Author Topic: Director in Booth!  (Read 4157 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

salbano

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 14
    • View Profile
  • Experience: Professional
Director in Booth!
« on: Jul 30, 2013, 04:44 pm »
Hello,

So yesterday, I was calling a show. And the director asked to be in the booth. I didn't want him to be in there because it made me nervous, but I didn't want to cause trouble or anything and just let him stand behind me.

I then called a cue late (in his opinion, but not what I have written down), and he told me that it was late. I then told him that I can't have him stay in the booth and say anything because it's making me really apprehensive and nervous. He said, "Okay, Steven," in a very patronizing voice. Paused a couple seconds then gave me a good talking to about how I need to make everything tighter. (Not understanding that "tighter" is different than the cues I have written down. And that his definition of tighter changes every single time.)

So... I just wanted to vent.

Do I have to allow the director in the booth? Part of me wanted to say, "Look. I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You may give me notes on the cues after the performance is over, but I can't have you say anything during the performance and making me not pay attention to the show and be more self-conscience than I normally am." But I don't know if I have the authority to say that.

Thoughts?
« Last Edit: Jul 31, 2013, 12:07 am by salbano »

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
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #1 on: Jul 30, 2013, 07:35 pm »
Directors can be in the booth all they want but only if they are silent IMO. I don't want to hear an exasperated sigh, nor do I want on the fly notes.i am my own worst critic already and I know when a sequence goes wrong. I've never cared for directors who work this way. In my early career, i once asked a director why he doesn't go up during a performance to give the cast notes and asked for the same respect during a run. You'll be shocked to know that didn't go over well.

you can't be argumentative because it gets you nowhere and will only make the director push harder. Offer them a spot in the booth with the condition that you'll take notes following the performance. You'll be happy to discuss it after the fact but during the run is not the time. If they aren't willing to give you that respect, they can't be in the booth. Is not fair to you to have the director breathing over your shoulder during a run. Especially if you're open already. If you're open and they are critiquing you on the call of the show now they obviously didn't do a good enough job communicating their desires during tech, or you misinterpreted their notes during tech.

loebtmc

  • Forum Moderators
  • *****
  • Posts: 1574
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA, SAG, AFTRA, SMA
  • Current Gig: Caroling, caroling now we go — and looking for my next gig!
  • Experience: Professional
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #2 on: Jul 30, 2013, 07:40 pm »
You absolutely have the right to say what you need to say - nicely, with respect and no emotion, stated clearly. If your director makes you nervous, he should not be in your booth. Period. That is your territory, he has no right to be there. Feel free to tell him why (again, nicely) - that he makes you nervous and distracts you from your job. And your director should not be giving notes to you DURING the show. Not ever. It is totally appropriate to say "hold" and "please give me notes after the show" since you need to pay attention to the show in addition to calling cues, and him distracting you keeps you from doing your job.
« Last Edit: Jul 30, 2013, 07:42 pm by loebtmc »

On_Headset

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 402
    • View Profile
  • Experience: College/Graduate
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #3 on: Jul 31, 2013, 02:11 am »
My policy: the director can be present. The director will be given a clipboard and a pen, and will make whatever notes they want. Silently. We can discuss the show afterwards. Not at intermission, not during the curtain call, but afterwards, once the show has well and truly been put to bed.

Beyond that, unless someone is literally about to die, stay in that seat and shut up.

Post Merge: Jul 31, 2013, 02:16 am
Incidentally, if you need to provide a reason why the director needs to shut up and not interfere (and you're uncomfortable saying "BECAUSE IT'S A PRICKISH THING TO DO, YOU DWEEB"), there's an extremely good reason for this, even moving beyond the whole issue of distraction and concentration and juggling other priorities.

During the show, the stage manager must be in control. Having someone hanging out in the booth looking over your shoulder and questioning you and telling you how things ought to operate is going to directly undermine that control: it makes it more difficult for the SM to assert their authority, it makes it more difficult for the SM to feel in-control, and it can reduce the respect that any witnesses have for the SM. All of these are bad things, but they seem to be something to which most directors are oblivious.

Mind you, telling the director that they're no longer in charge of the show might be a recipe for a divafit.  ;)
« Last Edit: Jul 31, 2013, 02:16 am by On_Headset »

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
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #4 on: Jul 31, 2013, 10:11 am »
The booth is a place for "booth personnel" only.  Just as you wouldn't let an audience member in the booth to watch and friends shouldn't watch from there, that should apply to the director.  The perspective of the show is different.  Booth personnel are used to it.  The director can observe if cues are late, early or on time just as well from the house.

RuthNY

  • BTDT Editors
  • *****
  • Posts: 511
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA Eastern Region Stage Manager Councilor
  • Current Gig: ALABASTER
  • Experience: Professional
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #5 on: Jul 31, 2013, 04:46 pm »
This is the crux of the matter. The best of lighting designers take their headsets off, to watch portions of run-throughs, so that they are only making changes based on how the cues LOOK in real time, not on where they HEAR the word "Go." The Director should do the same, IMHO.


<snip
 The director can observe if cues are late, early or on time just as well from the house.
"Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they're fair with you."
--Alan Alda

On_Headset

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 402
    • View Profile
  • Experience: College/Graduate
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #6 on: Jul 31, 2013, 05:58 pm »
Then there's the fact that the show is going to look completely different from an eyrie than it looks from the front row...
« Last Edit: Aug 02, 2013, 12:19 pm by On_Headset »

NomieRae

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 246
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA, SMA, Adelphi University
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #7 on: Jul 31, 2013, 07:00 pm »
Quote
The booth is a place for "booth personnel" only.  Just as you wouldn't let an audience member in the booth to watch and friends shouldn't watch from there, that should apply to the director.  The perspective of the show is different.  Booth personnel are used to it.  The director can observe if cues are late, early or on time just as well from the house.

THIS. Well, also I bring this up very early in the process that I do not allow non-technical personnel in the booth for my own sanity and rhythm of calling a show. But if they are pushing the issue I try the new tactic of "Oh you can't really see/hear the show in the way it is meant to be presented to an audience member while you're in here." or "All you'll hear is me calling cues for two hours, that'll mess with your focus on the show." Play to the side that you want THEM to have the best show possible and sometimes you can divert a diva director attitude.

--Naomi
"First, I honor life, and with it my life in theatre." -- Jacques Burdick

SMrobyn

  • New to Town
  • **
  • Posts: 14
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Current Gig: SM - 7 Stories
  • Experience: College/Graduate
Re: Director in Booth!
« Reply #8 on: Aug 02, 2013, 08:45 am »
At our school, the booth remains locked at all time and only those with key-card access can open the door - and if someone lets a person WITHOUT key-card access in, there's gonna be hell to pay. This includes directors. If you can't let yourself in, I can't either. I love this rule, as it gives me a very solid reason to say "no", but I don't believe I'd be willing to let any director into my personal space during a show, anywhere - that personal space is precious, hectic, and sometimes potentially dangerous (I've been known to tap my pencil so quickly while Im calling that it goes flying, I stand up during difficult calling sequences and my chair rolls back, etc...)
A dream is a wish your heart makes... And I dream of lighting cues, prop sheets, quick changes and prompt books :)

 

riotous