Messages

376

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: UNDERSTUDIES: No Understudies Versus the Show Must Go On

« on: Feb 15, 2013, 08:35 am »

Our producers beamed that we made it work. Did they ever hire a beatbox swing? Nope.

I'd be willing to bet a small sum of money that you were paid neither for the time spent coordinating this affair, nor a bonus for saving their show. (In any other industry you'd be under a mountain of cash if you pulled this off.)

I'm not sure I agree with the mountain of cash statement.  Sure, in the real world you could use the positive performance as leverage in your next salary negotation, but there's nothing saying you can't do that as an SM.  They may not pay up in theatre, but often don't pay up in non-theatre lines of work either.  The exception would be a position where you have defined performance/commission goals or a specific bonus structure, but that is not the norm. 

My boss has given me some nice kudos the last few months, unfortunately it was not followed by an extra mountain (or even a molehill) of cash!

377

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Prop/costume responsibility

« on: Feb 10, 2013, 12:30 am »

It seems to me the first mistake caused any/all subsequent mistakes, no?

Had the costume been preset as intended this discussion is not taking place. 

Attention to detail!  Critical. 

378

Tools of the Trade / Re: Where can I get good gaffers tape?

« on: Feb 09, 2013, 06:16 pm »

Retail or online?

379

The Green Room / Life After Stage Management

« on: Feb 07, 2013, 08:43 am »

The "things we give up for theatre" thread seems to have attracted a number of us who have left the profession, but still feel the need to be connected to it in some way (we're all posting here, aren't we?!)

So - for those of us who have moved on:

What do you miss?
What don't you miss?
What are you doing now?
Do you find ways to stay connected to SMing/theatre?  If so - what are they?

380

The Green Room / Re: The things we give up for theatre

« on: Feb 04, 2013, 12:00 am »

The list of things we give up for theatre is long and varied, and indicated above. 

But remember, we also gave up long term security for the theatre.  How brave is that? (Pat yourself on the back.)

Here's the more important question:  What have you given up for theatre, that you regret giving up? If you had the chance to do it all over again, would you do it the same way?

This is a great point. I am on the other side of this coin and I want to give you my perspective. I have a BFA in Stage Management, I had gainful, continuous employment, with health benefits and paid vacation - as a stage manager - and that is what I gave up.

I miss theatre. 
I miss the art; I miss the people.
I miss opening night; I miss "We DID that!".
I miss closing night; I miss "WE did that!".

I don't know if it's getting older and I don't know if it's a sense of duty to myself, my future wife (I hope), or my future children (again, I hope); but I have a leaning towards security.  I suppose this is a weighted risk by which we all measure up to some degree.

Most of my acquaintances don't know the extent of my theatre background. When a conversation shifts to theatre, performance, or art, I often turn heads.

I suppose this is as much an internal dialogue as it is external - my thought, though, is this: trust your instinct.  Trust your intuition.  I've trusted my instincts this far and I'm quite happy.  I miss theatre, but I don't regret leaving it. 

At the end of the day, we're building towards our own future and our goals.  If the ends justify the means, isn't that what matters? 

381

The Green Room / Re: FACEWASH - clean up your facebook profile.

« on: Feb 01, 2013, 08:54 am »

I can see this being very useful for folks who are transitioning from a college lifestyle into a professional mindset.  Until recently, Facebook was at best negligent about privacy settings, though in my mind they've recently (past 1-2 years) tightened up to a point now where it's easy to filter who sees what.  Like NomieRae I've got my professional contacts grouped so they see none of my posts, photos, tagged anything, etc...  Further, nothing appears on my timeline until I approve it.  I've taken the stance the past few years that I won't post anything on social media I won't say to a room of 10,000 people. 

It's funny, Google+ is exactly what I need in a social network, but nobody else uses it!

382

The Green Room / Re: Tax Season!

« on: Feb 01, 2013, 08:11 am »

Heh. Actually I happened to be doing some demographic research for another project that also involved NAICS codes, so I had the URL handy. Not sure if that means "awesome" or "excessively nerdy."

The two are not mutually exclusive 

383

Introductions / Re: Hey, y'all

« on: Jan 31, 2013, 10:16 am »

Welcome Annie - there's no business like show business. 

Bonus points if you get the reference. 

384

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: COSTUMES: Legally Blonde

« on: Jan 31, 2013, 10:04 am »

Kate, first of all welcome to SMNetwork.  You should make a post in the Intros board and tell us a bit about yourself.  To answer your question, I'll respond with another question:  "How long is a piece of string?"

This community is incredibly helpful but we'll need some more information to provide you with anything substantive.  If I said you need 17 dressers without knowing your production at all, would that really help?  I don't intend to sound harsh, just want to ensure the feedback you're getting from the community is valuable and can actually help.

Nick's questions are a good starting point.  You can also search our "BTDT" (been there, done that) section to see if any of our members have experience with the show.  They may be able to offer you some detailed insight. 

385

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: A Difficult Designer

« on: Jan 31, 2013, 09:56 am »

"Difficult designer" - is there another kind?  I say that tongue firmly planted in cheek. 

He's not necessarily asking you a question or making a request, so responding to him in detail is going to cause you to start chasing things down rabbit holes, which isn't productive or beneficial to anyone.  I'd respond simply that you understand his concerns regarding scheduling conflicts and they've been relayed to the director, you're looking forward to a solution that works for all, and leave it at that.  I'd leave out the "fair to the actors" bits in your email to the director though as it would likely come off as an indirect criticism of the current schedule.   

SMRose's suggestion about getting the two in contact with each other is the way to go, in my opinion.  The LD has some legitimate concerns, but my guess is once the two talk it'll be resolved with little fanfare. 

386

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Pointers for handling large numbers of props?

« on: Jan 30, 2013, 11:02 am »

I'll throw another stone into the jar for a numbered props list.

Also, if you can - tape out your props table as early in the process as possible and keep it consistent through the run of perfromances.  Even if you don't have all of the final props or their rehearsal stand-ins, you should still know what props you'll have.  Taping out the table early in the process provides easy visual reference for you and your SM team to ensure everything is set properly, and it also trains the performers that each prop has a "home". 

387

Tools of the Trade / Re: Android Phone Apps

« on: Jan 29, 2013, 03:55 pm »

Phones with Android operating systems have made leaps and bounds since the last post on this topic in 2011.  With the introduction of Google Play, the Android app market has grown significantly.

While I don't have an Android myself, I've noticed many of my friends and colleagues shedding their Blackberries and iDevices for the greater freedom, flexibility, and potentially lower cost of the Android world.  Have you done so?  What apps have you found to be the most useful?

388

Tools of the Trade / Re: Dropbox Teams

« on: Jan 29, 2013, 03:42 pm »

I split this from the original Dropbox topic as I feel the two solutions (dropbox individual vs dropbox teams) are a different enough product to warrant separate discussion.

It seems the folks at dropbox have been listening (maybe not to us, but we can dream, right?) and observing how many people were using Dropbox in a roundabout way as a collaborative tool as opposed to its original intent of cloud storage.

Some of the features of Dropbox for Teams are available here but the collabortive capabilities, administrative tools, and file sharing to folks outside of your company seem to be features that would fit quite well into an SM's world.

The cost could be prohibitive though, beginning at ~$800/year for a team of five, and climbing higher per user from there.  This would certainly be something that would come in at the management level of the company and not one of the many free/cheap "ad hoc" SM tool that we so creatively staple on to our company's technology offerings to do our job more efficiently. 

So, a couple of questions for the group at large:

• Would this be a beneficial service to your SM team?  If so, how?
• For folks in management roles out there - would this be cost prohibitive to your company?  Do you perceive the benefits to be worth the cost?

389

Tools of the Trade / Re: Useful iPad apps

« on: Jan 29, 2013, 03:25 pm »

Note: this thread topic was modified from the original "iPads" started by Delbert to "Useful iPad apps" to mirror our iPhone and Android app threads.  No content has been changed within the thread.

Picked up an iPad a little while back and wanted to throw a few thoughts into the mix here.

• Dropbox - I think we're all pretty familiar with this one.  Needless to say this is a great app.
• Google Drive - Access your google docs on the go.
• Notability - I love this note-taking app and use it exclusively now instead of a pen/paper when in meetings or in the field.  Add a $10 stylus and you can write directly onto the "paper".  Syncs to dropbox, google drive, box, and webdav.

The last post on this thread is from April of 2012.  Tons of people have purchased iPads since then.  Let's revive this thread and hear about your favorite and most productive (or fun!) apps.

390

Introductions / Re: Introductions!

« on: Jan 23, 2013, 10:32 pm »

Welcome from a fellow Sunshine State resident!