Author Topic: Should The Cradle Rock?  (Read 5032 times)

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BARussell

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Should The Cradle Rock?
« on: Jun 13, 2013, 01:38 am »
 So I have been thinking about bringing up a few things with my employer about their apprentice program. I think for such a highly regarded company the program is pretty weak. At the same time people have obviously been doing this for years, including my direct supervisors and some other superiors, so why do I feel slighted or like I have the right to complain?

Anyway I'll explain. Under the LORT  B contract each show during the season requires an Equity SM and ASM, and one or two PAs are hired depending on where the show falls in the season. Well about 1/2 way through the run of each show the SM goes into rehearsal for the next show (with new PA's) and the ASM takes over the SM duties on the running show (with an equity required pay bump). If the ASM whose previous duties were "running the deck" is now in the booth "calling the show" does that not mean the PA is now basically taking on the duties of the ASM? If it is necessary to pay the ASM more when they bump up is it not reasonable to think the same thing could be said for the PA?

Some other things that bug me:
I was not made aware that my position was an apprenticeship until I received my letter of agreement
I was denied travel assistance when I literally (yes literally) had to drive from coast to coast to make it to the job, and was only even contacted about it two weeks before.
I am not guaranteed 40 hours.
Our nice but old housing cost us  a set amount each week which is not a percentage based on your job or paycheck, but the same amount even when I don't make 40 hours (equity members and non-eq swings get free and brand new housing)
I do not see how this could be considered an apprenticeship since I graduated a year ago, there is no formal instruction of any type, I was hired because I "knew" the job not because they were looking for someone who was learning.
I feel like, as with a lot of apprenticeships, they want cheap labor not apprentices so why can't we just call it that?

 Maybe I am being ridiculous but this is (and my employer knew this) my third intern/apprenticeship so I am just over it. Basically what I learned is I need to be apart of the union or go into another field which I have been considering for some time. So employers can hate unions all they want but things like this are why they exist... they cause their own problems.
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MatthewShiner

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Re: Should The Cradle Rock?
« Reply #1 on: Jun 13, 2013, 06:07 am »
Quote
Anyway I'll explain. Under the LORT  B contract each show during the season requires an Equity SM and ASM, and one or two PAs are hired depending on where the show falls in the season. Well about 1/2 way through the run of each show the SM goes into rehearsal for the next show (with new PA's) and the ASM takes over the SM duties on the running show (with an equity required pay bump). If the ASM whose previous duties were "running the deck" is now in the booth "calling the show" does that not mean the PA is now basically taking on the duties of the ASM? If it is necessary to pay the ASM more when they bump up is it not reasonable to think the same thing could be said for the PA?

This is a hard one.  The pay bump is not something that producer wants to pay, they have to pay it.  I ran a program like this for years, where there was a SM, ASM, PA and Intern.  (Granted my intern was paid a very decent wage for theater, with overtime, sometimes making more then the AEA SMs on the show), and the intern was paid with housing - in a fairly structured intern program.  I don't think the pay bump should be paid to the PA, unless it was part of their contract.

Yes, the intern and apprenticeships as cheap labor is a problem.  How to solve it?  It's hard when people are willing to do it for free.  Unless people stand up for living wage, relocation packages, guaranteed hours.  It's part of the reason the AEA Union is so important - think, if Broadway producers could could hire non-AEA actors, they would do it . . . they could probably get good performers to fill roles at less then 1/3 of the cost, without pension and healthcare.  Because so many people are desperate for work . . . to create . . . they will work, work, work for so little.

I know young people are often desperate to credits, they will do anything for these jobs.  The main issue is low-paying job after low-paying job, when do you stand up and say "this is my value".  I know of a young stage manager who PA'ed themselves out of the business.  At the end of several years of PAing on Broadway, he found out that no one would hire him for a AEA position, because they know he could be hired at 350.00 a week.

It's a rough, rough business my friends.
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

BARussell

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Re: Should The Cradle Rock?
« Reply #2 on: Jun 13, 2013, 11:47 am »
I don't think the pay bump should be paid to the PA, unless it was part of their contract.

I agree, I didn't really know how the system worked (got first call two weeks before) if I had I probably would have asked about that. I would have done a lot of things differently actually. The last two jobs I have taken I was actually ready to quit the biz and got calls out of the blue for positions where the timing was right and I had nothing else lined up. I have extended this contract for two more shows because of the projects not the pay or place. I'll be working on two new shows with the possibility of future life, and very well know people involved. I figure if it's my swan song might as well go out on a high note.

I had to fight just to get them to agree that I can keep my room for the next shows,  the only apprentice room that has a private half bath attached. It feels like a joke.

Yes, the intern and apprenticeships as cheap labor is a problem.  How to solve it?  It's hard when people are willing to do it for free.  Unless people stand up for living wage, relocation packages, guaranteed hours.  It's part of the reason the AEA Union is so important -

That is exactly why I feel like I should stand up and say something, I am probably one of the few people who has come through here who can stand up and say this is BS, because I don't "need" the job or the housing and am not all that concerned about how I am perceived.

The disparity between the treatment of apprentices and technical staff vs. actors is out of control. For instance why do Non-eq swings get their equity card the last two weeks of the run but PA's aren't even told about EMC? So that we can be hired again and again for cheap. Because they know that the runs are so long here if a PA works on multiple shows they won't be able to hire them back the next season.

I feel like I am ranting, there are a lot of good things about the job, but that's what always happens, we ignore the things that are actually important because we are blinded by names, and "opportunities", and glitter, and razzle dazzle, I'm just tired of it.

P.S. Thank you for the insight Matthew.
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megf

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Re: Should The Cradle Rock?
« Reply #3 on: Jun 14, 2013, 01:03 pm »
My advice, BARussell (since our private exchange) is to keep a thoughtful, thorough record of your concerns. Based on my experience with this organization, I know these and similar concerns have been voiced by previous apprentices for years, and the outcomes (in terms of housing assignments, PA time management, mentorship vs. straightforward boss/worker supervision) have varied wildly.

PM me if you'd like to discuss further.

Liz113

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Re: Should The Cradle Rock?
« Reply #4 on: Jun 15, 2013, 09:03 am »
I don't know how useful my advise is because I am also an apprentice at a much smaller theatre and it's my first job right out of college.

But I think you should definitely say something. There are future generations of people trying to "break into the business" who will have to go through the exact same thing you do if nothing changes. Are there other apprentii? Maybe (if there are others) you could talk to them and see how they are feeling and then present the concerns as a whole unit. That way it can not be dismissed as "one person's opinion"? I don't what standard exit policy is there, but here they have exit interviews with all of the apprentii to see what worked, what didnt, and what they could improve. Perhaps suggest something like that and then be sure to say something on your way out?
Either way, If you don't say anything nothing will change. I think the living conditions of all future aprentii is worth saying something about the way your apprenticeship was handled.