Author Topic: Are your shows safe from busses?  (Read 8440 times)

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Mac Calder

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Are your shows safe from busses?
« on: Nov 11, 2009, 03:32 am »
I thought I would pose this subject to all those SM's who are new to the business after an experiance I had a couple of nights ago (and since I left being an SM, seems to happen quite frequently).

I get a call at 1400 a few days ago from a good friend of mine. He is an artistic director for a small theatre company in Melbourne. He is calling in a flat panic because his SM and ASM have both caught the flu, so neither would be in for that nights show. It was a fairly standard type show - a hundred or so LX cues, 30 or so sound cues, a bunch of deck and fly cues etc. 12 person cast. Could I come in and fill in? He had the show prompt book and a DVD, apparently their SM was really efficient.

Technical team coukd be in at 1700, and doors would be at 1930. That gave me a bit of time to look over the prompt book, and chat with the techs, run through things etc.

So he ran the DVD over to me at work and the prompt book, and I flip through it, instantly seeing that there is no way I could call the show based on the prompt book. At least not easily. The cues were all written inside symbols scattered over the page - LX in circles, AX in triangles, deck in squares - and there was no key. Preset notes were written in short hand and there were no copies of stage plots or anything of the sort. It was obvious that this SM had a system that worked really well for them, but it was quite left of field and unitelligable to people who don't know shorthand (ie the majority of people today).

Luckily I could call the SM and get the details about symbology and shorthand from her, but what if she was uncontactable?

Food for thought? Discuss? Do you live by the "hit by a bus" theory?
« Last Edit: Nov 13, 2009, 06:50 pm by Mac Calder »

amdram

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #1 on: Nov 11, 2009, 07:25 am »
I regard 'bus-proofing' shows as very important.

My prompt books are as clear as I can make them, so that anyone could pick them up and call the show. Well, anyone who understands what 'LX Q4 Go' means, for instance.  ;D

klcurrie

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #2 on: Nov 11, 2009, 07:49 am »
Absolutely.  EVERYTHING is on paper....everything.  Ever since experiencing a large scale show that was hit by a major illness and seen a very complicated ASM track run from the paperwork (on a night when 6 people total were out), the importance of this has rung true.  We all can get sloppy and over confident, but that was a reinforcement for me that every minute detail should be in the paperwork.

megf

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #3 on: Nov 11, 2009, 09:25 am »
Definitely on board (heh!) with the bus-proofing - especially since we brought in a sub ASM while the staff ASM here is out due to flu concerns.

I have also been on teams where color-blindness was a concern, so I tend to avoid any color coding that is not also supported clearly by text. For example - using multiple cue lights, I may print "Rail 75 on BLUE" in blue ink... but never leave it to chance that a sub, trained or not, would understand something less obvious.

SMrose

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #4 on: Nov 11, 2009, 09:31 am »
Ditto for me on clear markings in my prompt book for cues and all paperwork included (shift plots, prop plots, contact info, etc.). I've been in your shoes more than once, Mac, following  scripts with cues all over the pages and no stand-bys or warns marked (one had the same LX cue twice...hmmm, which is the actual cue?).  Oh, yeah... and leave your book at the theatre!

valence

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #5 on: Nov 11, 2009, 09:58 am »
I'm currently sming my school's fall musical (Into the Woods).  We're a boarding school, so illnesses spread extremely quickly and sick kids leave campus until they are better, so we made every possible attempt to 'bus-proof' (or swine-flu-proof, in this case) the show. 
One thing that I've found to be very helpful is to have plots at two different detail levels.  For fly, they have a sheet with the songs that movement happens during and what happens, and a more detailed sheet with exactly when the movement happens and how fast.  The first sheet is what they have up there during the show and are looking at, so they know when they can work on homework up there or something; the second could be used to write all the cues into a prompt book, if needed.  Last night's rehearsal, the headsets stopped working part way through and both the people doing fly were home sick, but their replacements were able to use the more detailed sheet to get through the show.

For lights cues, I taught both my ASMs how to call a show, making them practise the hardest sequences.  Hopefully, if something were to happen to me, they'd be able to call the show on their own.

One thing that we did realise we needed to communicate better were the prop plots.  We had when the prop needed to be somewhere, but not how it was getting there from the previous scene, so when I had to send the ASM who normally supervises props to fix something else, we ended up not having Jack's harp for a scene it should've been it.

Mac Calder

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #6 on: Nov 11, 2009, 01:40 pm »
How much of our "absolutely everything is written down" is actually true though. This SM had been working for the company for years. The ASM understood shorthand and her symbols (the SM team in this company has been the same for over 10 years) and the ASM had the stage plots in her binder (which was given to the replacement ASM I found out later). What traps do you think we walk into? Where do you draw the line between efficiency and thoroughness? How much redundancy is required?

BLee

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #7 on: Nov 11, 2009, 03:46 pm »
I have always done my best to abide by the bus theory, but I agree Mac, that what we feel is prepared is often not enough for a complete stranger to call the show. For instance, I also make my markings clear (LQ#, SQ_, etc) or at least as clear as I can. A replacement SM could probably figure my system out pretty quickly.

My personal shortfall when I analyze my own system is where I mark the cues. I mark where the cue actually should occurs, which means that when I am talking I begin talking just slightly before where the cue is marked and anticipate the Go based on my experience with the operator. I know other SMs who have said they mark in the script differently.

There is so much to SMing that is instinct and experience. I know I could not possibly write absolutely everything down. I have a lot of scribbles on dated pages of a legal pad, but I can't imagine most of that making much sense to someone who wasn't there at the time that note was written down. Who has time to go through a prompt script and crucial paperwork and detail out every single cue?

In the past I've been lucky that had something really bad happened to me I know someone could step in and others on the team could catch them up enough to survive. When an important member of the team is out for the night it is my experience that others on the team step up to fill the space so the pressure on any replacements in minimal.
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Celeste_SM

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #8 on: Nov 11, 2009, 03:51 pm »
I try to bus-proof, but speaking honestly, I know my book would pose a challenge to a sudden replacement who was totally unfamiliar with the music/show. They'd get through it, and it wouldn't be bad, but it wouldn't be perfect. My main problem is that I mark the script, and not the score, for musicals. So when I write "music change" next to an electrics cue, I know what change I'm listening for, but a sub might not.

I was the sub in a bus situation once. The stage manager was in a car accident and hospitalized, totally out of contact. Lucky for me, I had one brush up rehearsal to learn to call the show, and then I only called the show two more times before she returned. She had an excellent system, and I was able to call the show pretty easily, with the exception of follow-spot cues. The spot ops were excellent and mostly knew their own cues anyway, so the show went on just fine. But I always think of that situation when I mark my book, and do my best to make it intelligible to anybody else.

NomieRae

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #9 on: Nov 11, 2009, 11:50 pm »
I take 'bus-proofing' very seriously ever since I was literally almost taken out by a bus near 42nd street on my way to call a show. I had the only copy of the prompt script in my bag. Talk about a BAD IDEA.

I try to always keep 2 books up to date with cues/paperwork and I'm fairly certain that I could hand off my books without too much difficulty to someone who would sub in.

My best test of clear cues/paperwork came on a one man show I was doing (about 80 LQs run on a 2 scene preset board, and sound run off 2 discmans with manual fades...((Don't ask.))) I had to train my replacement in less than 48 hours after they were hired. Met her, she watched a matinee, watched me run a show, and the next day she ran it on her own quite successfully. Talk about a sigh of relief!

For me it depends on how long the run is in how much effort I put into bus-proofing. Case in point: currently i'm doing a dance show where I'm the ASM on deck to do scene/gel changes with a 3 person crew. I made several copies of the master of the Who/What/Where paperwork and posted them/handed them out. It's simple enough that anyone could be plugged in at the last minute and still understand what's going on.  For a 4 performance dance show am I going to generate more paperwork than that? Nope.

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missliz

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #10 on: Nov 12, 2009, 11:33 pm »
Ditto for me on clear markings in my prompt book for cues and all paperwork included (shift plots, prop plots, contact info, etc.). I've been in your shoes more than once, Mac, following  scripts with cues all over the pages and no stand-bys or warns marked (one had the same LX cue twice...hmmm, which is the actual cue?).  Oh, yeah... and leave your book at the theatre!

I definitely bus-proof myself, as I've had to give over my show for a night once or twice. But I love that you mention leaving your book at the theater- I always do this, but I worked with a SM who was HORRIFIED that I did that- "what if someone messes with it?!" which I can also understand.
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philimbesi

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #11 on: Nov 13, 2009, 07:32 am »
I'm from the world of community theater so not only do I also bus proof myself for the show I'm working on, but sitting on my desk here at work is a... wait for it... binder... that outlines everything I do and documents all the programs that I've written...  It's got the title Scanning Operations Binder with WWPD written in subscript underneath (What Would Phil Do).

I leave my book at the theater as well, never had anyone "mess with it" but I do keep it locked up in the box office next to the money, so unless we get robbed and the robbers have an overwhelming desire to call the next nights show, it's safe. 

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #12 on: Nov 13, 2009, 11:32 am »
I've always bus-proofed my show, but I do it even more so after have an experience similar to yours Mac.  After tech, I rewrite the cues very neatly.  I make sure it is clear on what action/word/syllable I call each cue.  At the beginning of my book I put a key to symbols because I know that some of my shorthand may not be immediately apparent, and I use a lot of shapes from a drafting template for various things.  I put a copy of my contact sheet, master calendar, and any run paperwork in sheet protectors behind my script for quick access.  My book gets left in the booth from tech on.

dallas10086

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #13 on: Nov 13, 2009, 02:15 pm »
In the back of my mind I always think, "Can someone continue from here in my absence?" I'm a tad obsessive when it comes to organizing everything so that a monkey could call the show. I upload everything to a flashdrive and, after I update info on my laptop from the rehearsal space, I leave it there in a safe place. My ASM & director both know where it is in case of emergency.

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Re: Are your shows safe from busses?
« Reply #14 on: Nov 16, 2009, 01:47 pm »
At what point do you make your show bus-proof?  Could someone pick up your stuff in the middle of the rehearsal period and run with it?  On tech day?  Opening night?  When do you begin leaving it (or a copy) at the theatre?
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