Messages

406

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Hydraulic Scenery accident, London "Lord of the Rings"

« on: Jun 02, 2007, 09:30 am »

I would think that as well as any blocking changes, the guards of some form would be put into place - either cloth skirting or something more ridged arround the mechanisms involved.

Unfortunate that someone was injured, however it is just one more incident to add to the pile that highlights just how dangerous a theatre can be.

407

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Dressing For The Part?

« on: Jun 01, 2007, 12:53 am »

Sarah: If you work with these sorts of people often, in your first meeting, cover clothing and hygene expectations. You can cover the it up by using something like "Working on shows can be pretty hectic, and sometimes hygene and clothing are quick to fall by the way side, so I just want to cover what will be expected whilst you are working on this show".

408

Tools of the Trade / Re: [FAQ] Electronic Prompt Copies

« on: May 26, 2007, 11:13 pm »

OCR in word is rubbish. If you are going to do OCR, I would get a scanner with a auto document feeder and a decent OCR application. The document feeder means that if your script is in good condition, it will scan each page in straight, which will give you a much higher accuracy rate

409

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Is this normal?

« on: May 26, 2007, 03:06 pm »

I was given a book on fifth circle management theories the other day by a friend (not exactly my normal reading, but it was quite interesting) and it reminded me a lot about how theatre runs. How putting on a show really requires you to take a holistic approach as opposed to the secular etc (that is a post for another day). But another thing it also mentioned was about setting mission statements/expectations/goals.

Long and the short of it - most of us set goals beyond our reach, and they are often poorly thought out, and when we cannot reach those goals, either due to difficulties that arise, or because the goals were poorly set, we shift the aim back to meet with where we currently are. The golden piece of advice it gave - think of your goals, define them, make sure they are reasonable, but keep them high. If you have to sell your mission to others, then they are not thought out enough. Then work to meet those goals. If it means you need to get new people in who are more receptive to your goals, then that is what you need to do. If it means changing companies, maybe you need to think about that too. But what ever you do - do not lower your expectations. Keep moving towards them. And remember that communication and discussion is key. You want other people to hear your goals and think "You know, that is something I want to be a part of" - so once you have your goals (maybe at one of your first meetings) tell people your goals.

I hope you can get where I am going with this post...

410

Tools of the Trade / Re: [FAQ] Electronic Prompt Copies

« on: May 24, 2007, 03:23 pm »

Optical Charactor Recognition - basically, image to text

411

Tools of the Trade / Re: [FAQ] Electronic Prompt Copies

« on: May 23, 2007, 10:02 pm »

In the interests of clarity, I have removed all script requests from this thread (excepting those that 'value added')

I would prefer all requests were made via Private Message (click the button under the persons avatar) - or if the people offering samples are willing, provided it is only a small sample (ie not likely to violate copyright), post it as an attachment

Rgds

Mac

412

Employment / Re: Resume paper

« on: May 23, 2007, 06:14 am »

120GSM bleached recycled white for me.

413

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: And it blew like a sailboat, right into the orch pit

« on: May 22, 2007, 12:16 am »

I would go so far as to say that if something does not seem to be safe to you, and you have suggested a cost effective practical method to make it safe, that you refuse to allow the actors onto the stage with the set piece until it is made safe. That covers your backside.

If your PM calls you on it, then ask for a liability waiver from the company before you do allow them on set. Chances are, they will fix the set pretty damn quick - because if they waive your liability, they acknowledge the risk - and if something goes wrong, they may as well have signed a blank cheque and handed it to the cast.

414

SMNetwork Archives / Re: Is part of being a Stage Manager being an artist?

« on: May 22, 2007, 12:07 am »

There is certainly a degree of artistry involved in being a stage manager.

Not only do we have to understand and visualise what other 'artistic' people are envisioning, but finding 'creative solutions' to make these visions a reality is a part of our job. Calling a show is certainly an art-form - and like most art forms, no two shows are exactly alike.

I also find that the Stage Manager is often turned to bounce ideas off of, as one of the constants in the directors day - and through that, the show takes a slight turn based on the stage managers own vision.

415

Employment / Re: What program do people prefer for typing up resumes?

« on: May 16, 2007, 08:01 pm »

It's a no-go IMO. If they ask for a headshot (and why would they for a stage manager) then you supply one. Otherwise, if it really boils down to "She has nice warm eyes, as opposed to his cold, blue eyes" then they would be much better off inviting you for an interview.

416

Employment / Re: What program do people prefer for typing up resumes?

« on: May 15, 2007, 06:22 pm »

I use Word (and/or OpenOffice.org Writer).

Honestly, I think that if you cannot get a professional looking resume out of Word, then you are doing something wrong. A resume should be simple in it's design, it should be structured, and it should be easy to read - which is basically what a word processor is for.

417

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: To enter theatre or not to enter theatre

« on: May 14, 2007, 02:07 am »

There is a difference between being a lighting designer at a church, and a lighting designer for a theatre production.

Lighting design for a theatrical production is 2/3rds planning, 1/3rd implementation and operation.

You attend production meetings to learn how the show is going to look and feel, you meet with the director, you throw arround ideas, you attend rehearsals, and you observe.

Churches are often "We want blue and red... more red... no, more blue... just blue on the left.." etc - I am not churchy, but I have worked for them, and often, just as with the industry I am in now (events), you get memo's like "Can you make it a bit brighter on stage" during the middle of the show.

Theatre is totally different. During the lighting plot, you pretty much set the levels and looks, tweeking after the show or during tech etc. Almost never whilst an audience is in the house.

Now onto stage management. Nothing is certain. Pay is (generally) at the lower end of the scale (as is most theatrical work) and as a general rule, unless you are lucky, you will not walk into a salaried role - often you start off going from show to show, contract to contract, and I will not lie, it is hard. Theatre is a tricky thing too - it seems to go through phases and seasons. Theatre will be 'hot' one year, and not so hot the next, and within the year, there are busy seasons, and quiet seasons. And that is the same with almost all theatrical jobs.

I will say this though, in an attempt to not frighten you off - if you wake up in the morning, and you look arround and all you can see yourself doing in the future is stage managing or lighting, or working in the theatre in some way, then you should go for it. If, on the other hand, you wake up in the morning and can think of nothing but going back to bed for another 5 minutes... maybe theatre is not the job for you (after all, the hours suck, and you learn very quickly that 5 minutes as an SM can throw off your day)

p.s. It is not so much how "Bossy" you are, but rather how easily you can take control of a situation and direct people - there is a difference - bossy people are disliked, commanding people are respected ;-)

418

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Girl trying to get her start in the Rock'n'Roll industry

« on: May 09, 2007, 06:43 am »

Honestly, I love working with female crew members - helps to temper all the testosterone and provide a voice of reason. Some of the best techs I know are female.

To help get you "in there" try and carve yourself out a niche. You can either go for one of the big 4 (rigging, lighting, sound or vision), or even 'the person' to talk to about a particular problem that occurs often. (ie "Oh, you want to do XYZ, stopthekitty is the person to talk to about that.")

To become 'the person' to talk to about the big 4, there really needs to be a gap (so that you are not overshaddowed by someone more experianced), and you need to become really familiar with the goings on in that area. For example, if lighting, know that anything after point x on FOH 1 will not be able to reach the prompt side edges - even though it appears that it should, that patch point 42 is dead, and patch points 46 and 47 have 10A fuses instead of 20 like everything else.  If you have DMX points scattered round the venue, know how they are patched, where the splitters are, what shares those points, do they need loop through connectors when not in use etc.

If it is sound, information like "3kHz is a killer frequency in this room", how everything patches (ie if you have stage to bio runs, breakout boxes arround the room etc)

And finally, don't go down on your knees for anyone remotely tied into your work. Even if it is love at first sight as that will only proove those people right (in their own minds).

419

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Trouble ASM

« on: May 07, 2007, 07:15 pm »

But there are also a lot people in education with a lot of raw talent that needs to be channeled and focused.  In situations where people have talent a good solid failure in a structured setting can sometimes be the best thing. 

The thing is, if they need the be "channeled and focused" once, will they need the same sort of thing again, and again and again?

SMing is a collection of varied skills, and often requires a "Jack of all trades, master of none" type of person. We are often thrown totally out of the box situations and expected to deal with them, and is not so much a matter of 'talent' but of attitude. Whilst talent is great - I would argue that you can teach SM skills to anyone.

It is the attitude - the way you approach obstacles, the way you deal with people, the way you manage... Those attitudes are not really teachable (I suppose to a certain extent they are, but as a general rule, it is next to impossible if the base stuff is not there), and in many cases a "You don't have what it takes" is the kindest solution.

It may just be the sceptic in me though.

420

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Interesting request for performance reports...

« on: May 07, 2007, 06:40 pm »

On the OP:

I generally don't list durations on my show reports, I list all the times though, and I do maintain a spreadsheet on my PC which has all the times and calculates run times. Now that I work corporate, I was told my show reports were "too detailed" because in the "Timing" box, I wrote "doors: 19:01, start: 19:46, mains: 20:32, formalities end: 23:34, House LX Full: 00:15" - apparently that was far more detailed than they wanted. What they wanted was "Doors on time, Event ran 15 minutes late".

You win some, you loose some. That said, you can never have too much information.