The Athens Film Office in collaboration with NBCUniversal and the support of the U.S. Embassy in Greece organized two crew training bootcamps in the Serafeio complex in May 2022. The “Production Assistant (P.A.) Bootcamp” was free of charge and open to anyone who wanted to enter the audiovisual industry in the position of a PA.
The aim of the seminars, which bear the stamp of NBCUniversal, is to train the participants in the practical understanding of the role of the production assistant so that they can then be employed either in outdoor shooting or internally, in offices, both in film and television productions. The bootcamp included theoretical and practical training in call sheets, walkie talkies, protocols and work ethos.
As Stathis Kalogeropoulos noted “This is the first of a series of initiatives we plan to organize in order to help the domestic audiovisual industry grow, while simultaneously giving an outlet to young people who are looking for work.”
The participants were selected after an open call from the Municipality of Athens, while priority was given to underrepresented groups and minorities. The training was done in English and state-of-the-art equipment was used. At the end of the program, certifications were given by P.A. Bootcamp, and the participants used the AFO platform to get in with Greek in production companies.
