A lot of celebrity personal assistants I meet tell me that they’re only doing the job to earn enough money that they can then go live their dream (buying a beach house, helping orphans, traveling the world in a kayak, whatever), only to never end up doing it. Elana Weber, however, is a notable exception to this troubling rule. Weber spent several years working as the personal assistant to composer Danny Elfman, who is best known for composing music for tons of films and TV shows, including the theme for The Simpsons (and for being related to crazy-ass Jenna Elfman). Now, Weber owns and operates a green furniture store in Pennsylvania. The shop, Material Witness, “is dedicated to organic, safe and sustainable design.” Plus, she makes these things called EcoSmart Fires which sound awesome – “These little units can heat up to 400 square feet and come in a multitude of shapes and sizes. Since they are ventless, they can be placed in a fireplace without a working flue or just about anywhere.” They’re crazy expensive, but I really want one. Hey, Elana, want to help out another ex-assistant?
Archive for the 'Former Assistants Done Good' Category
Page 3 of 6
For those of you who may not have heard of British reality star Jade Goody, who died today of cervical cancer, I will try to give a brief summary. Goody grew up in a poor, troubled household in London. She briefly worked as a dental assistant before being cast on the hugely popular reality show Big Brother. She became a breakout star – loved by some for being a ‘regular person’ and ‘working class heroine,’ despised by some for being uneducated, overweight, and a negative stereotype. Love or hate her, the British tabloids chose her as a regular subject, covering every aspect of her life, from her relationship with TV host Jeff Brazier (which resulted in two young sons) to her continued adventures in reality shows, which included an-Apprentice like series where she looked for a personal assistant. She did another stint on Big Brother and made international headlines for her awful treatment of housemate Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood actress. To make amends, Jade appeared on India’s version of Big Brother, where she learned – on camera – that she had advanced cervical cancer. Since then, she sold the rights to everything from pictures of her in the hospital to updates on her treatment, saying that she had to do what she could to earn money for her sons while she was alive.
Although Jade was always a controversial figure during her short life (she was 27 when she died), she definitely will remain a British pop culture icon. My aunt died of a similar cancer, and I know that Jade was in extreme pain toward the end of her life. Her choice to live and die on camera may not have been a choice I would have made, but I admire the way she was able to use pop culture to turn her life around. My thoughts today are with the family and friends of this former assistant.
If you missed the awesomeness that was Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, you can check out the Neil Patrick Harris/Nathan Fillion musical on iTunes or hold out for the upcoming DVD release. And if there’s anything cooler than those two stars singing about being superheroes and villains, it’s the fact that Michael Boretz is involved. Boretz spent five years as the assistant to Dr. Horrible (and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Firefly) creator Joss Whedon and was rewarded for his work by being named a producer on Dr. Horrible. As producer, Boretz had to do everything from hiring the art director to coordinating post-production, and he loved every second of it.
Boretz worked as a PA on the John Cusack thriller Identity before being hired to work for Whedon. During the five years he spent as an assistant, he somehow found time to write and direct Splitting Hairs, a short film that impressed his boss. Kudos to Boretz for his hard work, and for his richly-deserved payoff. And also, thanks for making me laugh like hell.
Sibi Blazic has been married to the superhot and supertalented Christian Bale for eight years. And how did they meet? Sibi used to work as Winona Ryder’s assistant while Ryder and Bale were filming Little Women. They have a three-year-old daughter, Emmaline. The couples eloped to Vegas just two months after hooking up.
That is all I had to say in this post. Please enjoy the gratuitous photo.
Josephine Miller, better known as Jo, seems to have had a pretty cool life. Born in South Africa, she worked as a model and then scored a gig as David Bowie’s personal assistant. Later, she settled down in England, where she married an American banker named Ed Miller. The couple had two daughters, actress Sienna and fashion designer Savannah, before divorcing. Josephine also spent time running Lee Strasberg’s (creator of the Method technique) acting school in London.
Fonzworth Bentley, who went from being Diddy’s nattily-dressed umbrella holder to writing a book about style, is now following in his ex-boss’ footsteps by starring in his own MTV reality show. The show, From Gs to Gents, puts 14 shlubby guys in a house and brings Bentley in to teach them about manners, etiquette, proper formal attire, and, presumably, how to hold an umbrella.
MTV has a preview of the show, which premieres July 15.
While Garfield hasn’t been funny in years (although Garfield Minus Garfield is brilliant), the strip’s creator, Jim Davis, continues working. Garfield turned 30 last week, and in one of the laudatory articles about Davis we got to meet his assistant-cum-PR-director, 24-year-old “Paws Inc” veteran Kim Campbell.
“I sometimes think about how it’s changed my life,” said director of public relations Kim Campbell, a 24-year employee who first left a job as a cable television service office manager to become Davis’ personal assistant. “I just got lucky.”
She had met the cartoonist at a party, then received his job offer a couple months later. Since then she has befriended celebrities, learned lots about the entertainment business and even been a co-writer of the Garfield Thanksgiving Show, for which she received an Emmy nomination.
“If you show an aptitude for something, he’ll give you a chance at it,” Campbell said.
My own thoughts on Garfield nonwithstanding, I think it’s pretty cool that a woman in her early 20s was plucked from a mindless job and is now an Emmy-nominated producer. It’s nice to see someone in the twilight of his career, who has made a ton of money and really never has to do anything for anyone if he doesn’t feel like it, helping out someone who is just entering the workforce. This would probably be the place for a nine lives joke, if I wanted to make one.
You may not know who Mark Walberg is, but you’ve probably seen him on TV. Not to be confused with Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg, Mark L. Walberg has made a career hosting shows like Joe Millionaire, Anything for Love, the dearly departed Shop Til You Drop, and the current Moment of Truth. However, he got his start as one of us– an assistant at Dick Clark Productions.
I guess he only had to answer phones long enough til someone spotted him and thought “this utterly generic man is the TV host I’ve been looking for all my life!,” but hey, if I had the choice between hosting an embarrassing midseason replacement reality show or being an assistant, I’d probably go with the former.
Richard Rosenzweig has had a career a lot of us would probably be jealous of. He got his start as Hugh Hefner’s assistant in the early days of Playboy. When Hefner realized that he and his PA shared a love of jazz music, he put Rosenzweig in charge of a party for the magazine’s fifth anniversary that featured performances by several notable jazz musicians. Now, 30-odd years later, Rosenzweig still works for Hefner, but not as an assistant–he’s the president of Playboy Jazz Festivals, Inc, and works to celebrate jazz and organize regular concerts. This weekend, they’re presenting the annual Playboy Jazz Festival outside of L.A.
It’s nice to see a former Playboy assistant go on and do something interesting, considering that Holly Madison’s fake assistant is not actually learning anything useful by running fake errands all day.
The super-badass Cyndi Lauper tried to be an assistant once, but it didn’t really work out. About the job, she says:
I tried to work in an office. Apparently, my clothes weren’t right. I was a Gal Friday the 13th. I would answer phones and people would call up very upset. Then they’d call back screaming and yelling because I had to go to the file room and I would get sidetracked. I used to fall asleep reading the mail. I didn’t want to. But it was so boring to me and I hated it.
Oh, Cyndi. Want to be the first honorary member of the administrative professionals’ union we’re going to start?
