Y'know, I don't actually have a problem with this at all. It's one of the many ways how this industry and many others have been built. You want to become an agent? Start in the mailroom. Want to become a producer? Start as a personal assistant.
On one level, sure, it's exploitation. More important, you want more from your assistant than somebody for whom being an assistant is the best job they've ever had, or the only job they want. Unless you really ARE an exploiter, you want somebody who can grow into another role over time.
My first job in the visual arts was as an assistant photographer, ie, I carried the bags. Then I showed him the pictures I took on my own time, and took his criticism. "Great eye, kid, but it takes many hundreds of photos to know what you're doing in the darkroom." He was right, of course.
My next step was taking the assignments he didn't want (school board)...and from there into editorial and layout, and on and on until I owned my own company. But the only reason my boss hired me is because he knew I was at least a decent photog and that I wanted his job.
Oh yeah, and things I learned from those lame school board meetings, and hanging in the newsroom and listening to reporters laugh at candidates and hacks helped me make political consulting and campaign management a big part of my business.
I started that first job making nothing.
This is similar to how -- what's that you say? Bob ZELIN??? -- Zelin and other people I know got their start. Working for next to nothing at a job that was NOT their goal, but enough to get them in the door. They moved up because they asked a lot of questions, and started doing jobs nobody else wanted.
So to me, this driver/editor job listing falls into the categories of, "Fun to mock," and "If you don't want it, don't take it," but most important, "Wow, I remember those days! It was gruesome, but it got me where I am today."
Consider it a Rorschach test. Are you closer to the beginning of your career, or closer to DEATH? Because hey, that's how it went, and that's how it goes.
Yr pal,
Timmy
Tim Wilson
Creative Cow Magazine!
My Blog:
"Is this thing on? Oh it's on!"
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