Messages

61

The Hardline / What is the difference between working under Equity and not?

« on: Jan 19, 2006, 10:35 pm »

Wow. That's kind of a larger question than I think you realize. First, I'd offer this. It sounds like you're definitely not yet at the point to worry about considering joining AEA. Get another year or two under your belt and I guarantee A LOT of your questions will be answered.

In the meantime, I'd say there are goods and bads to both joining and not joining the union- it depends on your point of view. It is true that it's probably foolhardy to join the union with little to no experience. Because while you may be able to get that first job, it's very unlikely that other producers will want to hire you if there's almost nothing on your resume. So yeah, I'd say wait, work on as many shows as you can, (you can be a non-union ASM on most Equity productions and get lots of experience that way!) and see where that takes you.

Good luck!

62

Employment / So...I want to go on tour

« on: Jan 19, 2006, 10:27 pm »

Are you Equity? If you are, then unfortunately it will probably be very difficult for you to find an Equity touring SM position at so young. AEA Touring SM slots are really some of the best paying jobs out there, so the best people with the best contacts and most experience tend to get them. Not that you're not any good, but the chances of you having the contacts and experience necessary are slimmer at your age. There are some smaller Equity tours that you might be able to find. Especially for TYA contracts. You might start looking into the various children's tours available.

If you're not Equity, then there's alot more available to you, though at a great cost. Stage managers on non-union tours tend to do EVERYTHING and for VERY little pay and extremely hard hours. However, if you do enough research and asking around, you might find some that are more appropriate and with decent enough working conditions. Troika's one good example. Good luck!

63

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Scary Directors

« on: Aug 17, 2005, 11:29 pm »

I've met Anne and her SM, Elizabeth, and am great friends and colleagues with several SITI Co members. As nmno said, they are all awesome, kind, genius, wonderful people. Yeah, they expect excellence and have no patience for incompetence, but as long as you work hard and kick ass, you'll have a great time.

Which project are you doing, where, when? I keep pretty close tabs on SITI Co and I'll be interested to hear how it goes.

64

SMNetwork Archives / stagemanager portfolio

« on: Jul 11, 2005, 08:43 pm »

but if you want to work for a certain company, and they ask you to jump, you jump.

Not necessarily. Let me clarify my position: Say I want to work for Company X. So I apply with a Res&CL. Company X responds and says, thanks, we'd love to see a porfolio. NOW my desire to work for them changes. Because I have more information which leads me to believe they don't know too much about my job after all, and thereby maybe not as much about theatre, and maybe I actually don't want to work there. And so I do not Jump. Unless maybe I'm only applying for an intern-type position or I have some good reason to think their requesting a portfolio is a good idea.

Also, I concur with everything Matt said. Well stated, sir.

65

SMNetwork Archives / stagemanager portfolio

« on: Jul 10, 2005, 07:42 pm »

Interesting. I was jjust discussing this with my interns last night. I told them that you don't  need to even bother having a portfolio because:

#1-It doesn't really illustrate anything about how good an SM you are. Anybody can make a fancy looking form or prompt book, especially given time to redo it for inclusion in a portfolio. We all know this is not what SMing is about. What's the point of photos of a production? They illustrate the designer's work- not yours. Whether to hire someone as part of an SM team can only be gleaned thru careful interviewing, and checking of resumes and references.

and #2- because any theatre that requires a prompt book/portfolio for an SM clearly knows nothing about what an SM truly is, and therefore you don't want to work there anyway.

Now, I can see that some theatres are looking for an additional filter in order to weed thru the many many candidates, especially at job fairs like USITT or whatever, but honestly- I still think my two above points apply. Certainly portfolios are ONLY utilized in hiring intern or apprentice SMs and ASMs. I've never heard of any professional theatres looking for any sort of portfolio to hire a real professional SM, AEA or non.

66

SMNetwork Archives / Software that needs to exist!

« on: Jun 22, 2005, 08:24 pm »

I use filemaker for my day job, but haven't ever thought about it for the theater as I kind of like excel. But if you need help, let me know.

Oh I LOOOOOVE Excel, but I feel like I've maxed out its capabilities and I want more. My daily schedules automatically calculate the schedule, all I do is copy and paste the scenes we're doing that day. My reports automatically calculate how long calltimes and acts are, all i enter are the various start and stop times. My prop-sheets sort things to the most miniscule preset details for me. So I'm excited to see what I can do with Filemaker.

67

SMNetwork Archives / Software that needs to exist!

« on: Jun 22, 2005, 08:19 pm »

Hi
I think that the reason that this doesn't exist is because of the incredible trouble of creating a database of scripts that wouldn't violate copyright laws. The trick would be if some crafty person could arrange a deal with publishers to purchase a certain digital license for scripts.

I don't think it's incumbent upon the programmers to come up with access to the scripts. It should be the publishers who step up and embrace the 21st friggin century and release electronic versions of the scripts for stage managers' use. God forbid Sam French or Tams-Witmark revise their rules to accomodate the way theatre is done now. Legally, we're still not allowed to photocopy our scripts to create a prompt book- we're supposed to physically, with scissors!, cut and paste the pages onto large pages to fit in a binder. But if the script publishers can't even catch up to 1980's photocopy, or even 1970's mimeograph, technology, what hope have we that they'll ever embrace the digital age? My gosh, their typesets even look like woodcuts on some older scripts still. Needless to say, this topic is a pet peeve of mine.  :roll:

68

SMNetwork Archives / Software that needs to exist!

« on: Jun 22, 2005, 07:50 pm »

Anybody ever used Filemaker Pro? There's hardly any SM software out there, and a couple are just FMP programs anyway. So I figured I'd buckle down and buy it and that way I can design the programs exactly like I want, and modify over time. So we'll see how it goes. Anyone any experience/advice trying this?

69

SMNetwork Archives / Last month: Building Networks.

« on: Nov 11, 2004, 12:16 am »

hmmm.. I just finished my business cards, which I've started handing out. I hope they'll start paying off. I've never really sent updates, it seems a bit obtrusive to me.

70

Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Lights? Electrics? Elex? What do you say?

« on: Nov 11, 2004, 12:06 am »

I generally always say Lights Go, Sound Go, etc. Rail Go, Fog Go, and Bat Go have all been said as well. For some reason i always say Scene Change Go, even though it is a mouthful. I usually say the number or letter on the Standby, but not on the actual cue if the cue is by itself, or if it's a simple enough sequence. It's always fun when you have to manually call a cue throughout its entire execution. Like our Dracula Bat on an elaborate two-person fishing line rig needed to be carefully called constantly: More or Less fishing line, retract,  Up, Down, more Bounce, etc. Fog often requires such finesse as well. Or those shows which are different every time where you have to invent every cue on the fly and talk your operators and crew through every move they make. Especially fun on scene shifts, as long as the crew are on wireless.

71

SMNetwork Archives / But I don't *want* to be onstage! That's why I Stage Manage!

« on: Oct 17, 2003, 02:24 am »

What do you mean, ASKING for a Dress? You're the SM, you get to insist on a Full Dress. Wow, big props to you for actually going onstage for them. I'd send on my grandmother, book-in-hand, before I went on, no matter how much a director begged.