Messages

631

Tools of the Trade / Re: mobile printer

« on: May 28, 2009, 05:11 pm »

Have you made your decision yet?  Look forward to hearing what you went with and what your review of the product is!

632

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: How to make someone's pants fall down on cue?

« on: May 28, 2009, 05:10 pm »

I've thought about this since I read the original post and I've was trying to come up with some clever and sexy solution.  I thought about snaps, velcro, and magnets, among other things.

The more I think about it though, I think the simplest possible idea is best.  The more you complicate this type of effect, the more margin you have for error - and this effect not going off right will make everyone look rather silly.  The loose pants idea sounds best to me.

I'd be tempted to try loose pants with something to weight down the waist.  Something like a padded chain sewn inside the belt.  This would give plenty of weight and the padding would prevent a *thud* when it hits the ground.

633

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Care and Feeding of your Crew

« on: May 27, 2009, 09:38 am »

Feed your crew with respect and a positive work environment, that will go miles further than food.

634

Tools of the Trade / Re: Virtual Stage Manager

« on: May 18, 2009, 01:00 pm »

Is this something we can talk about without advertising for anything else.

I sure hope so!  It is certainly a discussion worth having.  I am curious to see if anyone has worked with the Virtual Stage Manager before and would love some objective feedback for the benefit of the community.  If nothing else, techiething, we'd love to hear what your experiences are with it.

We're currently implementing a web-based project management software at our company and I imagine the drawbacks will be very similar.  For me, the biggest issue is customization.  You're virtually (sorry, bad pun, couldn't resist) locked in to their formatting, correct?

635

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: May 18, 2009, 09:28 am »

To be honest, every resume or e-mail tht I get with a web site, I look through. 

Any way to get MORE information about an candidate is a welcome opportunity.

Absolutely.  The biggest thing for me with a website was always that it gave me a chance to get a feel for a candidate's personality beyond "show x, position y, director z" that's on a resume.  This gives an advantage to those that have taken the time to do it.  If you're a freelance SM sending out a good volume of resumes, I'd say it's certainly worth the time.

Kevin, what exactly helps you find a candidate's personality beyond the resume part on a website? Since I am trying to build up my website I am curious what additions are recommended that will show me in the best possible light.

Only a month later, not bad response time 

A website offers more information than a resume.  It gives you a chance to put forward your writing style , personal style (through photographs and other items), and some basic creativity through the design of the website.  The nice thing about a website is you can make it yours.  Resumes are so formulaic and dull, with a website you can get out of that and add a lot more depth to your profile as a candidate.

When I had my personal SM website up and running I was having the same issue that you are having now, the "what the heck do I put on this thing" question.  What I wound up doing to add content and also add insight to my resume was taking a few of the more exciting projects I'd done, and expanding upon them by writing a few paragraphs.  This gives you an opportunity to highlight your strengths as an SM. 

Now this is of course a double-edged sword.  If you just throw something together that is dull or tacky and riddled with grammatical errors it's going to hurt you, but if done right it can help you stand out from the field of the applicants for a certain job, and ultimately, isn't that what we aim to accomplish with our resume?

636

Tools of the Trade / Re: Prompt Book Dividers

« on: May 15, 2009, 08:23 am »

This is about the closest thing I could find.  A little on the pricey side, but at least it is a clean and presentable option. 

637

Tools of the Trade / Re: Google Docs?

« on: May 13, 2009, 09:19 am »

Was wondering what everyones experiences have been with google docs, I seem to find more and more companies liking that I use this.

I love this discussion.  I'm fascinated by the way people communicate with each other, and the way we use technology to communicate information.

Google docs is what it is.  For those who haven't used the service before - it is a free service offered by Google.  Essentially you can create, edit and store documents, spreadsheets and presentations.  The documents are centrally stored by Google and are accessed remotely via the internet.  So as opposed to the standard of editing your documents in Word, Excel, or Powerpoint, you edit Google docs in your web browser. 

The service has some glaring drawbacks as well as glaring advantages.  In my opinion, the advantages far outweigh the drawbacks in certain situations.

Advantages

• Free -  No cost, at all.  If you wanted to throw everything into Google docs, you could do so and never worry about purchasing Word or Excel again.
• Centrally stored -  No need to worry about flash drives or CDs, and if you switch between computers no need to worry about having the most updated version.  You can access all of your documents from any computer with an internet connection
• Collaborative - You choose who has viewing rights and collaboration rights to your document.  Anyone with collaboration rights can edit the document at any time from any computer with an internet connection.  If you're editing at the same time as someone else, the document will update itself with your partner's changes as you both edit the document.  This happens in near real time.   
  

Disadvantages

• Centrally stored - Yes, this is a disadvantage as well.  Google owns your data.  Google offers many free convenient services such as documents, google 411, maps/earth, calendar, etc...  The convenience factor in a lot of these is out of this world and the documents and calendar service is a fairly major paradigm shift in how we communicate electronic data.  These aren't just for kicks though.  Google's primary revenue stream is advertising, and these free services are used to refine their advertising engine and build their advertising database.  Any information you volunteer to google is going to be subsequently combed by their advertising engine and indexed for content and location (IP address).  Example - if you've got a document stored that says "I love pizza!", you're likely going to be seeing more pizza ads on the internet.  c45207 touched on this in a previous post and it's definitely something you need to think about before you begin using this service.  This is the major drawback of this service.
• Connectivity - It does require internet connectivity, but this is becoming less and less an issue as our culture becomes more connected.
• Formatting - We all love Excel's powerful formatting tools, and I'm sure at some point we've all spent far too much time fussing over a small formatting detail.  Formatting in google docs is fairly limited relative to what most of us are used to, though it has made some significant strides since the service's inception a few years back.  There were at some point some difficulties with maintaining formatting while printing.  These may very well be resolved by now, but a simple workaround is to save the google doc as a .pdf file and print that.

I love the service for little tidbits, notes and documents that require some collaboration.  Something like a rehearsal schedule or production calendar where multiple folks need to access the document and have input highlights the advantages of the service.  Something sensitive like a contact sheet, medical forms and financial information highlights the disadvantages.  Don't want google indexing everyone in my cast's email, phone # and medical conditions or my personal finances.  I'm sure as a large and well-respected company they've got some fairly stringent ethics policies about what is used and what is not, and who has access to what, but I prefer to keep sensitive information secured.

I'd be nervous as a company to use this as a primary source of document storage.  There's a lot of stuff I would not want others to access.

Ultimately I think this service definitely has a place in the market, and over time we'll see some of the disadvantages of the service resolved.

638

The Hardline / Re: Stage Manager's Association

« on: May 11, 2009, 11:53 pm »

I, for one, appreciate an honest opinion from a member of the SMA.  Precisely why I did not join fresh out of college.

639

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Rental set dilemma

« on: May 06, 2009, 12:23 pm »

I'd be more worried about designer #1 getting the proper recognition/payment/etc... for his intellectual property being used again. 

As far as the intellectual property of director #1 - don't even bring that paperwork with you to rehearsal.  Any shift changes, staging tricks, etc... is going to be dictate by director #2's vision and idea.  You don't build a show's creative vision from paperwork.  If he does begin to go this way, he clearly hasn't done his homework and that's a conversation to have with the management of show #2.

640

Employment / Re: How Much Is Too Much?

« on: May 05, 2009, 12:22 am »

One thing you could do is speak with the powers that be at the school to try and have this round go a little smoother than your initial experience.  You could indicate that you do want to come back but think it would benefit the entire process (and in turn, the production itself and the individuals involved) if there were more clearly defined roles.  This should do a lot improve communication and nobody would be in the dark as to who is responsible for what. 

641

Employment / Re: How do you work your network?

« on: May 01, 2009, 08:43 am »

My biggest tip on working your network is to keep the connections fresh and the lines of communication open BEFORE you need a job, a reference, a favor, etc...  A good anecdote of this is something that actually happened to me in the summer of '08.  I was laid off from my then current job as the company aimed to cut costs and reduced their staff.  A former colleague and still a friend heard about the news, and within a week of me getting the axe, called me to tell me about an open position elsewhere in the industry.  He had already contacted the company that was looking for someone, and all I had to do was make contact with my now current employer and interview.  Nearly 10 months later I can truly say getting laid off was the best thing that could have happened to me as I'm much happier now. 

Moral of the story is keep the connections fresh, so that when you do need to leverage your network it's not an "out of the blue" phone call or email.  This will also help keep your name near the front of other peoples' minds, so that if they do hear about a job opening they can say "Hey you know what, so and so would be great for this - you should call them".

642

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Apr 20, 2009, 08:46 am »

To be honest, every resume or e-mail tht I get with a web site, I look through. 

Any way to get MORE information about an candidate is a welcome opportunity.

Absolutely.  The biggest thing for me with a website was always that it gave me a chance to get a feel for a candidate's personality beyond "show x, position y, director z" that's on a resume.  This gives an advantage to those that have taken the time to do it.  If you're a freelance SM sending out a good volume of resumes, I'd say it's certainly worth the time.

643

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Cruise Ships questions...for thesis...

« on: Apr 19, 2009, 11:40 am »

Some basic answers from me are below.  I worked for Royal Caribbean for 2+ years in various positions, both shipboard and shoreside.  Currently I work for a company that does sound, lighting, video and a/v design, installation and integration on cruise ships and mega yachts.  During my time shipboard, I was a Stage & Production Manager with Royal Caribbean International.

Some basic background on the industry:  There are only a few major players.  Disney is not yet a major player as they only have two ships (with two more under construction in Papenburg, Germany).

Carnival Corporation - Owns and operates Carnival Cruises, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Cunard and P&O cruises.  There are others but they are smaller and not of significance for this discussion.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL herein) - Owns and operates Royal Caribbean International (RCI herein), Celebrity Cruises, and several other smaller lines that again are not of significance for our discussion.

Norwegian Cruise Line - As far as I know they are their own entity.  You may want to verify that elsewhere though as I'm not 100% sure.


As you can see, there are many different cruise lines operating under different corporations.  So my questions are basically from the viewpoint of one line under one corporation, though where applicable I've tried to answer from a broad point of view.  Many of the questions you've asked are very broad and difficult to answer completely and accurately.  Other questions invite subjective answers and you may not get information that's a true representation of a specific line, or life at sea in general. 

Your questions:

• A:  Broad question.  Different lines have different requirements, and different ships within each line have different requirements.  Generally, cruise ship SMs tend to lean towards the technical side.  This is for a few reasons.  One, the SM is usually the one to operate the automated rigging system, so background in rigging and automation is helpful.  Two, the SM is sometimes responsible for supervising the maintenance and upkeep of the theatre and other venues onboard.  In these cases it's necessary to have a technical background to understand what the venues require to stay operational.
          A lot of SMs onboard ships have prior experience in the theme park industry or in Vegas.  These shows tend to include more technical elements than "traditional" theatre, and generally are a good progression to working onboard a ship.
• B:  Broad question.  Again, different lines have different requirements, and different ships within each line have different requirements.  Check with the individual cruise lines for this.  Mac's link below to Royal Caribbean Productions is a good start.  Generally, RCI has higher requirements for technicians and SMs.  This is because their ships are among the most (if not the most) technically advanced in the industry.
• C:  Loaded question, very subjective.  You'll get a different answer from every person you speak to.  Lots of travel, meeting new people from across the world, hard work, save money.  I loved the lifestyle.  One of my favorite stories to tell people when they ask what ship life is like: where else can you sit in the bar and have a drink with a Mexican, Canadian, Russian, Turk, Brit, Aussie and South African at the same time?  Generally, good to do while you're young and unattached and definitely opens your eyes to the world.
• D:  Varies.  If you're right out of college, most likely work your way up.  If you come with prior experience in automation, rigging, budgeting and management, you may be hired right in.  Mac mentioned hiring partners get a bonus if someone they hire gets promoted - this is actually not the case, at least with RCCL.  Hiring partners get paid per crew member they hire.  They get paid once the crewmember has been onboard for 90 days.
• E:  Not sure other than RCI, which you have the answer to already.
• F:  0.  This will be the case for all cruise lines.
• G:  Varies.  For RCI you manage your technicians and dancers from a personnel point of view.  You're also responsible for budgeting for several accounts, ensuring maintenance is kept up and the venues are kept in good shape, scheduling the venues.  In addition you also run the production shows, schedule rehearsal, and run the headliner/guest entertainer shows.  As far as paperwork, voyage reports (this takes the place of the performance report that is common on land), performance evaluations of staff, disciplinary forms if necessary (not a fun one, but part of the job), purchase orders for commodities and services, maintenance logs.
• H:  Such as?
• I:  Varies by cruise line and ship.  A ship with a short 3 or 4 day cruise will usually have two production shows in rep.  A ship with a 14 night itinerary could have up to 4 production shows in rep.  This is in addition to welcome aboard show, farewell show, and headliner and guest entertainer shows on other nights.
• J:  Varies by cruise line.  Generally speaking, the productions are designed and built as long running shows.  You'd be hard pressed to find a production show in the industry that lasts less than five years.  They're costly to produce and the companies want to get some serious mileage for the investment.
• K:  Sure.
• L:  There are no guarantees in the cruise industry, ever.  If you're thinking about going into this industry, embrace that and be ready for change!
• M:  Loaded question, very subjective.  Travel, save money, meet interesting people, get a lot of experience very quickly.  Away from home, friends and family, miss the little conveniences of land.
  
  
  

I hope this was helpful, good luck on the thesis.

644

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Considering additional training...

« on: Apr 16, 2009, 10:04 pm »

From what I know of this program it's designed for more of a rock & roll type environment.  The show production program is also an associates degree, which makes it about the most expensive associates degree out there.  I have employed a number of full sail grads in the past, and I have had mixed results (that is being polite).  Some worked out well, many did not.  I have visited their facilities in Orlando a few times and they do have very good facilities from a technical point of view, mostly on the sound side of things - they have very state of the art equipment.  What exactly is it you are looking to gain training in?  Are you looking at a complete career change to the technical side of things or simply to make yourself more well-rounded and versatile?  As mentioned full sail is very costly, and if you're looking to become more well-rounded you may be better served looking for some internships or classes at a local community college.  If you're looking at a complete career change I suppose that is another discussion entirely.

645

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

« on: Apr 15, 2009, 11:27 pm »

Even in rehearsal, I tend to dress a bit more. For me, dressing up a bit means "I'm going to work" and helps to put me in the right mindset. I'm also the crazy sort that really enjoys working in a dress, jewelry, etc. My producer always says that I don't dress like a typical stage manager!

How do you tape the rehearsal floor, manipulate props, and move around unobtrusively in a dress and jewelry?

That's just what I'm comfortable in...plus on days where I know I'm taping the floor or something like that, I'll wear pants. But heels and jewelry don't bother me at all.

Where do you find this takes you in setting a dynamic for the rehearsal room?  As an SM every word an action has an impact on the atmosphere of the rehearsal and the production.  Have you found formalizing the rehearsal room has had an impact on those working in said rehearsal room?