Messages

2026

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Drinking Games

« on: Sep 18, 2006, 02:15 pm »

Scott:

Thanks for the edit - typing early in the morning is hard.  I went back and did the modify in the origional post.

Now . . . the question is what to drink at the tech table.  For years, I have asked my LX crew to install a blender so just once in my career I can call a hold, and then have the sound of my blender making a pina colda be heard in the house. 

2027

The Hardline / Re: Light Board Pay

« on: Sep 18, 2006, 02:12 pm »

Contact your business rep, and have them contact the producers.

I have found my business rep has found "underpayments" for me or my staff  in the past (such as when the contract rate goes up mid contract), and they contacted the producer.

If you are being paid minimum and your contract says you should be paid extra, then it would be easy for them to put two and two together.

2028

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Drinking Games

« on: Sep 18, 2006, 10:54 am »

Look - I moved the thread.

No, I made those up this morning.

Sadly, all I had to do is think over the past three years of techs to come up with that.

(And yes, we did loose a very large piece of scenery on stage . . . I had to bit my toung to inform them that it was most likely in the air, one the chain hosit, where they put, before intermission - where indeed it was hanging.)

2029

SMNetwork Archives / Drinking Games

« on: Sep 18, 2006, 07:29 am »

Other good drinking games during tech

1. "Up a point, down a point" - anytime the lighting designer changes a cue, only to change it right back, drink.
2. "Does a cue go here?" Anytime time the lighting designer turns to you and ask if a cue goes in a certain location, drink.
3. "Were there stairs in the rehearsal hall?"  Anytime an actor asks about a piece of set that was taped out for the last five weeks, you reminded them about, but they still never really understood, drink.
4. "Can we take that one more time" When the director request to take a sequence one more time, even though nothing was changed from the last time, and no new cues were added, drink. (Note; if he does it twice in a row, drink twice, three times, three times, etc.)
5. "Where's the scenic designer?" Every time the director wants the scenic designer, and they are not in the room, drink.  (DOUBLE SHOT IF THE DESIGNER IS ASLEEP IN THE THEATRE.)
6. "They are a Servant too?"  Anytime the costume designer is shocked that a certain member of the ensemble needs a specific costume, even though it was a) discussed in the production meeting, b) note given in the report and c) discussed with the deisgner, drink.
7. 'What throne?"  Anytime the prop shop seems shocked about a prop in the show, drink.  (Drink twice, if they have forgotten about or late with a prop SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED in the script, aka, Othello's handkerchief.)
8. "We can't find . . . "  Everytime someone from the deck crew looses something drink:
8a. If they can't find a hand prop, drink once.
8b. If they can't find an actor, drink twice.
8c. If they can't find a scenic piece larger then a bed, drink three times.
9. "We didn't rehease that" Drink for everytime you get a transtion or section of the play, which for some reason was not rehearsed in the rehearsal hall.
10. "One down"  Drink every time you turn you page in the script.

2030

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: ASM choice conflict

« on: Sep 18, 2006, 12:16 am »

Intersting note:

In the world you don't always get a chance to pick you ASMs . . . it's often done by the production manager.

It might be an interesting experiment to work "Stu".

2031

Stage Management: Other / Re: Operations Management

« on: Sep 16, 2006, 10:32 pm »

Welcome Rich from New Haven.

2032

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: how do u put on spikes/marker if your set is full of gravel and sand?

« on: Sep 16, 2006, 07:39 pm »

What do you need to spike in the gravel and sand?

2033

College and Graduate Studies / Re: Grad School vs Experience

« on: Sep 15, 2006, 02:05 pm »

It's not always grad school vs experience, you do experience while in grad school.

Please check previous posts, as there are threads about this.

If you want specific information about grad school, and if it is the right choice for you; I am from the pro-grad school camp (although I do NOT think it is for everyone), you can private me.

Best of luck on your decision.

2034

College and Graduate Studies / Re: College advice

« on: Sep 10, 2006, 11:01 pm »

Ariel, what program did you go to?

2035

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: prompt books

« on: Sep 10, 2006, 10:59 pm »

Given that most of our paperwork is done on the computer, I would recommend that one do a back up of all your paperwork on DVD or CD - making a virtual prompt book. 

You then can use this to print out paperwork as needed.

2036

Tools of the Trade / Re: What is Gaffer Tape?

« on: Sep 09, 2006, 03:32 pm »

Black Gaff Tape, also know as Gaffer's tape is pretty much which hold's theatre together.

From Wikipedia

Gaffer tape (also, gaffer's tape, gaff tape, gaffing tape, cloth tape, and more colloquially Jesus Tape or The Force) is a tough, fabric backed adhesive tape used in the motion picture, television, stage (music and theater) and other entertainment industries, and elsewhere. Sometimes it is spelled as "Gaffa" tape", a brand name. The tape is manufactured in many colours, including fluorescent and custom colours, but the most common varieties include matte black, since this blends in with the typical stage floor of a theatre, red tape for obvious warnings or as staging marks for the blocking of actors or camera, and white tape which can be used imperceptibly to an audience or camera on lighter surfaces or as visible marks on darker ones as well as often being used to seal cans of unexposed film such as short ends. The white tape is also used extensively by live sound engineers who place a strip along the bottom of the mixing board allowing them to label the channels used for a particular show. Although the tape is difficult to break by pulling, it is easily torn by hand along either axis and leaves little to no residue when removed, though it will remove patches of some paints from the surface of drywall, and can remove finishes from wooden surfaces. When cables are taped down on a stage or other surface, either for safety or to keep them out of view of the audience or camera, they are said to be gaffered or gaffed.
The tape is most likely named for the gaffer, the head of the lighting department on a film crew.
A 4" wide version, commonly known as Dutchman's tape, is also available. This name probably came from the common method of plastering two canvas flats together. As 2" gaffer tape is easier to deal with, it has become more commonly used. Electrics and Grips commonly carry one or more colors of 1" tape as part of their personal kit. Gaffer tape is manufactured in six-foot tubes which are then cut into narrower rolls for sale. This means that extra-wide gaffer up to (as an extreme example) six feet can be special-ordered, though it can be hard to pull the tape from very wide rolls.
The tape is commonly referred to within the British Army as 'black and nasty'.
In the US, duct tape, although a different material, is frequently used for similar purposes outside of the entertainment industry.
Gaffer tape should not be confused with camera tape, which comes in a similar range of sizes and colors but is a low adhesion paper tape.
Gaffer Tape is also known as "Binding Tape" as many Library Binders will use it to finish off the binding on library books.


Used backstage . . .

Tape down cable, tape up masking, use white gaff tape to safety tape . . .on and on . . .

2037

The Hardline / Re: tracking time on an hourly contract

« on: Sep 05, 2006, 02:34 pm »

In the LORT Contract, the Straight Six counts as 8 hours when you figure out the work week hours (Each six-hour rehearsal block used shall count as eight purposes of calculating the hours rehearsed in a work week - 50.2.B.ii.)

(which is why there is a separate rule if you do a week of straight sixes, since it would take you over the total work week hours - but it is allowed, with additional outside rehearsal hours)

I think, as stage managers, we often look at the straight six and see it as a most wonderful thing in that it tightens up our day to 6 hours total, as opposed to ten hours, an eight with a 2 hour break.  But, there a lot of pluses from the producer side as well.  Some of them may not always apply, but some I have thought about . . .

1) Reduces the hours a rehearsal room needs to be rented.
2) Reduces the salary of non-union staff members (PA's for example)
3) It allows an actor to put in a full day of rehearsal in a short time, possibly allowing them to do a show at night on another contract (Or, in my case . . . I do a very sneaky three rule combine effort . . . I take an actor who is rehearsing one show during the day, and performing another show at night . . . .add that to uping the rehearsal block to 5.5 hours since we elect NOT to rehearse on a two show day . . . combing that with a straight six, with the "20 minute break at the end of the call . . . I can get 5.5 hours of uninterrupted rehearsal.)
4) For those theatres that have to transport actors during the meal break, they just saved on those costs.
5) As far as a director is concerned, sometimes then block without the meal break is more desirable.  How many times have we noticed that after a meal break, rehearsal just goes down the tubes?
6) Sometimes when you have an artistic director directing, they are only available six hours a day, so it’s nice to get in, get the show rehearsed and get out.

I am sure there are plenty of reasons from the producers’ side why they would want the straight six.

But all of this REALLY only makes sense when it’s all free time anyway – when everyone is on a weekly schedule, we are just using the hours we have already bought on the weekly salary.

In the case of hourly, it does seem fair that Equity says if you are doing a straight six, which is a little harder on the cast, then there should be some extra compensation for that.  If the producer does not like the result, they can just stipulate that there will be no straight six rehearsals – end of story. 

So, I agree with the rep, as confusing as it is, a straight six should be billed as a full day, since, at least in the LORT contract, Equity has set a precedent of 6=a full day.

2038

The Hardline / Re: MRE

« on: Sep 01, 2006, 08:16 am »

More remunerative employment

2039

The Hardline / Re: tracking time on an hourly contract

« on: Sep 01, 2006, 12:22 am »

I am unaware of the specifics of the hourly contract.

But on the LORT Contract they have those ever confusing words "Each six-hour rehearsal block used shall count as eight purposes of calculating the hours rehearsed in a work week."  So, this may be the root of this.  I remember trying to explain this to a director . . . and have him just get more and more worked up.

2040

The Hardline / Re: Casting for Equity Understudies

« on: Sep 01, 2006, 12:18 am »

You should really discuss the specifics with your producer, as all of these depend.

Basically, you are not responsible for any of these things per contract . . . you don't even have to show up for audition.  (For the nine months I ran a musical, understudies came and gone, I just got their contact information and their start date.)