Author Topic: Changing rehearsal hours?  (Read 9380 times)

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Dart

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Changing rehearsal hours?
« on: Aug 20, 2014, 03:07 pm »
I have one equity actor under a GA. A small cast, most of which are just in town for this show, means that only three rehearsals in the director has already changed the schedule for the next day, twice.

I have found that Tier III (which my actor is) has a max 42 hours of rehearsal and one full day off a week - are there any guidelines, aside from breaks and the 12 free hours in between, that I should keep in mind? Anything limiting daily hours, or the number of long rehearsals we can have?

Also, while I think it's rude to start one rehearsal by drastically changing the hours for the next day, I haven't been able to find anything regarding notice (24 hours, 2 days, whatever) for rehearsal changes. But I know advance notice is required for added performances or photo calls, so I want to make sure I'm not missing something. Is there a way these changes should be handled?

Maribeth

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #1 on: Aug 20, 2014, 06:38 pm »
Have you looked at the Guest Artist agreement? If not, it's available online - http://www.actorsequity.org/docs/rulebooks/ga_rulebook.pdf

Just looking at what's online-
5. (b) On a non-performance day, rehearsal will not exceed 7 out of 8 ½ hours in Tier I, 7 out of 10 hours in Tier II, and 7 out of 12 hours in Tier III. After 5 hours of rehearsal there shall be a break of at least 1 hour.

(d) There may be one day of 10 out of 12 consecutive hours of rehearsal for each production in the 7-day period prior to the first public performance of a production.

(e) Costume and photo calls shall be included in rehearsal hours.

But, best to check with your production manager about anything the company may have negotiated that is different from that standard agreement. If you still have questions, you can always contact the AEA business rep for that contract in your area. (If you're not sure who that is, you can call AEA and tell them where you are and what contract you're on, and they can help you find the right person to talk to.)

MatthewShiner

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #2 on: Aug 20, 2014, 06:46 pm »
Customary notice is 12-hours notice for the rehearsal schedule for the next day.

I am unaware of any contract that requires more then 12-hours notice for the rehearsal schedule for the next.

Anyone?
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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.

EFMcMullen

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #3 on: Aug 21, 2014, 10:40 am »
NEAT has a 24 hour notice of change in rehearsal time.

Maribeth

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #4 on: Aug 21, 2014, 11:19 am »
TYA has that you have to give notice of the next rehearsal by the end of the previous rehearsal, 12 hours notice on a change or cancellation, and 24 hours notice on using a straight six.

Dart

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #5 on: Aug 22, 2014, 07:44 pm »
Thank you everyone! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything important.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #6 on: Aug 22, 2014, 10:46 pm »
That is interesting about the differences in notice per contract . . . learn something new every day.

It's that just "Span of Day" or the actual rehearsal call?
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Maribeth

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #7 on: Aug 22, 2014, 11:31 pm »
For TYA, it doesn't specify.....

(3) Notice.
(a) The Actor shall be given notice of the next rehearsal by the end of each workday.
(b) Cancellation or Change. The Actor shall receive notice of a cancellation or change in
the originally scheduled rehearsal call regarding time, place and/or length of the call at
least 12 hours in advance of said call. In the event of an unforeseen emergency,
however, the place of the rehearsal call may change with less than 12 hours’ notice,
provided the rehearsal takes place in the same city in which it was originally scheduled.


Also, note the caveat in red.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #8 on: Aug 22, 2014, 11:48 pm »
For TYA, it doesn't specify.....

(3) Notice.
(a) The Actor shall be given notice of the next rehearsal by the end of each workday.
(b) Cancellation or Change. The Actor shall receive notice of a cancellation or change in
the originally scheduled rehearsal call regarding time, place and/or length of the call at
least 12 hours in advance of said call. In the event of an unforeseen emergency,
however, the place of the rehearsal call may change with less than 12 hours’ notice,
provided the rehearsal takes place in the same city in which it was originally scheduled.


Also, note the caveat in red.

You have to tell by the end of the rehearsal . . . but you can change it with 12 hours notice.

Doesn't make a lot of sense.

I can say at 8:00p, end of rehearsal, "Hey Rehearsal is 12:00n - 8:00p", but then change my mind at 11:00p to 1:00p to 9:00p.

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RuthNY

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #9 on: Aug 23, 2014, 08:55 am »
The span of day is the rehearsal call.  You can call everyone all day, say from 10a-6:30p, with a 2-3:30p meal break, and never specify an actual rehearsal breakdown. No other detail is required.

That is interesting about the differences in notice per contract . . . learn something new every day.

It's that just "Span of Day" or the actual rehearsal call?
"Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they're fair with you."
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Maribeth

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #10 on: Aug 23, 2014, 12:48 pm »
You have to tell by the end of the rehearsal . . . but you can change it with 12 hours notice.

Doesn't make a lot of sense.

I can say at 8:00p, end of rehearsal, "Hey Rehearsal is 12:00n - 8:00p", but then change my mind at 11:00p to 1:00p to 9:00p.

Well, you could also think about it as rehearsing 10a-4p, at 4p saying "Tomorrow's rehearsal is 10a-6p," and making an adjustment at 7p. There are also a lot of touring productions that use TYA, so it makes sense if you are rehearsing in different places all the time that you might have to make a last-minute adjustment to time/location of a rehearsal.

Totally my own interpretation- no idea if that's really the reason.

babens

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #11 on: Aug 23, 2014, 10:55 pm »
I actually asked the business rep about that rule on my first TYA tour six years ago. What I was told then was the announcement at the end of the day just had to be the total span of day, i.e. 10:00-6:00. Then any adjustments like staggered calls, early releases, and time of the lunch break would have to be given to them by 12 hours before. Now, again, this was six years ago, so the reps may have a new interpretation of this rule, but no actor has questioned it so I've stuck with the explanation I was originally given.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #12 on: Aug 24, 2014, 12:04 am »
It sill seems to me . . .

Quote
(a) The Actor shall be given notice of the next rehearsal by the end of each workday.
(b) Cancellation or Change. The Actor shall receive notice of a cancellation or change in
the originally scheduled rehearsal call regarding time, place and/or length of the call at
least 12 hours in advance of said call. (Removed part of regarding emergency)

It still says you can CHANGE the rehearsal call with 12 hours advance.

So, it seems to really disqualify the first rule.

Let's say we were rehearsing 10:00a - 4:00p, and as everyone was leaving, I said, hey guys, we are rehearsing 11:00a - 5:00p tomorrow. 

But, at 10:59p, I could change t to 12:00n - 6:00p.

Then why  do I have announce it at the end of the day - it seems like the rule should read - "best effort to announce the rehearsal call for the next day should be given by the end of rehearsal, but official notice must be given 12 hours ahead of time" - it's just a bad rule, right?

Or am I missing something???

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megf

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #13 on: Aug 24, 2014, 11:14 pm »
It's a small thing - but not all TYA contracts rehearse six days a week. I've done TYA where the rehearsal schedule is 3 or 4 days a week- which makes the 12 hour notice for changes to schedule very practical.

Dart

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Re: Changing rehearsal hours?
« Reply #14 on: Aug 28, 2014, 12:56 am »
You know, I didn't think it would get to this point, but here we are. Can someone help define "work week hours" for me, and how the following two rules may or may not conflict with each other?

From the Guest Artist Agreement:
Quote
5.
(b) On a non-performance day, rehearsal will not exceed 7 out of 8 ½ hours in Tier I, 7 out of 10
hours in Tier II, and 7 out of 12 hours in Tier III.
(f) Prior to the first paid public performance, the total work week including performances,
rehearsals, costume calls, photos and classes will not exceed 25 hours in Tier I, 32 hours in
Tier II, or 42 hours in Tier III.

I'm concerned about them being read to imply that breaks aren't rehearsal time so, for example, our 2-10 rehearsal on Monday would be counted as 6 rather than 8 hours toward those 42 weekly ones. Is there a difference between 5s+10s and longer meal breaks?

What about early releases? The actors were released at 9:45 rather than the scheduled 10 - does that put another 15 minutes back in the pool of time we can be called this week?

 

riotous