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The Hardline / Re: LORT: Seasonal Contract
« on: Jun 08, 2010, 03:42 pm »
Just wanted to chime in here, having worked for many years in regional theatres on all three kinds of contracts Matthew describes, many of them at FallenRain's theatre (hi, CC!).
Regarding this part of Matthew's post:
"The last way, and I have no idea why theatres would do this, is you are on a separate contract. This works in the theatre's favor if there are weeks without a rehearsal/performance/pre-production. But, if there are ANY overlap weeks, you get paid twice. (I know of one theatre that does this a lot . . . seems like a waste of money)"
If you are on two separate contracts, you can be asked to come to rehearsal at 10am, leave at 6:30 and go directly backstage to set up for and run your evening show, which might run until or after 11pm, since you are on two completely separate paychecks. Or work a straight six-hour day, if the company has voted for that rehearsal option, and still do your show without any overtime involved. So while it costs more that overtime might in the long run, it may be easier for the producer to not have to count up overtime hours; also, each show could have different days off without the need to give the stage manager one of those days off. I never had any overlap when I was signed to a per-show contract, so never experienced any of those working conditions, luckily.
The seasonal contract is great for the continuous employment aspect, and if there is a dark week, you do get paid for that as well; however it is possible that some of that time might be able to be counted toward your vacation, instead of getting accrued vacation pay at the end, so you might check that out if there is off-time in there. And as FallenRain says, even if you are assigned mid-season as ASM or moved to a second theatre with a lower LORT rating and salary level, you maintain your contracted SM salary, which was not the case when on separate contracts for each production...
Frankly, in this economy, if you can find a job for a whole season and they'll pay your housing, I'd jump on it!
Julie
Regarding this part of Matthew's post:
"The last way, and I have no idea why theatres would do this, is you are on a separate contract. This works in the theatre's favor if there are weeks without a rehearsal/performance/pre-production. But, if there are ANY overlap weeks, you get paid twice. (I know of one theatre that does this a lot . . . seems like a waste of money)"
If you are on two separate contracts, you can be asked to come to rehearsal at 10am, leave at 6:30 and go directly backstage to set up for and run your evening show, which might run until or after 11pm, since you are on two completely separate paychecks. Or work a straight six-hour day, if the company has voted for that rehearsal option, and still do your show without any overtime involved. So while it costs more that overtime might in the long run, it may be easier for the producer to not have to count up overtime hours; also, each show could have different days off without the need to give the stage manager one of those days off. I never had any overlap when I was signed to a per-show contract, so never experienced any of those working conditions, luckily.
The seasonal contract is great for the continuous employment aspect, and if there is a dark week, you do get paid for that as well; however it is possible that some of that time might be able to be counted toward your vacation, instead of getting accrued vacation pay at the end, so you might check that out if there is off-time in there. And as FallenRain says, even if you are assigned mid-season as ASM or moved to a second theatre with a lower LORT rating and salary level, you maintain your contracted SM salary, which was not the case when on separate contracts for each production...
Frankly, in this economy, if you can find a job for a whole season and they'll pay your housing, I'd jump on it!
Julie