By Antony Teofilo
Hollywood is full of cautionary horror stories. Each profession has its tales of woe and peril when it comes to the furious grind that is working on a movie set, but none, perhaps more so than that of the personal assistant. One hears legends of Heidi Fliess-era midnight hooker runs and daring drug deals, ridiculous diva-like demands for authentic Wisconsin bratwurst at 4:00am, December 23rd in the middle of nowhere, North Dakota. Hollywood producers are used to getting whatever it is they want now by yesterday morning...and if they don't, heads will roll.
Enter Mark Jwayad. At the time of the following interview, Mark had been working as Personal Assistant to Producer Scott Mosier for nearly six months on ViewAskew's newest movie, JERSEY GIRL. Yet, something seemed a bit off. Juwaydd had no puffy, dark bags under his eyes, no gravelly voice from smoking too many cigarettes to keep himself awake as he ran last minute copies of script sides all night long. There was no surly get-the-hell-out-of-my-way-I've-got-to-get-the-effing-drycleaning attitude. He was, all things considered, rather cheery, well-rested, and positive he enjoyed being where he was.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the set of JERSEY GIRL was a pretty good place to be, with each department, each actor doing their jobs with great aplomb. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the entire crew seemed to be united in their effort to get a movie made, and for the most part, reveling in the camaraderie that permeated the set. There was some bickering from time to time, but nothing one wouldn't expect from a large group of cousins or brothers and sisters. For people like Mark Juwaydd, every day on the set of JERSEY GIRL was...
All In The Family
An Interview with Personal Assistant Mark Jwayad
By Antony Teofilo
Antony Teofilo: What do you do each day, as assistant to Scott Mosier?
Mark Jwayad: My main duties are to deliver coffee to the almighty Scott Mosier, and to deliver Vilmos Zsigmond to dailies by driving him there. I make security badges. Scott's pretty low-maintenance. I'm pretty much a floater. I help out wherever I can.
AT: How did you get the gig?
MJ: Scott is a cousin of mine. I hadn't met him until recently because he lives out here on the east coast and I'm from Portland, Oregon. I go to school the University of San Francisco. I'm a performing arts and social justice major.
AT: Performing arts and social justice? Tell me that's one major.
MJ: That's one major.
AT: I love San Francisco.
MJ: [Laughs]. We're very progressive, man. Those Jesuits know what they're doing. Basically what happened was a cousin of mine knew that I was looking to get into film. I was looking around at other studios and such, but when I talked to my cousin, she said, "You really need to talk to Scott," because that's the way you get into this business, through the people you know. So I got hooked up with Scott, and it turned out that since the film was shooting in Philly, I was able to do it. If the film had gone to Canada, I wouldn't have been able to do it because of the labor laws.
Membership has its privileges. Mark Juwaydd takes a few moments to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee in JERSEY GIRL's production offices. On the door to Scott Mosier's office, a folder marked Bearclaw is visible. (Bearclaw was DOGMA's code name when it was in production.) On the left hand side of the desk, an invitation to JERSEY GIRL's "half-way to completion" party is visible.
AT: So you didn't call him up and say, "Uh, Hi. You don't know me. But can I have a job?"
MJ: [Laughs] No. He was prepped for the phone call. He told me what I'd have to do, and I said "I don't give a shit. I'll do whatever, man."
AT: Sounds like the right attitude. Scott Mosier has a reputation for being sort of enigmatic. He doesn't appear in the press very much, so viewers generally have to go on hearsay as to what he's really like. What's it like working for him?
MJ: He's a low-maintenance guy. He's very real. He's definitely not your regular Hollywood producer. You can talk to him, and he's very friendly, as long as he knows you want to talk to him.
AT: Where would you say your ambitions lie in the future?
MJ: Well, I hope to graduate from school. I'm going to go back after having taken this semester off. Then I have spring and fall semesters in which I'll be working on my senior project and so forth, and then after that...I don't know. I've done a lot of acting. I've written, I'm working on writing a show right now. I've directed and produced shows...so I don't know. Everything from sweeping the stage to construction, I love it all.
AT: What's your advice for someone who wants to get started in the film industry?
MJ: The reason we have starving actors is that all they want to do is act. The more versatile you are, and the more understanding you can get from every aspect of the film industry, theater, and the entertainment industry is a good thing. You're going to be able to respect other people more, whatever position you're in. You're going to get to know a lot more people, you're going to be able to relate to them a lot more. You'll be in a position where you're much more versatile, so you can actually get a job.
