Author Topic: AEA SMs and your Meal Breaks--some questions  (Read 6313 times)

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RuthNY

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AEA SMs and your Meal Breaks--some questions
« on: Jan 31, 2015, 04:26 pm »
Some questions for AEA Stage Managers, having to do with your meal breaks, most specifically between a rehearsal and a performance, or two performances.

On the contract(s) you work under most frequently:

What is the contractual break between a rehearsal and a performance?  What is the contractual break between two performances?

Does your theatre/producer/employer expect that Stage Managers will take the same break as the actors, or are Stage Managers expected to be working earlier than the actors (i.e.: earlier than the actors’ half hour call?)

If so, does your AEA contract allow this, or even speak to it at all?

Have you been officially instructed to arrive earlier than the actors, or do you simply believe this is what good Stage Managers do, without being instructed to? Or, is there another reason you arrive earlier?

Does your theatre/producer/employer pay you for having a shorter break than the actors do?

Are you expected to do other performance or rehearsal related work over a meal break (not including scheduling, communicating, etc.)? For the purposes of this question, you may consider your rehearsal meal break. (For example, are you expected to set up for a run through, scheduled to begin at the top of the afternoon’s call, during your meal break?)

Has anyone ever had a discussion with an AEA Business Rep. about any of the above situations? If you have, what was the outcome?

And finally, what are your opinions about the above situations?

Please feel free to answer as fully or as cryptically as you desire.  I'm just curious if anyone else has thought about this as much as I have.

Thanks for your time. If you’d prefer to answer privately, please feel free to do so.
« Last Edit: Jan 31, 2015, 04:46 pm by RuthNY »
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NomieRae

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Re: AEA SMs and your Meal Breaks--some questions
« Reply #1 on: Jan 31, 2015, 05:20 pm »
In rehearsal I take a full hour lunch, or if we are especially slammed I do 50 minutes and then prep for when everyone returns. If we have a full 3 person SM team I try to stagger lunch by 5 min, releasing people so we come back before actors. In Cue-to-cue and tech I try to take a full hour as well.

If you're going out of rehearsal into a preview, generally it is at least an hour and a half from end of rehearsal until half hour. So if dinner is 6pm, half hour is 7:30pm, which leaves only a half hour of true time for a SM break. In these instances I usually have my meal provided for me by the producers.

Once in performances, between two shows if I do not get a full hour before show down to crew call for the evening performance I usually ask for additional crew help so I am able to take a full dinner, or I ask for overtime. 99% of the time they rustle up an intern.

I quite often am asked to do things over my meal break during tech, but make it clear that priority for me is to eat and leave the building for a short while to re-charge and then we can come back. I've been lucky that no one has required me, it has always been phrased as "would you be willing to..." and sometimes I am willing and sometimes I'm not. 

It's a very tricky line to walk to not be a pushover, but also not burn yourself out. Each situation has to be weighed based on the show and circumstances. One show the crew had to completely scrape the floor paint down to the sub-flooring during dinner at a day of tech. Was I required to come back 20 min early to check spikes with the rest of the SM team? No. Did it save us some time overall? Yes.

My sacred break is the break from end of day until first call the next day (10-12 hrs depending on the contract) I don't shirk my duties, but it is amazing what you can accomplish and how relaxed you can be when you know you have those hours to sleep, have a calm breakfast, and then get back to it.
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RuthNY

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Re: AEA SMs and your Meal Breaks--some questions
« Reply #2 on: Jan 31, 2015, 05:56 pm »
Thank you for your answer, NomieRae, but may I investigate the quote below a bit further, please? Why does the situation below leave "only a half hour of true time for an SM break"? Why are SMs working at what seems to be 6:30, one hour before half hour? 

Because you have been told you must be there?
Because if you are not present, pre-show will not get done correctly, so you want to be there?
Because this is what Stage Managers just "do?"
Because the AEA contract you are on requires it?

If you are there because you have been told you must be, I am thrilled that the producer provides you with a meal.

If you are there because you choose to be present, how do you explain asking for the producer to provide you with a meal, since he is not required to do so, as you are there voluntarily, giving up one hour of your break?

You are getting very close to the heart of the matter I wish to explore. Thanks so much for your continued patience with my questions.

<snip>

If you're going out of rehearsal into a preview, generally it is at least an hour and a half from end of rehearsal until half hour. So if dinner is 6pm, half hour is 7:30pm, which leaves only a half hour of true time for a SM break. In these instances I usually have my meal provided for me by the producers.

<snip>
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NomieRae

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Re: AEA SMs and your Meal Breaks--some questions
« Reply #3 on: Jan 31, 2015, 10:45 pm »
Quote
Because you have been told you must be there?
Because if you are not present, pre-show will not get done correctly, so you want to be there?
Because this is what Stage Managers just "do?"
Because the AEA contract you are on requires it?

Great follow up questions!

For that instance I cited where they provide me with a meal, yes they are requiring me to be there as that theater has the policy that the stage manager is to arrive at the beginning of crew call which is 1.5 hours prior to curtain. This isn't cited anywhere in their contract with Equtiy, but was presented to me when I accepted the position originally. I suppose if I wanted my full meal break I could have pushed the issue.

It does bring up a great question of what time SMs are meant to "clock in" for the night, are we only required to be there from half hour? I can't think of very many instances where either myself or other stage managers didn't arrive at either crew call, or one hour prior to curtain. Perhaps it's the level I'm working at and the productions I'm on. Curious to hear other's opinions!
--Naomi
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Beatr79

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Re: AEA SMs and your Meal Breaks--some questions
« Reply #4 on: Feb 01, 2015, 12:47 am »
First, some basics about my work experience: Been Equity almost 10 years (in June!), worked on at least 8 different contracts off the top of my head, from the very low-end, to the very top.  And I mostly work as an ASM.  I think this is a salient point because, truth be told, despite the fact that I sign a contract with a producing entity, I'm getting my day-to-day instruction from the PSM, not the GM or producer. 

You ask / raise a lot of points, so I'll just write about one for now: Breaks during rehearsals

I rarely have a full meal break.  Only on my most recent contract, where the company voted for a 1.5 lunch break, did I actually feel like I could take a longer break for myself (and, truthfully, I voted for the 1 hr. break).  In a standard 1 hr. rehearsal meal-break scenario, I count myself lucky if I have 15-20 minutes to eat my lunch (I always bring my own food).  On this most recent show, I took a leisurely 45 minute break.  Now I'll admit, I was first trained under very intense SMs, working in stock environment with "no time to lose."  Since then, I've worked on bigger and more high-profile shows, where, inevitably time is short and pressure is high, so I do the same thing.  But even when the room doesn't require a huge changeover, I feel compelled to use some of that meal break for other show-related tasks: prepping a report, phone calls / emails I can't take during rehearsal, even run-of-the-mill paperwork.  The truth is, all of these tasks need to be done at some point during the day, and the shows I work on rarely afford me time to remove myself from the room to do them.  My choice is get a little done now, and it's less I have to do on the time that is truly mine in the evening.

But this isn't just a question of my personal habits: there is an industry standard expectation that, when the cast/creative return from a break (whether it's a 5, a 10, or a meal break), the room will be prepped and ready for the Next Thing, whether it's a new scene, or a full run-through.  I have rarely received any instruction from my PSM (no less a Producer or GM) instructing me that I should or should not work through a break, because it is, I think, an assumption about our role in the process.  We think ahead, we prep ahead.  And no matter how big your team is (even if it's full of interns and non-Eqs who's rights we aren't currently discussing), it's the Equity SMs who are ultimately responsible for the room, and the room's readiness for that Next Thing.

To the point I suspect you are driving at: I don't think any Equity contract (that I've read) protects or addresses the SM team's right to breaks during rehearsals.  But I'll be honest, I'm not sure Equity can, because it IS a bigger industry standard they'd be up against.  If I told a director the room wasn't reset because "I needed to take MY 10," I can envision several scenarios: one where the director throws a fit, another where I am not hired for the director's next show because I'm not a "team player." 

Though this is a question posed in the performance scenario, I could take it a step further: You ask if any contract / instruction has been given telling an SM to arrive prior to 1/2 hour...I'll speak here to the rehearsal version of this question: No one instructs us to arrive early for rehearsal either, but what if we didn't?  Coffee wasn't made (the horror!), new script copies still to be copied, collated and distributed, and props not set?  The truth is the SM work day is never equivalent to the actors'.  And in the rehearsal world, I have easily done 11 hours of work, in the rehearsal hall alone, before heading home.  One of the reasons I hate when directors chose to use the Straight 6?  Because, with an hour book-ended to the beginning and end of rehearsal, guess who actually works a full 8 hours without an break?  The SM team.  It's my least-liked rehearsal option for this very reason.  Now that I phrase it that way, it sounds like it easily violates standard labor law (isn't an employee required to have a break after 5, 5.5 or 6 hrs. of work, depending on the state?)