Author Topic: RUNNING: Prop/costume responsibility  (Read 9774 times)

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nick_tochelli

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Re: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #15 on: Feb 11, 2013, 03:34 pm »
Agree with Matthew. 110%. If the producer comes to me and asks "Why did X, Y, and Z happen?" It's on me. Either someone wasn't trained properly, supervised properly, or checked properly. If it's a member of my staff, we go discuss how to prevent it from happening again. I'm not throwing them under the bus. That won't accomplish anything except to dissolve trust and put everyone on edge which almost guarantees more mistakes in the future.

dallas10086

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Re: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #16 on: Feb 11, 2013, 03:56 pm »
To throw a wrench into the discussion - or not - there is no ASM. About half the crew are full-time freelance professionals, while the other half are not. We are not a teaching facility, persay, though situations like these tend to provide lessons all their own. While a system was in place and had worked through up until the 2nd to last performance, obviously something went wrong this one time.

I was not interested in playing the blame game and I agree that fault for failing to have a back-up plan for missing props/costumes falls squarely on my shoulders. However, I was appalled by the fact that the items in question exchanged so many hands without alarms going off, or if they did that shoulders were shrugged and the items passed along as-is. I think we've all had moments in our careers where we got too comfortable with our tracks and looked over *that one thing* that we were sure we covered - in this case she swears she did the preset, even though it was clear she didn't. Did she have a preset list? Yes. Did she use it? No, she got comfortable with the routine, and her co-workers, as back-up check system, failed too.

What really hit me, and why I brought it forward for discussion here, was the way that no one came forward to claim responsibility for their part in the situation. Not fault, but responsibility. I was waiting for that one person out of our student-run crew (college, mostly) to come forward as a shining example, and it didn't happen. That's the kind of thing I keep a mental checklist of - who takes the most care of their reputation. I want to rehire people that own up quickly and move past it, not someone who says, "I swear I did the preset, maybe someone took them off the hangers."

MatthewShiner

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Re: RUNNING: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #17 on: Feb 11, 2013, 08:27 pm »
Quote
What really hit me, and why I brought it forward for discussion here, was the way that no one came forward to claim responsibility for their part in the situation.

The ability to step forward and say "That was my responsibility, that was my fault" only comes from maturity.  I know stage managers in their 50's who don't have that skill set.

It's EXTREMELY difficult for to be the SM without an ASM running the deck - how can you be eyes everywhere at every time.
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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.

Hghawley

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Re: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #18 on: Feb 11, 2013, 08:37 pm »
There is blame - no fire and pitchforks - but without responsibility - this problem will happen again.

I agree with this. Usually I tell all my actors to check their props and such before the show and if it is something like that i usually will hold the actor responsible and tell them it really shouldn't happen again. At least everything was fine in the end and the actor was able to cover it up. If my actors can cover up their mistake I compliment them on it but do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.

MatthewShiner

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Re: RUNNING: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #19 on: Feb 11, 2013, 10:24 pm »
You can never expect an actor to check their props . . . it takes a very special actor to walk through and do a double check.  But the reality is the prop person should set it, check, and stage management should do the double check. 

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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.

Jessie_K

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Re: RUNNING: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #20 on: Feb 11, 2013, 11:58 pm »
You can never expect an actor to check their props . . . it takes a very special actor to walk through and do a double check.  But the reality is the prop person should set it, check, and stage management should do the double check.

As much as we want to believe that our casts will always check their important props, they won't always do it.  Even if they normally do check, there will always be the day that they don't.  I've even had MAGICIANS not check their own preset.

loebtmc

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Re: RUNNING: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #21 on: Feb 12, 2013, 12:30 am »
Yes.

dallas10086

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Re: RUNNING: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #22 on: Feb 12, 2013, 06:47 am »
Quote
What really hit me, and why I brought it forward for discussion here, was the way that no one came forward to claim responsibility for their part in the situation.

It's EXTREMELY difficult for to be the SM without an ASM running the deck - how can you be eyes everywhere at every time.

Yes, I agree! And we made it so far without a snafu...I had high hopes :)

You can never expect an actor to check their props . . . it takes a very special actor to walk through and do a double check.  But the reality is the prop person should set it, check, and stage management should do the double check. 

My deck chief was very quick to place blame on the actors by saying 'this cast never checks their props.' My response was that, while that would certainly be nice and beneficial to have a cast of 20 do things like check their props, be off-book on time, always sign-in, etc., the simple fact is that most of them think those are extras, not givens. OUR job, however, is to check their props, remind them the off-book date, get on them for signing in, etc.

amandaackovitz

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Re: Prop/costume responsibility
« Reply #23 on: Feb 12, 2013, 01:40 pm »
Physical Checklists you Check Off Every Show.

Use them, get your crew to use them.

Two shows days are always ripe for mistakes . . . you have the memory in your head "Oh, I already set that prop."

Pre-show checklists are some of the only things that I still do not do electronically. As an ASM, I've got paper and pen checklists for all presets for all of my shows, and I make sure to check every single thing off once the rest of the crew has declared that they are "done with preset". As an SM, I look to my ASM to take this responsibility on; ultimately, everything that occurs backstage, including presets, I hold ASMs accountable for (with rare exception).