By Ellie Shalvarjian
Staff Writer
Erin Ambrose’s passion for film landed her a spot to be a production assistant for a new independent romantic comedy called “Attachments” coming out in 2017.
While a majority of the tasks Ambrose did were basic intern tasks, such as staging the set and running errands for the makeup director, in her free time she was still able to shadow the director, producer to learn how they help with creating movies.
“I’ve always had a passion for journalism and film, but that passion pretty much solidified the second that I stepped onto the Attachments film set,” Ambrose said. “I completely fell in love with everything there and I immediately knew that this is what I want to do forever.”
Ambrose first met the director of the film Richard Krevolin during summer of 2015 when he was helping her with her college film applications. Throughout the year he has let her contribute in some of his side projects, such as writing a nonfiction novel and letting her aid with writing parts of it. Ambrose had to go on independent study for two weeks to finish filming for “Attachments.”
“He [Krevolin] taught me a lot about how to get inside the minds of the characters in order to better understand the scene and decide whether or not it needed to be reshot,” Ambrose said.. “Basically, shadowing him meant cultivating my eye for directing like learning by watching him and listening to him explain how or why he changed a certain scene or line, and how that would ultimately better the film.”
Ambrose’s day would start at 6am when she would drive to North Hollywood to start her job at 6:45am. From there, Ambrose worked nonstop until 7pm either running errands for people on set or shadowing people to learn about their professions.
“Erin from the start had a very natural ability to do what needed to be done,” digital imaging technician Kyra Dunn said. “She never lacked in any area, in fact she was so focused on doing what needed to be done it encouraged me to work harder.”
Ambrose hopes to continue learning more about film and writing through either the Newhouse school at Syracuse or the screenwriting program at LMU, she will attend this upcoming fall. However, her initial goal to be a writer or journalist has changed to wanting to be a screenwriter for either movies or a television series because of her production assistant job on the “Attachments” set.
“Getting to shadow people who are in positions that I hope to be in one day gave me perspective and helped me better understand my prospective career better than any classroom would have,” Ambrose said. “I came into this a little shaky and unsure, but came out completely reassured and certain that this is me, 100%, and knowing that no other career could ever make me this happy.”
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