Chaplin's first Essanay comedy - and appropriately titled - was the only film he made at Essanay's Chicago studio located at 1333 West Argyle Street in the city's north side. As with his Keystone films, A Film Johnnie (1914) and The Masquerader (1914), Chaplin chose to set the action in a film studio.

Charlie is hired as a prop man and is soon demoted to a carpenter's assistant at the Lockstone studio (a play on his former employer, Keystone) before given the chance to act, which ends in disaster. The film was Chaplin's first pairing with cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin and features an early appearance by Gloria Swanson as a secretary. Despite Chaplin's reputation for static cinematography, it is also notable for several tracking shots (the work of cinematographer Jackson Rose), which were seldom used in film comedy of the period. Upon completion of HIS NEW JOB on January 12, 1915, Chaplin escaped the harsh winter and primitive working conditions of Chicago for California, taking comedians Ben Turpin and Leo White with him.