Author Topic: COMMUNICATION: Navigating break-giving (and directors who won't break)  (Read 4756 times)

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Dart

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Hi all,

How have you dealt with directors who refuse to give breaks? Nobody in my cast is equity, so we don't have to follow strict guidelines - to my chagrin, because I feel an alarm and an equity-related apology would work wonders here. My production manager expects at least a 5-minute every two hours, which seems short if anything, but even with half-hour warnings (disguised as a polite "it's break time" rather than "we should break in half an hour") my director doesn't want to stop. This holds true even if the actors are obviously spent and stepping offstage every two minutes for a drink of water. Today he went for 2.5 hours without a break!

I'm new to professional stage management (thankfully he doesn't know how new) and look really young, and I'm dealing with a European director who doesn't even understand what an SM is or does. How can I assert my authority without threatening him?

Edited to add topic tag- Maribeth
« Last Edit: Sep 10, 2013, 02:08 pm by Maribeth »

Maribeth

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Re: Navigating break-giving (and directors who won't break)
« Reply #1 on: Aug 11, 2013, 03:21 pm »
If the company requires a 5-min break every 2 hours then that's what he needs to take. (I don't think that's a long enough break for actors to get a drink, eat a snack, use the restroom, etc, but that's something to take up with the PM.) If I were in that situation, I would pull the director aside and tell him that you need to take these breaks, but that you're happy to give him a warning to let him know when breaks are approaching.

I think half an hour is too long for a warning, as the director can easily get caught up in whatever scene you're working on and forget. 5-10 minutes usually works for me. I will sometimes also include something like, "We have time to run through this scene one more time, and then we will take a break."

Picking a good time for a break also helps- no director wants to stop in the middle of the scene to take a break, so offering something like, "We have to take a break in 5 minutes- would you rather break now so that we don't have to stop mid-scene?"

He needs to understand the need for/importance of breaks. If talking to him doesn't work, it might be time for either the PM or someone higher up at the theatre to talk to him.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Navigating break-giving (and directors who won't break)
« Reply #2 on: Aug 12, 2013, 04:08 am »
This does not end when you turn AEA . . . I've worked with several directors who hate taking breaks - loudly announcing "WELL, YOUR UNION SAYS WE TAKE ANOTHER BREAK NOW."

Maribeth is dead on about finding the break time naturally.  Let's say you are an 1 hour 35 in, and he has finished a scene, say, "We can take our five here . . . ".  It's sooner then you should, but a much more natural breaking point which makes sense.  Also it situations like this . . . I try to break others perhaps not in the scene on time, so the director can't go on . . . "Oh, it was time for a break, so I let them have five."

At the end of the day, though, you have to stand up and say "We are taking five.".  You may get pushed back . . .but after awhile the director should get the idea . . . remember, you don't work for the director, you work for the producer - and the producer says 5 minute breaks every two hours.

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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.

Dart

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Re: Navigating break-giving (and directors who won't break)
« Reply #3 on: Aug 14, 2013, 04:31 pm »
Thank you two so much for your advice! I do see this as both an issue of whom I work for (not the director) and of safety - I don't want my exhausted cast injuring themselves.

I've tried to give earlier breaks and it didn't work either, so I'm now in talks with my PM. I don't particularly want to bring in the grown-ups and "tell on" my director, but I have a job to do and I can't do that if I keep being shooed away.

As a pure hypothetical (because I'm not going to allow it to get to this point): is it ever okay, as an SM, to announce a break anyway? Say, go on stage and say that it's break time and it doesn't matter if they're halfway through a scene. I know it would create unnecessary tension through the entire rest of the rehearsal period, so I don't think I would ever do it. Have you ever had to do something along those lines?

loebtmc

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Re: Navigating break-giving (and directors who won't break)
« Reply #4 on: Aug 14, 2013, 06:54 pm »
Quote
As a pure hypothetical (because I'm not going to allow it to get to this point): is it ever okay, as an SM, to announce a break anyway? Say, go on stage and say that it's break time and it doesn't matter if they're halfway through a scene. I know it would create unnecessary tension through the entire rest of the rehearsal period, so I don't think I would ever do it. Have you ever had to do something along those lines?

I would wait for a natural breaking point. But I know actors, too, who don't like to break. But when I see their brains fill up and stop being able to absorb new info, I tell the director that we need a break.

On_Headset

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Re: Navigating break-giving (and directors who won't break)
« Reply #5 on: Aug 14, 2013, 09:50 pm »
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remember, you don't work for the director, you work for the producer
Dingdingdingdingdingdingding!
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As a pure hypothetical (because I'm not going to allow it to get to this point): is it ever okay, as an SM, to announce a break anyway? Say, go on stage and say that it's break time and it doesn't matter if they're halfway through a scene.
I can hypothetically think of situations where this might be necessary and, as a result, appropriate, but I think these situations would be far better-resolved at the planning and scheduling phase.

If you've got an hour-long scene that can't possibly be interrupted for any reason because it throws everything off and we have to restart from the top and UGH UGH UGH UGH UGH, you should be framing the entire rehearsal schedule around these enormous inconvenient hour-long marathons, not shoehorning them in wherever the director finds convenient.

If the director is unable to prepare a rehearsal schedule which complies with the union rules or the actors' contracts or with company policy (and if you've already had this go-round with them, and if they just refuse to comply), that's a personnel matter: call in the quarterback and go whine at the production office.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Navigating break-giving (and directors who won't break)
« Reply #6 on: Aug 16, 2013, 12:19 am »
Look, if the director is going to fight you on this, then you need to push back.

Give him a ten minute warning, 5 minute warning, stand up 60 seconds before the break, and then say "excuse me, but it's time for a break - everyone, take ten, we will come back here."

Listen, if you ever get to the AEA world, there is financial burden for not taking breaks on time.  And no General Manager in the world is going to want to pay overtime because the SM can't figure out how to get the director to take the break.

There is no right way for a SM to get a director to take a break - it all depends on your management style and your relationship to the director.  You need to figure it out on your own.  I could tell you all the tricks and secrets I have used in the past - but they were based on my management style and how I worked with that specific director - and you attempting to try to duplicate my style and method could backfire.

Look, stage management is not for the weak or fearful - you have to be a leader, and not just to the crew, to the cast, but for the entire production - including leading the director.  It's something that can't be taught - it's something that you either have or don't have - I suspect you have it in you, you need to stretch your management muscles and push your style a bit.
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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.

 

riotous