What a Hollywood Assistant Can Learn From KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

By Hayley Gruenspan, Assistant to Partner at Untitled Entertainment

I am someone who goes through spurts of watching the entirety of KITCHEN NIGHTMARES on YouTube at least once every few years. During my most recent re-watch, I couldn’t help but find insight into being an assistant. KITCHEN NIGHTMARES is a cooking show – how is that possible? Well, you might be surprised by the three main takeaways.

1. “Reload and Do It Again”

In season 3, episode 7 of the American version of Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon encounters the stubborn head chef, Eric, of the now closed eatery Casa Roma. When Gordon confronts Eric on the poor quality of his food, Eric makes a series of statements in defense of himself, one of which includes, “Reload and do it again.” While this is a now infamous quote within the Kitchen Nightmares fandom and isn’t the correct response when you can potentially give someone listeria, it’s strangely inspirational in other contexts. As an assistant, making mistakes is inevitable, no matter how much you try to avoid them. Most of the time, the mistakes are minor, but can feel cratering in the moment. Getting bogged down in those mistakes will cause nothing but agony; instead, taking the approach of “reload and do it again” is more empowering, allowing you to move forward and do better next time. You may not want to tell your boss to “take a chill pill,” though.

2. Burying Mistakes Just Makes Them Worse

In pretty much every episode of Kitchen Nightmares, especially the American version, Gordon will enter a walk-in fridge and discover a litany of health violations – rotten produce, cooked meat on top of raw meat, mold, rat droppings, you name it. He often has the same questions: how did no one notice this? Why did no one do anything? This principle applies across many industries. The longer a mistake is buried, the more it festers… Metaphorically, but the case of Kitchen Nightmares, also literally. Forget to run an ADR session by a client? If you pretend it doesn’t need to happen, a client could fail to fulfill a professional obligation. Forget to arrange glam for a premiere? If you don’t arrange it quickly, then you could make your boss’ client panic and doubt their trust in their representative. Ultimately, it’s better to address a mistake head on before your fridge is filled with mold or your inbox is filled with ire.

3. Having Experience in an Entry-Level Role is Different Than Experience in Management

While this may seem like an obvious insight, in quite a few Kitchen Nightmares episodes, a former waiter or waitress falls in love with their place of work and decides to purchase it. They’re later met with a challenge when they discover running a restaurant is fundamentally different to working in one. The same principle applies to entertainment. The skills one develops as an assistant aren’t necessarily transferrable to higher roles like an executive, manager, or agent. This is why intermediary positions like coordinator and junior manager/agent/executive exist – the responsibilities across roles do change significantly, and it’s important to be able to adjust accordingly. A great assistant doesn’t necessarily make a great manager and vice versa, and it’s best to make sure you have all the skills you need before diving into your next opportunity.

In essence, even your favorite comfort show can provide some insight in how to be a better assistant if you really give it some thought. With around 90 restaurants in operation worldwide, Gordon Ramsey’s business sense is something to behold, and even in his reality shows with the wackiest of sound effects and characters, some insight can be gleaned. Still trying to figure out what skills I can get out of Ginny & Georgia, though – perhaps another re-watch will do…