Messages

256

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: POLICIES: Responsibility breakdown

« on: Feb 20, 2012, 03:47 pm »

Once I got out of college, I took the stance that everything was my responsibility until someone came along and took it from me. I then wondered why I was burned out so often.....

Once I learned I was digging an early grave for myself, I thought it best to basically do the same thing except ask the person I thought would be most responsible if it's something they'd be taking care of. If they said no, I'd ask who should be taking care of it. If they didn't know, I'd most likely do it myself.

As for creating a handbook: I once was a proponent of those. I'm not so much anymore. Even within rigid professional theatrical structures things are fluid as to who will take responsibility for things.

257

Articles from the Old Site / Re: How to hang, focus, and strike basic lighting instruments

« on: Feb 16, 2012, 09:12 am »

So ever so randomly I was trying to find a method of hanging some fresnels directly into sheet rock at work this morning and I cam across this basic "How to Hang Lights" article.....
......and by golly look who got referenced as a resource at the bottom of the article!! It made me feel warm and fuzzy!

258

Tools of the Trade / Re: Filemaker?

« on: Feb 09, 2012, 04:19 pm »

navigation can be a pain in the butt until you either 1) create enough common sense shortcut buttons per page or 2) just memorize your drop down menu. I use a healthy combination of both.

Unfortunately I can't upload the most recent version I'm using per the request of the creator. I have a much much older incarnation of it I need to clean up and I will post in due time, but I need to delete much in terms of sensitive materials and information.

259

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Feb 07, 2012, 10:17 pm »

260

Tools of the Trade / Re: Filemaker?

« on: Feb 07, 2012, 07:34 pm »

Filemaker is a godsend when you're working by yourself/want to automate SM tasks. I use it to create rehearsal reports, props lists, master tracking, contact sheets, signage, run sheets....you name it, I probably do it in filemaker.

However, To do some of the sexier functions, you do need to know how to code using the programs language. I'll get a hold of the person who created the database I use and see if I can post it for the enjoyment of others. But like I said: It's buggy as sin right now but you can get an idea of what is possible for SM's. And maybe you can even fix it up and repost it once it's fixed!

261

The Green Room / Re: ARTICLE: Rights, Royalties and Script Changes

« on: Feb 01, 2012, 02:26 pm »

I definitely agree that I don't feel responsible for music. I do bring up to producers who don't seem to understand how big of a problem it could be if they don't get approval, but as for the actual obtaining of rights.....I wash my hands of it beyond the initial conversation.

It's hard for me to say how I'd personally react simply because....man.....I'm having a hard time remembering the last time I worked on a show that wasn't in the public domain or an original work with the playwright in the room/in direct contact with the director about script changes....Like really.....I don't think I've worked on a show from Sam French or Dramatists since 2008. And on that show I wasn't even there for rehearsals. I came in just before tech week.

262

The Green Room / ARTICLE: Rights, Royalties and Script Changes

« on: Feb 01, 2012, 10:15 am »

http://www.stage-directions.com/current-issue/28-feature/3967-script-change-.html

Great article about how one should go about actually making changes to a protected piece of work.

I especially keyed on the Utah Dinner theater that ended up closing it's doors after sinking 20k into a show, and had to close it down because they were caught making changes. Copywright laws aren't something to toy with!!

263

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Musical License Cost

« on: Jan 28, 2012, 09:39 am »

Getting a rights quote from one high school to another won't be accurate. It may not even be close. it varies on the length of your run, the size of your theater, ticket price, what you've done in the recent past, your location and also if anyone else in the area has the rights to the same show at the same time. MTI will not allow shows to run at the same time in a certain radius of each other but you probably already knew that.

But again the important part is rights and royalties are decided on a case by case basis. And the only way to find out what they'll be is to request the license.

264

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: What classes would you look for in a BFA stage management program?

« on: Jan 22, 2012, 01:47 pm »

Suppose you're right. I learned by doing and it worked better for me.  Call it a bias.

265

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Jan 22, 2012, 11:09 am »

But very rarely do stairs close for mechanical failures.

266

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Dear Abby: What classes would you look for in a BFA stage management program?

« on: Jan 22, 2012, 07:57 am »

 I like all of what has been proposed so far (especially psych classes). In that same vein I'd propose some courses in Communications. Most colleges have basic comm classes that deal with the methods people use to communicate and barriers they put up to prevent message transmission. It might not be a bad plan to add that into the mix.

But I think its vital that stage managers know how to draft (thus allowing them to read ground plans). All the design classes are great, but a technical production class that teaches drafting would be clutch.

And since it always seems to come up in productions and NO ONE has the answer......maybe copyright law classes. That way, at least some one in the production will understand how fair use works...though this one might be stretching a touch.

267

The Hardline / Re: Public reading during rehearsal process

« on: Jan 22, 2012, 07:40 am »

Matt wins. Your combination was correct. I knew I was wrong, but I couldn't find my copy of the contract to make a more intelligent guess

268

The Hardline / Re: Public reading during rehearsal process

« on: Jan 21, 2012, 09:58 pm »

Ack.....uh.......I always freakin' forget this......

I want to say LORT B in reference to Off-Broadway.

PS: Note to all Up and Coming AEA SMs.....learn the damn contract structures. It saves you so many headaches and makes you look like less of a toolbox.

269

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Jan 21, 2012, 09:14 pm »

But she's still buying the Stairway to Heaven

270

The Hardline / Re: Public reading during rehearsal process

« on: Jan 21, 2012, 09:09 pm »

Why as a matter of fact....I just did this exact thing a couple months ago. The show I did in DC had a reading at the Ford's Theater a month before we opened.

Now, your rep in Boston might render a different decision than what happened for us (after all, each production is different), but we got paid our weekly salary plus a Performance payment. So it would be like, lets say $800 in salary, plus a $282 additional "bonus" for the reading as an example. Basically our reading was incorporated into our regular contract.

But basically, the reading for us counted as a performance, we were compensated, and we went back into normal rehearsals to complete the show for tech week/opening.