Author Topic: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown  (Read 6009 times)

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Skulking

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POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« on: Feb 18, 2012, 06:27 pm »
I am just about to close my first show as a solo SM, and the biggest headache for me throughout the process has been figuring out who is responsible for which aspects of the show.  This is community theatre so things aren't as organized as they could be.  I don't like to work like that.  I believe in having a clear understanding of what my job entails, and what my duties and expectations are.  To that end, before starting the show I laid out my expectations of what my responsibilities for the production would entail.  The contract I signed covered most of these things, and the things which weren't explicitly covered were easily agreed to since I was asking to do more than they expected.  The problem I ran into during the production was that while I had a clear understanding of my responsibilities, I realized that I had never received a clear breakdown of other peoples responsibilities.  I had certain preconceived notions of what I expected different staff positions to do, and while overall they were close, there were some significant differences which I was only finding out about as issues came up.  Obviously I now know better than to expect every theatre company to have the same titles mean the same responsibilities especially when in community theatre companies may merge positions etc.  Moving forward I would like to avoid having this happen.  I suspect things are different for Equity SMs vs. community theatre, but I would value any input from anyone as to how you typically deal with this sort of situation. 

At the post show feedback session, I plan on bringing this up as a problem I had.  I would like to propose that there be a handbook for all of the staff positions which explains what the responsibilities are.  It may be a bit of work, but I feel it would be beneficial.  What are your thoughts on this? 

catalinacisne

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #1 on: Feb 19, 2012, 05:58 pm »
In college I was AD of a student-run theatre company for 2 years, and we had a handbook very similar to what you mentioned. The theatre company was run by a seven-person board who split the day-to-day, show-to-show, and season-long responsibilities between them. It was rare for anyone to serve on the board in the same capacity for over a year, so the handbook was incredibly valuable given the high turn-over. Each position's responsibilities were clearly outlined, sample forms were included, procedures specified, etc. It was a great resource to have. I highly recommend every company with a high turn-over to have a similar book.

Maribeth

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #2 on: Feb 19, 2012, 11:10 pm »
I think that (as someone who freelances) figuring out responsibilities is a big part of the job as you move from theatre to theatre. Obviously many things are the same but there are some things that vary- like who is responsible for buying food props during the run, for example.

During prep week, I ask the production manager any questions I have about who is responsible for what tasks. I don't think you can anticipate every question that might come up, but this gives me a good head start on knowing who at the organization to go to with certain questions. And then, continue to ask questions as you go! It takes time to learn the operation of a new theatre- after a few shows it won't be such a surprise.

yomanda

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #3 on: Feb 20, 2012, 10:32 am »
During prep week, I ask the production manager any questions I have about who is responsible for what tasks. I don't think you can anticipate every question that might come up, but this gives me a good head start on knowing who at the organization to go to with certain questions. And then, continue to ask questions as you go! It takes time to learn the operation of a new theatre- after a few shows it won't be such a surprise.

I agree with Maribeth. 
I work with a community theatre regularly and nearly always with the same director and the same basic run crew.  But it seems that some of my responsibilities will shift slightly from show to show, so I have found that it is best not to assume too much, but to ask plenty of questions to make sure I am on the same page and understand what it is expected and that I get the pertinent information I need. 

SMrose

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #4 on: Feb 20, 2012, 11:46 am »
Keep in mind that some community theatres don't have production managers.  The technical director (who usually doubles as set designer) would be the person to ask for clarification on who does what in that particular theatre.  I would also suggest the artistic director (who quite often is the director of most of the shows) as the go-to-for-answers person.
A hand book is nice but you may find you have to write it yourself and get approval on content from the board/staff.

Skulking

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #5 on: Feb 20, 2012, 02:11 pm »
In this production, I had two Co-Producers, a Technical Director, a Master Carpenter, a Scenic Designer, a Lighting Designer, a Sound Designer, Costume Designer, and a Properties Designer.  The breakdown of responsibilities between myself and the TD and the Master Carpenter was the hardest for me to figure out.  It felt like every time something came up which I would expect the TD to be responsible for I ask them to do it only to be told that was my responsibility or the Master Carpenters responsibility.  I was asking questions whenever anything came up, I just feel that it would have been more efficient if I had a reference to go to instead of needing to ask whose responsibility something was every time there was a question. 

Since I do expect to work with the group again, I am not opposed to working with them to create a handbook.  I don't think it would be terribly difficult as they already have all of the responsibilities broken down clearly in the individual contracts, the problem right now is that you never see anyone's contract other than your own so you don't have that information. 

MatthewShiner

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #6 on: Feb 20, 2012, 02:51 pm »
Quote
  It felt like every time something came up which I would expect the TD to be responsible for I ask them to do it only to be told that was my responsibility or the Master Carpenters responsibility.

I have to tell you, every show, every theater will be different.  Some theaters what the TD to deal with things until the show opens, then the master carpenter takes over - some expect at load in for the Maste Carpenter to take over.  It's always best to feel these things out, or ask ahead of time.

It's always a challenge to figure it out . . .

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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.

nick_tochelli

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #7 on: Feb 20, 2012, 03:47 pm »
Once I got out of college, I took the stance that everything was my responsibility until someone came along and took it from me. I then wondered why I was burned out so often.....

Once I learned I was digging an early grave for myself, I thought it best to basically do the same thing except ask the person I thought would be most responsible if it's something they'd be taking care of. If they said no, I'd ask who should be taking care of it. If they didn't know, I'd most likely do it myself.

As for creating a handbook: I once was a proponent of those. I'm not so much anymore. Even within rigid professional theatrical structures things are fluid as to who will take responsibility for things.

planetmike

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #8 on: Feb 20, 2012, 04:16 pm »
While I can definitely see how a true handbook would get out of date quickly, you should still keep written notes on who is responsible for what. Maybe make a note it in your daily rehearsal reports. Or worse case, keep a note for yourself that John the producer told you Sam the carpenter was responsible for X.

Skulking

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #9 on: Feb 20, 2012, 04:49 pm »
Thanks for all of the responses.  From what I am hearing it doesn't sound like there is a better way to do it than to ask any questions on this subject you can think of beforehand, and to ask questions when anything you didn't think of beforehand comes up.  I am still going to recommend a handbook be created at least as a starting point even if it isn't completely detailed and may be subject to change, I feel having it as a baseline would be useful and certain items should be fairly set in stone such as policies on dealing with children in shows, and how the group runs the house.  I'm glad to hear that people with so much more experience than me still deal with these issues.  It bothered me that I didn't know the answers to these questions already, and I felt like I wasn't doing my job properly.  I appreciate all of your input, and if anyone has anything further to add I would love to hear it. 

BayAreaSM

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #10 on: Feb 21, 2012, 02:13 am »
Personally, I have a running list. Every time I come into a situation, regardless of where I'm working, and there's a question of "who is really responsible for this?" I add it to my list. At the top of every new job, I sit with the PM (or other person in that general job-title-area as discussed above) and go over my entire list. At one job I actually had separate sit downs with the PM, the Company Manager and the Casting Director - just so I could get all of my answers.

After I finished my gig at that company, I updated my question list to be "my task list" for that company. I then generalized the question list to prepare for the next theater - I asked all my questions, updated the list even more, then saved again. It's been extremely helpful for me to always have this long list of questions to be prepared with.

And now, after you've gone through this experience, your list can really start to take shape. Write down all questions you've had and their particular answers for this show. For the next show, sit with the TD again and review the questions for that particular show - responsibilities may have changed. And granted, depending on the job-title mix that the theater has at any particular time, responsibilities may shift show to show. (How about working without a Company Manager and an Artistic Director? Going through that myself right now, and responsibilities are shifting to lots of people, while new jobs are created. I've been with my company for 9 seasons and we're still figuring it out. We just ask a lot of questions of each other to figure out who really does what.)

While the handbook sounds great, you never know when a company may decide to reorganize, or companies may discover than an assistant handles a task better than the boss, and responsibilities are constantly shifted. Go show by show, keep your list of "what it was last time" and always ask questions. If you don't ask, you're never going to know.

Skulking

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Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown
« Reply #11 on: Feb 21, 2012, 09:47 pm »
That's a great idea.  Thanks.