintain work-life balance in an industry known for long hours and high-pressure environments?

AM: It can be hard, but I think it’s important in the other direction, like I’m saying, you have to push yourself to make relationships professionally. You also have to kind of push yourself to maintain your personal relationships, and so you need to be able to make time for those things, and even if it is just, you know, my mom is always asking me,“When can we hang out?” and I love to hang out with my mom, but you know, we have to make the time. “Okay, I have two hours on Sunday, we can do this, let’s slot it in.” And I also think that part of it is with production, there’s always something going on, but to be able to identify, right now it’s a little bit quieter, or at this point it’s really hardcore. Sometimes you have to just block out, “During this period I can’t, and I know that, but during this period I can enjoy the kind of downtime, and I can make a little bit more time and make sure that I am seeing my friends and seeing my family and doing the things that I like to do for fun.”

AA: Yeah. As Director of Physical Production, I’m sure you travel. Could you tell me about that and how that goes?

AM: Yeah, it’s really exciting. It’s kind of funny because – and it’s about to happen to me again – but a lot of times, a lot of my production travel kind of coincides, so there’ll be periods where I’m just like going from here and landing back at home for 18 hours and then going someplace else, or going to multiple places within one month. But I think usually I travel for the production meeting or the tech scouts, and then during the rest of production, you might need to go out, just depending on what’s going on, and then I have gone out to help assist with wrap and make sure that everybody is on the same page, and take a look at what all the assets are, and make sure that we have a good plan in case there’s going to be any reshoots or anything like that. But yeah, I mean, the travel can get pretty intense, but I love it. I mean, I always say I love everything about this job, and it can be hard, and it can be, to your point, very long and difficult hours, but it’s just so much fun, and it’s really cool, because I think I’ve been able to see a lot of places as part of this job that I never would have been able to go as just a person.

AA: Do you get to explore the city as a tourist, or is it usually like you go, you do work, and then you leave?

AM: Not usually, it just kind of depends on the length of the trip. My very first international business trip, I had to be there for 11 days, and it was over a weekend, and so I did get to take the weekend to like look around a little bit, but most of the time you’re going there for the purpose of work, and you just have to do that, and that’s okay.

AA: What qualities make someone stand out when working on large-scale productions or collaborating across departments?

AM: I think that somebody who’s really willing to just do whatever. I always say that at every— I’ve held up to this point almost every position that you can hold in our department, starting from a coordinator, and of course there’s still lots of places to go from here, but I think at every level, I just think no task is too small, and so it really stands out for me when people are just willing to kind of do whatever needs to be done, and people who are responsive, and people who are communicative. And I think if you don’t have those skills, it will be a lot more difficult to navigate. I think you can teach people the fundamental pieces of the job, – and this could go for any job –but you could teach somebody how to build a schedule, or teach somebody how to look at a budget, but if you don’t have those good soft skills and those communication elements, if you’re just working in a bubble and you’re not bringing back, telling everybody what’s going on and where you’re at and what you need and what can you do for them, it’s gonna fall apart.

AA: Yeah. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from working in different positions and different departments?

AM: Probably that everything relates to everything else. I think that’s a really important lesson to take away, because, as I said, my challenge, when I felt like some of the stuff that I was doing, maybe wasn’t ever going to be relatable or useful in the career that I eventually wanted to have, like that just simply isn’t true, and so I think you know, especially as you’re starting out after school, and you do have to do certain jobs that you feel like maybe are not related to what you want to do, or maybe you’re working at a post house, but you don’t want to work in post, or you’re working for an equipment company. All of those things have lessons that can be taught and lessons that can be applied to what you end up wanting to do, so it’s about making whatever you’re doing work for you and taking as much as you can, taking as many lessons in as you can, that can help inform what you’re like as an employee, or what you’re like as a filmmaker, or what you’re like as a person, and I think those are the things that you can carry with you. I’ve done so many different things, and they all apply, even things from when I was a substitute teacher; there’s different life lessons that I’ve been able to take, different skills that can be applied, so it all counts.

AA: Do you have a favorite project you have worked on?

AM: I don’t know, I feel bad if I choose a favorite because I’ve loved working on all of them. But I do think that working on Sonic 3 was a really professionally rewarding experience. They all were, and they all had value, of course, but I really liked the team, and I feel like I grew a lot in my understanding of what this job requires working on that.

AA: Oh, okay. Looking back at your own career path, is there anything you wish you knew when you first started?

AM: Yeah, I wish that I knew that life is very long and that you can always kind of change your path. I think it’s really hard having been 21, 22, the age of getting out of college, and feeling like you’re supposed to know exactly what you want. I think it’s a little unfair that in our system we ask people who are like 17 years old to decide what they want to do with their lives, and then you go to college, and you do that, and you know, my mom was really supportive of me going to film school, and she just wanted me to go to college, and then she was really supportive of that, and she said, “Even if you get out and you don’t want to work in film anymore, that’s okay too. You can decide what you want to do with your life.” I think in those moments during my career where I felt a little bit stuck, I think if somebody had told me, like, “Hey, it doesn’t matter, you’re not washed up when you’re 28. Things can still happen, and even now where I’m at in my career, like I’ve obviously dedicated myself to physical production, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but if I had to, or if I wanted to, I could pivot, and that’s okay.

AA: Yeah.

AM: I do really wish that I had known that back then, because I think it would have alleviated a lot of stress. But I do think on the other side of that coin, the beginning of your career is for exploration, and I think where it makes sense financially and makes sense to you and your own plan, I think it’s good to try different things. But at a point you do need to start to pick one lane and go towards that, so that you become – you start to be seen as an expert in that field, so people go, “Oh, I need to call her, that’s the person that we need for the job, she knows what she’s doing.” But, even with that said, at that point, if you wanted to change your mind, you still could, you always can. Life is so long.

AA: Yeah. And for our last question, for students entering the entertainment industry during an uncertain job market, what mindset or skills do you think are most important to have right now?

AM: That’s a really good question. I think the mindset should always be that doing whatever you have to do for you is okay. I feel like I’ve touched on this a little bit already in this interview, but, like, because it is a difficult job market in every industry, like, it’s, it’s hard right now, even for people with a lot of experience to get a job in even in retail or even in food service, like it’s just the nature of this world that we’re living in, and LA is a very large city, and so I think it is great. I think it still is the land of dreams. If there isn’t a job here that you would want to do, you could sort of invent one and create your own sort of life like that. But I think that it’s important to go into the beginning of your career being like sometimes you’re going to have to do jobs just to make money and put a roof over your head, and then sometimes you’re going to get those opportunities that really specifically speak to what it is that you’re attempting to do. So you need to just be open to whatever things present themselves, and again find the way to make those opportunities work for you. So you know if you want to become a— you want to work in the camera department, but right now there’s no camera PA jobs open, or in LA, maybe they’re not shooting something that speaks to you, you can still – or anywhere for that matter, not just LA, but we’re talking about, obviously, students here who are in LA. You should be open to take a costume PA job, or take a job at an agency, or take a job at a studio, or take a job at a production company, or take a job at a post house, take a job at an equipment rental service, like, there’s so many options. You should just try to stay close to entertainment, if that’s what you want to do, and then keep your eyes open and make those connections, and see what happens. So, I think that’s important, like not to feel dejected at any point. Just keep going, because something always happens.

AA: Thank you so much, Alex. It was lovely listening to you, and we wish you good luck on your journey.

AM: Thank you. Best of luck to you and all the students.

AA: And if you want to learn more about the world of entertainment, make sure to continue to tune in to Entertainment Unscripted. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, dailybruin.com, and follow @dailybruin and @dailybruinpodcasts on Instagram to be the first to know when a new episode premieres. Thank you so much for watching.