Secretary to Film Stars: Be the Right Hand of Most Popular Celebrities!

What's It About?

Film actors' secretaries are responsible for making their employers' lives easy and building up their star image. From handling all communications to vetting calls to lining up producers or directors to giving an opinion on the roles offered to the actor - secretaries do a lot for their employers, depending on their efficiency levels. Secretarial skills, PR skills, event management skills - everything works in this business.

Clock Work

7 am: Wake up, rush to sets where the actor is shooting

8 am: Reach sets, ensure everything is in place and that the actor has had her breakfast. Have a brief discussion with make-up person. Call up the designer to find out when the costumes are arriving

11 am: Shooting begins. Wait

2 pm: Break for lunch, ensure actor is taken care of and then leave sets to go to actor's office to meet journalist enquiring about reports related to the actor's health circulating in the media

3 pm: Journalist's briefing ends, meet movie producer X to discuss a film offering

5 pm: Visit sets again to see how the shoot is progressing

6 pm: Call designer to convey actor's displeasure over the colour of the sari she has to wear for a scene

7 pm: Take advantage of the break to discuss new project with star. Explain why she should not take it up as it is not something that will impact her image positively

9 pm: Leave for auditorium where the actor is to perform for a show next month. Fix up rehearsal timings

The Payoff

That depends on who you work for. Some people have fixed monthly salaries and others have a fixed percentage every month. It depends on an actor's income capacity and on his success. So, it is about 10 per cent of what the star earns (some give a reduced amount). "Some actors can be extremely large hearted. A few of them have not changed over the years and realise that god has been kind to them. It's a known fact. If someone is loyal to you, you be loyal to him," says Bhaskar Shetty.

Skills

• Good communication skills

• Good networking and PR skills

• Good knowledge of films

• Strong on ethics

• Good listener, with ability to calm temper tantrums and handle a crisis like a scandal, etc

How Do I Get There?

You can take up arts or science in Class 10 or 11. A secretarial course helps. Graduate and postgraduate degrees add to your capacity to earn but a PR degree or diploma should be mandatory. An interest in films, ability to understand and empathise with people, brand building and management will help you perform do your job efficiently.

Institutes & URLs

• Postgraduate diploma in public relations and marketing, New Delhi YMCA. Institute for Media Studies and Information Technology www.newdelhiymca.org/institute-media-information-technology.htm.

• PG Diploma in public relations, Indira Gandhi National Open University, (IGNOU), Delhi, www.ignou.ac.in/ignou/aboutignou/school.

• Social communications media course, Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai, www.sophiacampus.com/

• Diploma course in public relations and corporate communication,

• Xavier Institute of Communication, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, www.xaviercomm.org/diploma-courses/courses-pr.htm

Pros & Cons

• You are part of a star's success story. That can be a great feeling

• Association with the rich and the famous helps. Your contacts can help you move to bigger things like directing and producing films. Some secretaries have also gone on to manage events and celebrities.

• The film world is full of insecure people and successes too are short-lived. Often, that can be very disillusioning.

 

Author: Ayesha Banerjee (HT Horizons)

Date: 28th December, 2010

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