NYFA Alum Jasmine M. Blow Talks about Interning on a Ryan Murphy Show

Jasmine M. Blow is a NYFA Alum who graduated from the MFA Feature Track Filmmaking Program in LA. Recently Jasmine had the wonderful opportunity to intern on a Ryan Murphy TV production. In this Q&A Jasmine tells us all about the experience and the things she learned along the way. 

NYFA Alumni Network: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, where you're from, and what brought you to New York Film Academy?

J.B: My name is Jasmine M. Blow from Santa Ana, CA living in Burbank, CA and I came to NYFA during the pandemic in January ’21. I’ve always been a creative, a storyteller, and wanted the formal education to refine those skills I already had and take my creativity to the next level. The MFA Filmmaking program appealed to me because it had everything I needed to gain the necessary skills to make it in the Industry. Directing, Screenwriting, and Production Design being my favorite subjects.

NYFA Alumni Network: You recently interned on a Ryan Murphy show. Congratulations! Tell us more about the internship & how you got involved?

J.B: With the help of one of my favorite instructors, Lee Gordon, and the encouragement of Barbara Weintraub, I was presented with an amazing opportunity to be on Ryan Murphy’s newest production. I’ve always been a fan of his work from “American Horror Story” to “Ratched” and of course “Pose”. I HAD to be a part of his latest work. Barbra guided me on how to fix up my resume and a few short hours after sending it in, I got the email from Maria, the Production Coordinator inviting me to an interview. After the interview, I was selected! 

There was a lot of learning on the go and watching what the other seasoned PAs were doing. I also got very familiar with my routes and gas stations while going on runs, very important. I also learned that I should be strategic in my workflow and questions and to learn to be more proactive, take initiative. I’m naturally a quiet, observant person. I appreciated everyone for their kindness and patience in their instructions. I learned a LOT!

NYFA Alumni Network: What were your responsibilities and what was the overall experience like? 

J.B: The environment of the production was very much a “hurry up and wait” scenario. A big portion of the workload was communicating with the 1st ADs, Assistant Coordinator, and Production Secretary when pulling/creating script sides and call sheets for distribution. Once those things are done, you wait. Wait for the ADs to get back to you with any notes or changes, fix what needs to be fixed, send it back, wait for approval, then print/distro. I kind of liked that flow because in between, there would be other tasks for me to do such as reading the script, morning paperwork was a big portion of the day, ordering office supplies, crafty, shadowing another PA, etc. It was also an office of majority women which excited me and we bonded a lot. The guys in the office were great as well. Doug, George, I love you much! LOL (George taught me sign language).

NYFA Alumni Network: Were there any things that surprised you when working on a big production project?

J.B: I thought it was kinda funny we had a certain Tight End from the NFL on the cast list, I had to pick up his wig from a shop in Beverly Hills and another strange pick up involving taxidermy. Certainly interesting! I think a lot of the duties I had surprised me because I had simply just not done them before such as coordinating travel/hotels, working with multiple units in several locations, and of course the subject matter of the show. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart, hence the title. In all, I really enjoyed it and was so grateful to be a part of the production. (Catering was AMAZING by the way. Thanks Mondo!!)

NYFA Alumni Network: What did you learn at NYFA that you applied during the internship? 

J.B: I think what I took from NYFA was the level of communication needed to make such a massive ship run effectively as smoothly as possible. I like to think of a production as a ship, everyone has their job and no job is too small because it makes the ship stay afloat with everyone working together. I learned that while being on shoots with my classmates, including directing my own. While I wasn’t technically on set for this production like a normal PA would be, the same still applies to the PO.

NYFA Alumni Network: What were some things you learned from the experience?

I learned people management for sure, especially when coordinating travel, file/record keeping with morning paperwork, multitasking for sure was next level, and also asking the right questions.