Kira Hernandez followed her uncle to work and eventually into Hollywood.
“My interest in the film industry came from going to ‘set’ with my uncle, who is a dolly grip. I was always interested in still photography but once I started checking out film, I knew that was what I wanted to do,” said Hernandez, while enjoying lunch and a rare day off.
Hernandez was waitressing and on the verge of attending UCLA for photography, but she knew she couldn’t afford it. She caught her break when she landed a job with Panavision.
“Panavision was essentially my film school,” she said. “I learned everything technically hands-on and then learned from there on set. I started out doing commercials and music videos, loading film. Then I moved up to seconding.”
Now that the industry has moved largely to digital, Hernandez is honing her skills at downloading digital information. The camera assistant is currently working in the camera department on the Seth Rogen comedy film Townies. With many movies being shot out-of-state, she is happy to be working in Los Angeles.
“It’s nice to have some work in town,” said Hernandez, who lives in Torrance. “All of these feature films go out of town and people like me don’t get to go.”
Though the long hours and grueling schedules of the film and television world may occupy much of Hernandez’s time, she loves what she does and can’t imagine doing anything else.
“It’s just fun,” Hernandez said. “I worked on a Rob Zombie music video last week. When you’re doing something creative that you enjoy it just reminds you of why you’re doing it. I’ve been doing it for five years and it’s been good to me.”
