Author Topic: AEA Experimental Contract - Workshop Musical - Help with Meal Break  (Read 6386 times)

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BayAreaSM

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Hi Everyone,

In the past 2 seasons, I've only worked AEA under Experimental Theater Contracts on Workshops, as my regular gig SM'ing a ballet company keeps me tied up the rest of the year.

After learning that a Musical meal break is 2 hours, or 1.5 hours, pending the cast's vote, I made note that if my day is 10-7, I get 2 hours, and if we vote for 1.5 hour meal, it's 10-6:30pm. So, 7/9 or 7/8.5, depending on the vote. With that in mind...

With my 10/12 day, my Prod Mgr has slated my schedule as follows:

11-3 Rehearsal in Studio
3-4:30 Meal Break
4:30-6 Tech on stage
6:30 Half Hour
7pm Performance

Now, this is a huge RED FLAG for me. If I've read my LORT correctly, there must be a break between rehearsal and Half Hour, and I don't really think a 1.5 hour tech counts as a break for the cast. Even though the PM has inserted a meal break between the rehearsal and tech, which one of us is right? In my mind, the day should be:

11-4:30 Rehearsal in Studio
4:30-6:30pm Break
6:30pm Half hour
7pm Performance

And I'll just have to wing it without a tech, since it is our second performance during the workshop run.

I would love feedback from other AEA SM's and those who have worked under Experimental Theater Contracts. I feel like I'm going crazy because I just can't see this as a proper daily schedule.

Thanks!
-Les
« Last Edit: Jul 28, 2010, 04:22 pm by BayAreaSM »

MatthewShiner

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This is based off the LORT contract?  (My answers are based on the assumption that it is . . . )

The only rehearsal that can happen immediately prior to half-hour, is one hours worth of rehearsal, and that is if and only if that is the only rehearsal for the day AND the cast has voted on the specific schedule for the day.

You are doing a 10 out of 12 on a performance day?  That in itself is very odd.  Given that typically you can only rehearse five hours on a single performance day (unless the cast has elected NOT to perform on a two show day, blah, blah, blah, but that isn't even in play here it seems.)

From what I can see,  you PM is getting snagged on two rules, one - the 5 hours before a meal break, and the rehearsal immediately prior to rehearsal.  You version, loses the tech, but does it not still get snagged on the 5 hour rule?  I am also confused by that.  But, your hunch is right.  Since this seems to be a contract that is referencing another contract, I would contact AEA directly, or just warn your PM that his plan might incur overtime.

I searched the AEA website for a code or agreement on Experimental Theater Contracts on Workshops; the Workshop agreement references the Production Contract, not LORT - but seems to be negotiated on a show by show basis.  It seems like you may have specific rules negotiated. 
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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.

BayAreaSM

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Matthew,

You're right, I should've corrected my schedule to be:

11:30-4:30 Rehearsal
4:30-6:30 Break
6:30 1/2 Hour
7pm Performance

And that did not even occur to me - a 10/12 can't be a performance day, it can only be in the week leading up to the first paid public performance - and that is our first performance. I misspoke earlier, my first tech is the day before, I haven't had a performance yet by this day.

When I worked this last year, we were always referencing the Lort, as that's what the resident SM and casting director said. I've tried contacting them, but haven't heard back.

Thanks for your feedback and I'll see if I can't get ahold of the resident SM another way, to figure out how to extinguish the fire before it gets out of hand (aka, the first rehearsal).

hbelden

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The Experimental Theatre rules are part of the LORT rulebook.  Look on page 76, Rule 56 (C).

What's the run time of the musical?  How much load-in/transport do you have to do between the studio and the theatre?  Seems to me that the transport time for the actors between studio & theatre should come out of rehearsal or tech time, not out of their meal break.

I also have never heard of breaking up a 2-hour meal break into a 1.5 hour chunk and a .5 hour chunk in two different locations.  This sounds really weird to me.  They didn't do this with any of our productions last year, did they? 

Here's my thought process: a ten-out-of-twelve day doesn't stipulate that the meal break has to be two hours long, only that rehearsal must be limited to ten hours.  But, a musical needs to have a two hour meal break after no more than 5 hours of rehearsal (true, it can be shortened to 1.5, but only by cast vote and that shortens the day itself) in a regular 7- or 8-hour day.  That to me says that the meal break is two hours consecutive, not a 1.5 hour chunk and a .5 hour chunk.

Finally, this is a performance; you're limited to how much rehearsal you can do on a performance day based on the run time of the performance.

Not sure what scheduling constrictions the theatre is trying to work around here but it seems really sketchy to me, particularly the idea that the actors rehearse in one space and use their break time to travel to the theatre.

How come the rehearsal space at the theatre is unavailable?
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BayAreaSM

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Ah, Heath, yes....

So, I ended up speaking with Casting Director this evening and she told me that I am NOT under an Experimental Contract, but actually under a Lort D for this workshop. I discussed the day in question with her, and she believes the reasoning was probably looking at when the theater was available. Another show has a performance that day at 2pm, and my tech the day before is only 3 hours, so she assumed that they wanted to make sure I got a full 4 hours of tech before opening.

This season, all workshops are rehearsing at the school that shares the parking lot with the theater, so that really isn't a super-big deal. It's just a walk across the parking lot. (And another show is in the theater's rehearsal hall.) For other Lort theaters I've worked for, if an actor is rehearsing one show and performing a different show in the same day for the same company, the travel time has been part of their meal break - so those actors tend to vote for a 2 hour break before half hour. I know it seems sucky, but sometimes it's the only way to get them for 5 hours of rehearsal and still honor the 12 hour turn around.

Since we haven't started rehearsal yet, we have no idea of the run time, but we assume no more than 2.5 hours. Though it still doesn't excuse the over 5 hours of rehearsal the PM scheduled on a performance day, even if he thinks he can call it at 10/12, which I just don't think is possible on a performance day, period.

No, this it the first time I've come across this kind of wacky schedule - though I am seeing some odder ones for another show in the Festival. Some of these schedules just don't make any sense to me, but I'll leave that to that show's SM to figure out.

Thankfully, the Casting Director will speak to said PM and get this sorted out tomorrow. Basically, I'll just lose additional tech time, which means cramming as much dangerous stuff (if there is any - we do have stairs and doors this time) as we can into the 3 hours of tech we will have, and maybe I'll just pop in and try to tech alone with the LD on the break before the show.

At least it's good to know that I'm not crazy and that this schedule does worry others as much as it worried me. Sometimes I feel I get a bit rusty on my Lort rules working at the ballet so much.

Thanks guys! 

hbelden

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For other Lort theaters I've worked for, if an actor is rehearsing one show and performing a different show in the same day for the same company, the travel time has been part of their meal break - so those actors tend to vote for a 2 hour break before half hour.

I would guess in those cases that the actor involved was working on two separate contracts, not on one rep contract, and therefore getting two checks.  When I worked at A.C.T., we always counted travel time from the costume fitting at Market & 9th to the rehearsal studios at 30 Grant as part of the costume fitting time.

Discovering that the rehearsal studio and stage are separated by a parking lot is a lot different than what I was envisioning from last year, with the ten minute drive in between space and stage.  But still, these are performances in front of a paying(?) audience and that's why AEA had them do this under Ex.Th. not staged reading.  5 hours rehearsal on a performance day.  Have you called L.A. AEA to check on this yet?
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BayAreaSM

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I'm sorry Heath, now I'm confused. I thought the rule was that you could rehearse up to 5 hours on a performance day, pending your run time, including half hour. Since our anticipated run time is 2.5 hours, plus half hour makes 3 hours (which is less than the listed 3.5 hours in the book), we can still have a 5 hour rehearsal the same day as a show. That's my interpretation of the rule (50.C.3)

Which part do you want me to call LA to check on?

Post Merge: Jul 29, 2010, 03:28 pm
And worried SM FTW! The Casting Director spoke with Prod Mgmt and it has been understood that the previously arranged schedule will not work. We are now going with my suggested schedule, which means no additional tech time.

Sometimes I think it would be a good thing if the Prod Mgmt team would consult, at least with their resident SM's, before making schedules like that. Or, they could just read up on their contracts.

Thanks everyone!
« Last Edit: Jul 29, 2010, 03:28 pm by BayAreaSM »

hbelden

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No, I just meant call L.A. if the theatre was pushing back on your interpretation of the rules.  I apologize, I was trying to finish that post pre-rushing out the door, and my thought process got a bit garbled. 

Looks like you got it figured out and the theatre accepted your reasoning, so issue resolved.  Good luck with the workshop!
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Heath Belden

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