Author Topic: SM Authority: Designers & Production Team refusing to acknowledge reports.  (Read 5758 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

zuul

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 7
    • View Profile
  • Experience: College/Graduate
I've been searching pretty hard for an answer to this specific question, but if I totally missed it, I apologize.

Some back story:
While I have ASM'd, called boards, and generally run a stage before, I am in the midst of calling my first show completely solo (I have no ASM or other crew). There is also no production manager. The show is small, only 5 actors, and has very few cues.

Since the very first rehearsal, I had little to no contact with the designers, but not for lack of trying. I would have to ask 3 or 4 times via rehearsal reports, calls, and texts before I could get a response to the simplest of questions. Sometimes, I wouldn't even get an answer at all, so I'd have to go to the producer and ask her to contact them. When I expressed my frustration with this system, she explained to me that because I didn't have a relationship with the designers the way she did, they were refusing to answer to me. She also mentioned that it wasn't a reflection on any poor job I was doing, just that they preferred to answer to her. Of course, not coming in contact with me directly has lead to some problems (like when a 10lbs speaker fell off a shelf and onto an actresses' face).

I've worked with several professional companies and I've never had to go through the chain of command quite like this. Am I wrong to think that this is unusual, or does it really just differ from company to company?
« Last Edit: Mar 13, 2014, 03:09 am by zuul »

iamchristuffin

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 270
    • View Profile
    • www.christuffin.co.uk
  • Affiliations: UK SMA, UK Equity
  • Experience: Professional
I've never experienced anything like that with creatives. Are they working on another show (maybe in tech or previews) as well? It could just be that they're really busy, and the other show gets priority.

How long has this been going on? You say it was from day 1, but where are you now? And is this both set/costume AND LX designers?

If the situation hasn't improved in another week or so, I'd just call a meeting and bash through everything in one big go, then mention something at the end. Not in an accusatory way, just drop it in as part of a chatty catch-up.

2p
Cx

dallas10086

  • Superstar!
  • *****
  • Posts: 562
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Current Gig: Freelance PSM; currently Charlotte Squawks 12
  • Experience: Professional
To add what iamchristuffin said:

At this meeting your producer should publicly pass the baton over to you, letting the designers know that any and all questions they have need to go to you first, then if it's something you can't handle or answer, you will go to the producer.

Sounds like quite the frustrating situation, I wouldn't subject myself to it twice.

nick_tochelli

  • Loved and Missed.
  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 448
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
    • Nick Tochelli's Blog: The Backstage Ballet
  • Affiliations: AEA, SMA
  • Current Gig: PM- Godlight Theatre Company/Inside Sales:Barbizon Lighting
  • Experience: Former SM
What level are you working at?

It's not unheard of in my experience for this to happen. It's not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination, but not unheard of. Think of it this way: if the designers and producer have been working together for years but the stage manager seems to cycle every show they gain comfort speaking to a consistent person. Once again, it's not a good thing. It just is.

One of the best ways to diffuse it is to ask them to CC you to emails. Frame it that you aren't seeking the answers yourself and you're ok with them talking to the producer. You want to be CC'd to make sure the questions are being answered. In doing so, you get your answers and they're still talking directly to the person they're comfortable with, but now you're not trying to break them of habits as much as alter them.

zuul

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 7
    • View Profile
  • Experience: College/Graduate
There are only 9 shows left in the run, so I'm not even sure it's worth it other than it isn't fair to the audience or the actors that our production and design team have given up on the show. They do have other projects going on, but it seems excessive that I need to ask for something as simple as a basic communication from the producer.

SMrose

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 228
  • Gender: Female
  • all the world's a stage
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA, IATSE
  • Current Gig: Technical Support Services @ Lenoir-Rhyne University
  • Experience: Former SM
Are the Designers responsible for "fix its" during the run? I ask because it sounds like this is the case from your post (a speaker falling and you're sending performance run reports).

zuul

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 7
    • View Profile
  • Experience: College/Graduate
The level is non equity/union, storefront professional theater. The kind that is oh-so-popular in Chicago. It's definitely not a company I want to continue working with, as there have been a plethora of other issues with the show that were completely out of anyone (except the producer and director's control). Because the designers don't have a technical crew of their own, they are responsible for fixing certain issues as they arise.

My biggest concern going forward is making sure I'm not overstepping my bounds and giving my position more authority than it usually has (which I was accused of when I kept POLITELY and then once not so politely asking the designers to just respond to my messages). The show closes in two weeks, so there's little to nothing I can do to change anything as far as safety is concerned at this point.

dallas10086

  • Superstar!
  • *****
  • Posts: 562
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Current Gig: Freelance PSM; currently Charlotte Squawks 12
  • Experience: Professional
The show closes in two weeks, so there's little to nothing I can do to change anything as far as safety is concerned at this point.

What issues with safety are you having?

zuul

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 7
    • View Profile
  • Experience: College/Graduate
The show closes in two weeks, so there's little to nothing I can do to change anything as far as safety is concerned at this point.

What issues with safety are you having?

First if all, we didn't be a fight choreographer until the first day of tech, for a simulated rape scene. Second, there is blood. There is also a cord taped down I the playing space where this fight happens, connected to the speaker that is in this table center stage. Because of the blood and having to mop it up off the floor every night, gaff won't stick to the floor. The cord came loose, actress fell on the floor, speaker fell on her face.

There is also a crazy amount of left over lumber backstage that the producer is refusing to have moved. It's blocking entrances and exits.

nick_tochelli

  • Loved and Missed.
  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 448
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
    • Nick Tochelli's Blog: The Backstage Ballet
  • Affiliations: AEA, SMA
  • Current Gig: PM- Godlight Theatre Company/Inside Sales:Barbizon Lighting
  • Experience: Former SM
Well there's your easy way out of finishing the production. Call the Fire Marshall and report unsafe conditions. Boom. Closed show!

Wet floors are no excuse to not retape. If you have blood clean up daily (by the way....your show sounds like a real pick me up!) mop at night, leave it overnight to dry and retape the cable in the evening at show call. If the director requires you to mop preshow, there are other tapes that work in wet environments that can keep the cable down like Vinyl/Dance floor tapes. The onstage issues and safety really falls under your role as stage manager and not a designer or producer. They may have made the mess, but it's up to you to make sure your cast in safe.

I don't mean to sound harsh but when it comes to safety after a certain point it's no longer a producer/designer issue and someone has to take control and do what needs to be done.


zuul

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 7
    • View Profile
  • Experience: College/Graduate
The floor is mopped after Act 1. The issue is even after the floor is dry again, the tape won't stick to the floor (after being mopped over again and again, the paint is messing with the adhesive). It WAS being re-taped every night, but once the actors walked on the taped down cord, it came up again. I understand that safety is my responsibility, which is why after the speaker fell on the actress, I removed the tape and the speaker (and the cord). I had mentioned in several reports that the cord wasn't staying down, and that we needed to find another solution. I didn't get an answer from the design team or the producer until I removed the speaker. I was then accused of overstepping my bounds as a stage manager and giving my position more authority than it ought to have. My question is, was she right? And if so, what was I to do when I wasn't getting any answers from my sound guy?
« Last Edit: Mar 14, 2014, 07:08 pm by zuul »

PSMKay

  • Site Founder
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1357
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
    • http://www.smnetwork.org
  • Affiliations: None.
  • Current Gig: SMNetwork *is* my production.
  • Experience: Former SM
I spent a lot of time working in similar situations. The designers I worked with basically washed their hands of the shows after opening. They might occasionally request copies of the show reports but for the most part only the director actually read them to make sure his/her "baby" wasn't getting totally mangled over the course of the run. I would never expect a designer to respond to a show report after opening. Their work is done, contract is over, they have received the only pay they are going to get.

However. What you did was to make a design choice, even if it was with the safety of the actor in mind. You decided to overrule the sound designer's placement of speaker instead of choosing a route that would be equally safe but less disruptive. I'm armchair quarterbacking here but I would have spoken with the PM first, notified them of the safety issue, and worked out a solution that fixed the wiring without moving the speaker.

I'm gonna get flak for this, but... safety - the actual execution of making things safer - is not your responsibility. In fact, in an IATSE house you'd have been in breach of contract for removing the speaker. Alertness to potential safety hazards is your responsibility. Coordination of a response to those safety hazards among the people who are permitted to repair them is your responsibility. Staying on those people emphatically - blowing up their phones, making visits in person, squeaking like the worst squeaky wheel - this is also your responsibility. Especially in a situation like this where the PM seems to have a little control issue. I'd say the chain of action in response to the falling speaker incident could have involved an immediate call to the PM saying "Hey, the thing I was warning you about has happened, it needs to be fixed, do you want me to handle it? No? So what is your plan for handling it? Because I'm going to have to explain it to one really freaked out actress tonight."

While it's admirable that you are a "get your hands dirty" type of SM, and that sort of approach will probably serve you quite well in the talent furnace of Chicago storefront theatre, it's that kind of behavior and attitude that got me proverbially run out of town on a rail when I was still doing gigs. The job is not executive. SMs are mediators, facilitators, negotiators. The position as someone with a global view of the production can make it seem like they're executives, but SMs are not the people who should actually be executing anything unless every other alternative has been exhausted.
« Last Edit: Mar 14, 2014, 07:50 pm by PSMKay »

hbelden

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 412
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA
  • Experience: Professional
I totally agree with Kay's assessment of the boundaries of the SM's authority.  My question would be, is the choice of gaff tape attachment a design choice?  It seems like speaker placement is the design choice, and honoring that choice while finding a different attachment for the cord is the way to go.

In the absence of any response to my inquiries about the speaker falling, I would staple the cord in place to get safely through a performance, then in the show report I would note exactly what I had done as a temporary solution with a plea for direction towards a more permanent solution.

(My head's a little fuzzy from sleep deprivation right now, so I hope I expressed myself clearly.  I'll probably be embarrassed when I read this post after my current show opens.)
--
Heath Belden

"I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right." - Sondheim
--

Branden

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 72
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Experience: Professional
I haven't spent much time in storefront Chicago, but I'll say that often people get very exclusive. It's their own space, they they've poured their blood, sweat and tears, and for reasons beyond me, a new person is there to change the way they do everything, and ruin their lives.

I would agree with Kay. Continuing to blow up their phones and email accounts should get it noticed.

As a Stage Manager, I would say your job is running the show, so if you feel as though it is unsafe, you do not perform the show. Now, I wouldn't go crazy with this, but if that happens during a live show, you hold the show. And if it is something that people are reluctant to fix, you don't allow the next performance to start. That is a bit extreme, but safety is first. In rehearsals, I would arrange rehearsal take place in a different space.

Though it is not your job to fix the problem, it is your job to not put actors in unsafe places. Especially in storefront theatres with loose liability, you may end up at the wrong end of a lawsuit for negligence, knowingly asking actors to work in unsafe conditions-so it's sticky.

 
Branden Scott Stewart

"What's next?"
-The West Wing