Messages

61

Tools of the Trade / Re: Half-size binders

« on: Feb 19, 2014, 06:23 pm »

I think they serve a purpose. In Australia, we are lucky, we use "a" sized paper - where each size up is exactly one half of the paper size bellow it - our closest equivalent to letter is A4 (8.3" x 11.7"). A5 is approx 5.85" x 8.3".  Have a look for A5 paper, you may luck out - it should fit in your binder.

62

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: To Much Possitive Feedback?

« on: Feb 04, 2014, 06:52 am »

I am experiencing something like you at the moment. I am an Operations Manager in our 3rd largest venue - which in 2 years will be our 2nd largest venue. I am 28 years old, so I am also the youngest operations manager the company has. I've worked hard to get to where I have - I have had a fairly good mentor, but I still have a long way to go to becoming the manager I want to be. (I cannot believe I just said that...) I am also our states senior most vision technician, equal first most senior lighting technician and probably rate in the top 10 across the country. I am one of those annoying overachievers who until recently had no concept of work/life balance - although I am learning to enjoy life now....

These last 2 months, both our venue and the largest venue we are contracted to released the tender documents as our contract is nearly expired. Both of these venues are owned by the same company and are currently working hard to merge the two into a single entity.

So I was pulled into the tender process primarily because they recognised I would be the best technician on the floor to operate the tender presentation and because I knew both venues really well, as the contract is worth approximately $30m over the next 5 years the team putting together the tender included our CEO, CFO and every other senior manager they could find across the country. The venue threw a number of curveballs at late notice in the process so we were all doing 16hr days of tele&video conferences 7 days a week. So there I am, the next youngest and least experienced in the room is 38 and he has gone through this process twice before, and I am holding my own in these meetings, debating my points and winning on a number of them - not just sticking to the bits they bought me in for, but interjecting where I saw issues with their approach to making a point, I end up coming up with the concept for our presentation of the pitch and operating multimedia for it and it was a resounding success.

Throughout the entire process I kept getting compliments thrown at me - I find it really hard to cope with to be honest, I don't take compliments well - but to me the thing was that I recognised that what they were really complimenting me for was that I rose above their expectations - many of which were set too low because of their assumptions based on my age and experience with presenting tenders (which is to say, I had none). I love the fact that they recognise I put a lot of effort in - but I also temper that with knowing that I did well for my age and experience - as my experience and age increase, so will the expectations for my performance. Basically the compliment = "You did better than I expected" - the overachiever in me tends to believe I don't deserve the compliment, because it just means that whoever gave it had set the bar too low.

SO yeah - you are doing well, be proud of that, but never ever let that stop you from looking for the next challenge, for aiming to meet that next goal and for continually seeking avenues to improve yourself. And when you do start to get a big head - remember that no one is irreplaceable. I had a really skilled employee tell me the other day that if he didn't get what he wanted he would resign and we would be screwed without him. When he didn't get what he wanted, he handed in his 4 weeks notice and so many people panicked, thinking we were up the creek without a paddle. I won't lie - it did hurt a little bit - I worked about 45-60 hours a week for 3 weekson the floor getting things done as we trained his successor. 2 months later it was like this employee never existed - there was no hole that needed filling, we experienced no drop in customer satisfaction and we had no decrease in revenue.

63

Tools of the Trade / Re: Camera Relay Software

« on: Nov 23, 2013, 12:13 am »

Can't help with the exact bit of software - it sounds like some live titling software or a digital signage system.

The easiest way I could think of doing it would be using 2 devices (1 computer & a switcher or 2 computers) - One computer is used to output the text, it goes into the second device (either a PC or better yet into a switcher) and the background is keyed out and placed over the video.

Are you trying to integrate into existing infrastructure, or building from new?

If you are building from new, my suggestion is as follows:

Get an ATEM Television Studio from Black Magic Design. It is a really cheap and really powerful little switcher which will live key. It also outputs live encoded video on USB - which may come in handy for streaming this feed around the venue - potentially any computer plugged into your network could become a monitor. You can run in up to 4 cameras on SDI, run a laptop in either via VNC (ethernet) or via HDMI et voila.

64

Employment / Re: Thinking through a Bad Fit

« on: Sep 22, 2013, 05:58 am »

I have had this sort of discussion with a lot of my techs - the nature of where I am at the moment, a lot of the guys we get have only had 1 or 2 jobs before this one and very few have been in industry related jobs. We do corporate AV, so rostering is 24/7 as needed. For those who have never done corporate it is a big shock & no amount of explaining in an interview can really do it justice - some jobs just don't fit everyone.

Our company pay slightly less than a lot of other companies in the same industry around here as well, but we enforce some fairly strict work-time rules that others don't (12hr maximum shifts, minimum 10 hour break between shifts etc). Pay is normally the reason our guys want to go ($3 more an hour with a different company sounds great!) and the ridiculous shifts is generally why they come back.

When I end up having the "is this the right place for me" talks with people I usually encourage people to really think about both why it works and why it doesn't - and it seems that is what you are going through now. My motto is that whilst the grass may look greener on the other side of the fence, it is usually just a different brand of manure - if that manure works better for you, then jump the fence.

All jobs are about balance - the money versus the time commitments verses the scheduling versus the personalities you have to deal with versus the amount of bureaucracy etc - and all of these items are highly subjective and weighted differently - the old decision making trick of "count the pro's, count the con's which ever has more, wins" does not work - because one major con may be enough to sour the entire experience - just as one major pro may negate a whole bunch of cons.

It seems like you weighted the scheduling as very important to you, over and above the fulfilling nature of the show - now you need to decide (after doing a season) whether that weighting is correct or whether you need to put more of an emphasis on the show.

From a management side of things, if you give every employee a rating from -1 to 2 (1 being does the work of 1 person, -1 being major obstacle that creates enough work to almost justify employing another person) - dissatisfied workers are rarely more than a 0.7 on a value scale - so keeping employees satisfied is a big thing - If I could get every employee in my venue working hard like fully satisfied employees I could probably drop my labour requirements by 1/3. If your dissatisfaction with the role is impacting the quality of your work, despite the convenience of the scheduling, the bigest favour you can do to the theatre (and for yourself) is not working together again unless you can be sure you will be satisfied.

65

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Can you earn a living? (2013 Research Data)

« on: Aug 26, 2013, 06:37 am »

I love looking at stats, but I think with stats like this it would be nice to see some graphical breakdowns in a income bracket/frequency plot to give a "picture" of where the population lies...

Jonas - All stage managers in Australia should be employed under the Live Performance Award - Basic guide here. It is not something theatres and production companies can opt out of, they are required to meet minimum award rates. Anything above that is extra. Of course availability of jobs is the bigger issue down here.

66

Employment / Re: Corporate SM Gigs

« on: Aug 20, 2013, 06:12 am »

Most corporate SM's who have a theatre background find the work really un-satisfying... At least over here.

In recent years there has been a large transition away from lights and sets towards video - to the point that on many of our larger events the vision operator will call most of the show - I get dragged out on most of our high-end vision shows to do system design, programming and operating - my past as a Stage Manager has really helped in that respect.

Corporate events tend more towards television style production than theatrical - the SM work is closely related to a floor managers work in a studio. Rustling up the talent, resetting stage, making sure the barrel is in place and filled with tickets and just generally being there to confirm that everything is ready back stage before the production manager tells VX to roll the clip to bring us back from dinner...

If you are currently working theatre and enjoy the planning, organising & design aspects of the job, I would be looking more towards a production manager role than a Stage Manager role - and if that's the case, event production companies are who you want to be talking to.

67

Tools of the Trade / A bit of software some of you may like to have a play with...

« on: Aug 03, 2013, 07:31 pm »

I was cruising the net this morning and found ShowPro - Thought some of you might like to give it a go - looks like an interesting replacement for a cue light system...

68

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: Working with Dogs

« on: Jun 11, 2013, 11:38 am »

I don't know the show, so I cannot comment on specifics - however....

Are these professionally trained dogs? If not - run away!

Professionally trained dogs seem to come in 2 varieties - those that follow instructions from their trainer only, and those who will do what they are told by almost anyone. The first type are almost a dream to work with, but their choreography tends to be limited as the dog and trainer need to be able to "communicate"... the second type can be a bit more difficult to work with but also more versatile.

Follow the trainers instructions - especially when it comes to treats - since reward often forms an integral part of the behavioural training of dogs.

Using multiple dogs can be a bit of a risk - especially with dogs that do not know each other. Dogs are very territorial. The fact that your casts costumes will continually smell of other dogs may be slightly distracting to the dogs - so make sure you do some rehearsals where clothing has been worn with the other dogs.

Finally - make sure your cast have access to those sticky roller things to get rid of dog hair.

69

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Student Stage Manager Challenge #18: Rated R for Adult Content

« on: Apr 01, 2013, 08:38 am »

but also school officials and possibly members of the local board of education.

It actually goes a lot further than that. The school editions rights are often a lot cheaper than "full" versions. Performing a different version without the rights to it could cause some very serious issues for the school.

70

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: PROP FOOD: Ketchup that isn't ketchup

« on: Mar 26, 2013, 07:40 am »

Must admit, my first thought was to do potato pancakes - anything with red food colouring will stain almost anything it comes into contact with. Ketchup - whilst a royal pain to wash out, is not quite as prevalent as red food colouring. Just make sure instead of doing a coarse grate of your potatos, if you go down this route, that you either finely mince them or blend them.

71

The Green Room / Re: Sleeping in your theatre

« on: Mar 12, 2013, 07:46 am »

Atop a pile of drapes in the store room has always been my preferred location - I like to make a nice little nest and curl up.

I did have a flybar hammock in one venue with motorised flys which was quite nice... Not sure if I would do it in a venue with CW or hemp lines though.

72

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

« on: Feb 10, 2013, 05:43 am »

Nashua 357 - The best gaffer tape in the world.

73

The Green Room / Re: Life After Stage Management

« on: Feb 07, 2013, 06:19 pm »

I miss the project based nature of the work. Seeing a project go from nothing to a spectacular production.

The drama.

Operations Manager for a corporate AV company.

I still substitute for the odd show as a ring in SM or LX tech, I attend at least 3 or 4 shows a year and I tend to put myself on some of the more theatrical corporate shows we do.

74

Tools of the Trade / Re: Backstage Emergency Kit

« on: Jan 15, 2013, 06:01 am »

I keep pain meds at work. However I do not distribute them. It is just a well known fact that I keep them in my middle desk drawer, and I don't mind it people take them. They are deliberately NOT kept in the first aid kit.

It is an unofficial policy as advised by our legal department. Do not distribute. Do not promote. Do not suggest. Make it available without explicitly making it available.

75

Tools of the Trade / Re: Backstage Emergency Kit

« on: Jan 12, 2013, 07:13 am »

I agree with a first aid kit either side of stage. Most venues I have worked for have had one there already (or I would organise as Production Stage Manager). It is also something I would bring up with the PSM/DSM/SM before I went ahead and just did - especially if you are ASM.

How large is this show? Are you the only ASM? Or are there 2 or more? Often on larger shows there is an ASM for each side of stage. Your kit is your personal stuff for just in case - If quick costume repairs are likely to be needed, maybe put some repair gear in your pockets. Or get one of these (I love mine) Jumbo Belt Pouch