Author Topic: SMs in media?  (Read 36496 times)

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McShell

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #30 on: Jun 25, 2007, 09:14 pm »
Has anone seen the documentary ShowBusiness The Road to Broadway? It's in theatres now on limited release.  It's behind the scenes at Wicked, Avenue Q, Caroline or Change, and Taboo.  The trailer starts with a stage manager calling places.  It follows the Broadway shows from rehearsals to the Tony's.  I'm seeing it tomorrow, anyone seen it?

Here's the link:
http://www.showbusiness-themovie.com/

vetrofond

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SMs in media?
« Reply #31 on: Jun 25, 2007, 09:29 pm »
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Bobby, the "stage manager" (I believe it's actually an actor playing the role of the on-camera sm) for The Colbert Report.  He often gets called out to do demeaning things, play videos or otherwise serve Steven.

zayit shachor

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #32 on: Jun 25, 2007, 11:28 pm »
(I believe it's actually an actor playing the role of the on-camera sm)

Yup, he's an actor, not a real SM - I forget his real name but he is a friend of a friend.

Jessie_K

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #33 on: Jun 26, 2007, 02:50 am »
What about David Letterman's SM?  What's his name?

Mac Calder

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #34 on: Jun 26, 2007, 08:57 am »
Stage Manager on TV is different to Stage Manager on the stage. There is a discussion somewhere on the boards about it, but I cannot remember where, or even what it was called.

Anyway - the closest position on TV to that of a Stage Manager in theatre is the Floor Manager.

Balletdork

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #35 on: Jun 26, 2007, 09:11 am »
My very fave is Polly? Penny? from Noises Off... Which I've done a few times... Please read on for funny anecdote:

I was SMing Noises Off, and of course had a ridiculous and hideously large prompt book- and one day I was reading a note as I was walking into the rehearsal studio and, of course, tripped and the book literally went flying. It was terrifying and hilarious. There were pages everywhere... and it took me hours to get everyhting back together.

So, our actress added that "bit" to her character... as well as having a million pencils in her hair which is again me all over and soemthing I didn't notice she added until very far into the process, and also, as an homage to another friend on this network, wore a stopwatch around her neck.

 ;D  ;D  ;D

Gotta love the Human Race!






goldbird

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #36 on: Jun 26, 2007, 11:21 pm »
  I was flipping through TV channels a while back and stopped on one channel as I heard "Standby lights".  Turns out it was the Victoria Secret show. Intrestingly, they were going for a "show the backstage" look, and had a lot of shots of the ASMs? backstage organizing models, as well as patching the com feed into the TV audio everytime they were comming up to and back from commercial.  The calls sounded very professional and like a real SM was calling them, but who knows, it was probably recorded. 

killerdana

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #37 on: Jun 29, 2007, 11:30 pm »
I just caught an episode of CSI where someone died backstage at Cirque du Soleil's KA.  There was a Company Manager who seemed very competant showing them around and (since they had to look for clues or whatever) they showed a lot of backstage stuff--lifts, moving platforms, effects, etc.  Pretty cool to watch.
Science without art is sterile.  --Albert Einstein

Here2serv

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #38 on: Jun 30, 2007, 12:22 pm »
I did see that CSI and it was GREAT. One of the few episodes that was mostly filmed in Las Vegas. I want to see Ka. Looks amazing.
~pay it forward~

SummerShakespeare

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #39 on: Jul 01, 2007, 03:28 am »
Its a great show!!
All on the same G.O.

smsgirl

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #40 on: Jul 17, 2007, 04:33 pm »
have you seen the Canadian television show Slings & Arrows?  A show based on the daily operations of a theatre, loosely based on the stratford theatre festival. 
Great character is the SM

avkid

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #41 on: Jul 18, 2007, 01:10 pm »
have you seen the Canadian television show Slings & Arrows?  A show based on the daily operations of a theatre, loosely based on the stratford theatre festival. 
Great character is the SM
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387779/
The Sundance Channel actually has episodes on it's website:
http://www.sundancechannel.com/series/slings_arrows_season3
Philip LaDue
IATSE Local #21 Newark, NJ

GalFriday

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #42 on: Jul 30, 2007, 05:46 pm »
I saw the CSI filmed at Ka - We found it pretty interesting. One of the characters notes that no one saw these random people wondering backstage because "they were busy doing their jobs" :o. Wouldn't noticing random people wandering around dangerous backstage areas be part of our jobs?

Another favorite point was: Cirque has the right to remove the body from their property. They dragged the body to the loading docks. There were so very many ideas of other people we could bump off and drag to the loading dock flying around for weeks  ;D.

It was a fun episode to watch though :)
"Now the best way to learn the theater, always, is to be a stage manager" - Stephen Sondheim

ScooterSM

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #43 on: Jul 30, 2007, 06:00 pm »
What about David Letterman's SM?  What's his name?

Biff Henderson.  He is the "backstage" SM, dealing with guests, etc.  Again, the job of a TV SM is very different than that of a stage SM.
“I've never been paid a lot, but the theatre has kept me, and for that I shall be eternally grateful.” Tony Church

killerdana

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Re: SMs in media?
« Reply #44 on: Aug 03, 2007, 03:23 am »
I just caught part of "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Network.  Not an SM per se, but they were bringing a semi-exploding cake to the "Tonight Show" for Leno's birthday and they showed several of the real SFX crew from NBC--I know because a friend is on the crew and I saw him talking (very knowledgably) about pyro and the cake.
Science without art is sterile.  --Albert Einstein