FFHS graduate talks about her work as production assistant in New York

May 23, 2014

By Kate Power
Co-Associate Editor

Five years ago, Jenaleigh Coote was a student at First Flight High School. Like a lot of students here, she had no clue what she wanted to do with her life after high school. She struggled through school each year. Coote never thought that she would end up doing what she does today.

Currently, Coote lives in Manhattan, N.Y., and works as a production assistant for movies and TV shows. Home for a few months to visit friends and family, she offered to tell classes at her alma mater her story of how she made her way into the entertainment business.

Soaking it in, Jennaleigh Coote enjoys the New York City ballroom where “The Americans” held its premiere event. “(It’s) where all the actors, families and crew members dress up and eat and drink and dance after watching the first episode of the new season before it airs,” Coote said. “
Soaking it in, Jenaleigh Coote enjoys the New York City ballroom where “The Americans” held its premiere event. “(It’s) where all the actors, families and crew members dress up and eat and drink and dance after watching the first episode of the new season before it airs,” Coote said. “

Coote recognized that she was not interested in attending a traditional university after high school.

“I knew I wasn’t going to go to a four-year college because I wasn’t a bookworm. I wasn’t really a school person … I struggled every single year and my mom had to force the school in elementary school to not hold me back,” Coote said. “I just didn’t have that connection with reading and writing but I was very hands-on. So when I finally realized where my learning cycle was heading, I decided to intern for Dixie 105.7 when I was 20.”

This internship started Coote’s career. She fell in love with radio and from there began to research schools she could attend to further her experience. The Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Charlotte, N.C., turned out to be the perfect fit. She studied the production side of entertainment and got her first movie internship for a Hallmark movie called “Shuffleton’s Barbershop.” From there, she met people and was able to get more hands-on opportunities.

Coote recently finished up her first paid job working as a production assistant on the set of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”

“It was hard for me to think that it was actually hard work because I was just so excited,” Coote said. “I was in New York, working on Spiderman, thinking there’s no bad in this. But now looking back on it, it was fun but such hard work. It was brutal, but absolutely worth it. That’s what life is. Life is brutal sometimes.”

At the wrap party for the movie “Careful What You Wish For,” Jennaleigh Coote poses for a picture with Paul Sorvino, a well-known actor who was in the hit movie “Goodfellas” with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. “Careful What You Wish For was filmed in Charlotte, N.C., and also starred Nick Jonas.
At the wrap party for the movie “Careful What You Wish For,” Jenaleigh Coote poses for a picture with Paul Sorvino, a well-known actor who was in the hit movie “Goodfellas” with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. “Careful What You Wish For was filmed in Charlotte, N.C., and also starred Dermot Mulroney and Nick Jonas.

As a production assistant, Coote makes sure the actors are ready to act. She does everything from getting coffee to putting together contracts. She gets yelled at, works 15-hour days and loves her job. She is freelance, along with everyone else in the film industry, so she finds work when she wants to find work.

“It is incredible to see what you watch on TV being made before your own eyes,” Coote said. “You see magic happen literally in front of you … it’s pretty amazing.”

When asked about special experiences with celebrities, Coote recalled her friendship with Mark McGrath, lead singer of the rock band Sugar Ray.

“Mark McGrath … is probably one of the most genuine people that I have ever worked with. He and I continue to stay in contact, even though he lives out in L.A. We’re friends and he took his time out to get to know me, to figure out where I came from, what I wanted to be, to learn about my family and friends … No actor has ever done that,” Coote said. “So I really treasure moments like that … As a child I listened to Sugar Ray. Never did I think (Mark) and I would be friends.”

Another celebrity Coote considers very genuine and memorable, Nick Jonas, did something on set that most actors would never do. Jonas arranged for everyone working on set to play a softball game against the UNC Charlotte women’s softball team. He even made T-shirts.

Based on her experiences, Coote encourages students to get off the Outer Banks, intern, network, meet people, to take opportunities and look up to the right people.

The cast and crew of the TV movie “Sharknado2,” pose with a sign saying “Slates for Sarah,” in remembrance of a crew member who was struck by a train and killed while working on a movie last February. “Every production across the world has done this for her to get the word out of ‘safety first’ while working such long hours and (with) very little turn around time,” Coote said. “Sharknado2” premieres July 30 on SyFy.
The cast and crew of the TV movie “Sharknado2,” pose with a sign saying “Slates for Sarah,” in remembrance of a crew member who was struck by a train and killed while working on a movie last February. “Every production across the world has done this for her to get the word out of ‘safety first’ while working such long hours and (with) very little turn around time,” Coote said. “Sharknado2” premieres July 30 on SyFy.

“Growing up here, there’s not many options. So you’re kind of thinking what am I going to do with my life? Am I going to stay here or am I going to leave the Outer Banks? A lot of people in my class stayed here … and they’re not really doing anything with their youth,” Coote said. “They were the kids in school who I thought were so popular and so cool and now, five years later, high school doesn’t matter anymore. You’re not popular anymore … and then there are some people who are doing great things with their lives. Those are the people you need to look up to, not the kids in high school who are essentially the cool ones. They don’t have the best advice sometimes.”

Coote has a plan. She is giving herself two years to become an assistant director making quadruple the salary she does now, and more importantly, doing something that she loves.

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