Author Topic: Career Standby, career....go!  (Read 3058 times)

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RoseLabarre

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Career Standby, career....go!
« on: Jan 09, 2016, 01:07 pm »
Hi, SMNetwork!

I just got my first SM job yesterday (WOO!) and was wondering if you could help me since I am such fresh meat.
I have been working small PA jobs here and there and worked as a PA and Music Dept Assistant for both Bartlett Sher productions; The King and I and Fiddler on the Roof.
I have done ASM jobs at school, but have never gotten the glorious title of SM until NOW!
I have always loved being being the scenes and when I found out that SMing is a career, I freaked out and have been interested ever since.

I have already read the script and sent out emails to the cast to gather their contact info and availability. What next? I don't know what order in which I should do things. I should also add that I have been given barely any information. Only the script and the name of the director.

Please Help!

smejs

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Re: Career Standby, career....go!
« Reply #1 on: Jan 09, 2016, 06:57 pm »
Welcome!

There's no "right" order to start things, but I'd say you have two areas to focus on - one getting yourself ready, and one gathering what info you can from others. See who else has info of anyone else involved besides the actors - designers, technicians, etc, for the same contact sheet. Also, has anyone started a calendar?

As for yourself, go back through the script and start making yourself a breakdown of whatever is helpful to you. Props, scenery, costumes, sounds mentioned. Go back again through and work on a scene breakdown for actors - or even just yourself to tab out the script for what locations are which scenes. These two items will be most useful to then after you start working with everyone else and you'll have a decent handle on the show itself. I often have those two things at least in rough format before I actually start communicating with the director. He/she may have their own breakdowns (yay! - better to just see if you have the same things), but again, you'll know more what you're discussing.

And continue to poke around here for lots of ideas.

Good luck!
Erin

Maribeth

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Re: Career Standby, career....go!
« Reply #2 on: Jan 10, 2016, 12:55 pm »
Welcome aboard, Rose!

There are some helpful pre-production checklists on this forum- you might get some ideas from them about what to do in preparation. Creating your own, personalized checklist will give you a jumping-off point for future productions.

Erin's got a good start there. Understanding the show will help you figure out what the next step is. Once you have a list of questions, I like to set up a meeting with the production manager to ask them what's already been figured out- the who, what, when, where and how of everything. After that, I set up meetings or conversations with the director and other creative and production team members, and figure out my next steps of the process.

Congrats on your first SM gig!

RoseLabarre

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Re: Career Standby, career....go!
« Reply #3 on: Jan 12, 2016, 07:24 pm »
Thank you for your advice! Much appreciated. About to start the first read-through!

 :)