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Topics - PSMKay

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16
Staff members can post questions to the group on behalf of registered users who wish to remain anonymous. We call these "Dear Abby" posts. This is one of them that arrived in my message inbox today.

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I came into a production only during tech as a crew chief, and didn't find out until a week in that a videographer was coming in and would be selling copies of the show to cast/crew who ordered. Not a union house, but they do bill themselves as "professional," and it seems suspect to me. I've been offered a chance to work with this group again, but I'm nervous about 1) whether this is really kosher based on the rights agreements they had to have signed to do the show (MTI I think) and 2) whether I should bring it up if I work for them again and how. Thanks.


17
Today I received the following email from Lawrence Stern, co-author of "Stage Management." He's preparing the 11th edition. He has previously used quotes from SMNetwork members and has made the following request, with a deadline of August 14, 2015:

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Dear Kay,
 
Would you please post for me a request for anecdotes on SMNetwork.org?
 
In compiling the 11th edition of Stage Management, I'm in need of anecdotes concerning newest uses of digital technology.
 
What programs (like Excel to make sign-in sheets), websites (like SMNetwork to exchange information), social media (like Facebook to post cast/crew information), and Apps (like Remind.com to send out rehearsal reminders) are you using?
 
I'd particularly like anecdotes about how you started using one Program, Website, Social Media or App and switched to another, and the reason why.
 
Love, Health and Peace,
 
Lawrence

If you have stories to share, please include them below. Please note that if your story is included in the book, the publisher will contact you with a release form. In most cases your real name will be used with your quote, although you may request that your name be withheld if your story is particularly incriminating.

EDIT: Added submission deadline. - PSMK
EDIT: Added sticky for response period. -KMC307

18
So I know sports aren't a main thing for a lot of you. For those of you who are unaware, Chicago currently has a basketball team (the Bulls) and a hockey team (the Blackhawks) in the respective season playoffs. The two teams both play home games at an arena called the United Center. The changeovers are rapid and thorough, with other events mixed in. At one point last month they had to do basketball -> hockey -> basketball -> rock concert -> basketball -> hockey in the span of a week.

Our local paper, the Chicago Tribune, recently posted this neat time lapse and explanation of how the United Center deck crew handles the 2 hour changeover from ice to wood and back again. I thought it might be of interest for those of you who are curious about "backstage" work in arenas.

http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/gamechangers/

19
I have the privilege to occasionally hear from Lawrence Stern via email. As you probably know, Stern is the author of one of the most seminal textbooks on stage management. He's now 80 years old and has been in ill health for the past several years, but he's still in the world and promoting stage management as he is able. He has included SMNetwork in the past several editions of "Stage Management" and has always been very supportive of what we do here.

Today I received the following story from him about how "Stage Management" came to be published, and its history since then. I thought you guys might find it interesting and got his permission to print it here.

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April of 2015 is the 40th anniversary of the publication of Stage Management, a college textbook, written by Lawrence Stern. 

Here’s the story: 

In the late 60’s, after working as a stage manager in the Los Angeles area and in Sacramento, I started to direct in little theaters.  I found that the stage managers assigned to help me did not know what to do.  Not finding an instruction manual in the library, I assembled a crude manual made up of examples of my past work. When the manual had been “tested” by a few novice stage managers, I sent a feeler letter to 18 publishers of theater books.  Two responded favorably with requests for an outline and two chapters.

While negotiating with Allyn & Bacon, Inc., I ran into Ray Bradbury in the lobby of the Coronet Theatre on La Cienega in Los Angeles, where Ray’s one act plays were being staged.  I had met Ray years before when I stage managed his first produced one-act, The Anthem Sprinters, at Actors Studio West in Los Angeles.  I told Ray that I had a manual going on stage management and Ray asked to see it.

Ray’s office in Beverly Hills was very small, and seemed even smaller because visitors had to find their way around Ray’s bicycle to get to his desk.  The visitor’s chair was covered with books, which Ray removed and added to the piles on his desk.  Ray quickly turned the pages of the loose-leaf ms, and asked, “Do you have an agent?”  I did not.  Ray phoned his agent in New York City.

Ray’s agent did not want to represent me because, he said, my book would sell 100 copies at most and I would resent having to pay him 10% of my royalties.  But he did offer some good advice about what to ask for as adjustments to any standard contract that I might be offered.

I asked Ray if he would write the preface. He did and I sent it to Allyn & Bacon. They sent me their standard contract and I asked for the adjustments that Ray’s agent had suggested. Got two out of three.

A&B asked for revisions of the ms, and I rewrote several chapters (in the days before word processing) on an IBM Selectric, using lots of white-out. The first hard-cover edition was well received. From a small parochial college in Florida, the head of the theater arts department wrote that henceforward Stage Management would be their SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), their “backstage bible.” 

A&B was pleased after the second edition in soft cover, to see Stage Management become the best seller on their theater list.  Every three or four years A&B asked for a new edition.  With every new edition, A&B jacked up the price of the book. After the first few editions, I was amazed that sales continued to be good when books on the same subject were now competing at one third the price.

A&B was purchased by Esquire, Inc., in 1981.  In 1983, Esquire was sold to Gulf+Western (Paramount Studios), and A&B became part of Simon & Schuster's education division. Pearson purchased the education and reference divisions of Simon & Schuster in 1998.  These changes brought no changes to continued requests for new editions or to the continuing royalty checks, now from Pearson.

(On March 23, 2015, I received word that Pearson had sold my title to Taylor & Francis.  Is this the end of a 40 year run?)

In 2009, Stage Management was printed in Chinese by Peking University Press.

In 2008, I was hit with chronic fatigue and asked friend Alice O’Grady to help me with the 9th (2009) and 10th (2013) editions.  Alice had used my book to stage manage at a little theatre in Boerne, Texas.

There have been many rewards over forty years, like hearing from college instructors that they studied my book when they were students and now recommend it to their students.  For recent editions, I have contacted many Broadway stage managers to ask if they will share their expertise with the next generations.  Several said they studied my book in college and are happy to contribute.

A few years ago, I stopped at a gas station in Pollock Pines (population 6,400), CA. The clerk took a look at my credit card and asked, “Are you the Lawrence Stern who wrote Stage Management?” He told me that he was taking an acting class when his instructor asked him to stage manage a show and handed him my book. “Your book saved my butt.”  Wow! Recognized in Pollock Pines!

Do you have any stories about your first encounter with Stern's book? Have you used it in class? Out of class? Which was the first version you owned? (I have a 2nd ed. version from 1982 that I found second hand back in the late 90's, and the 9th and 10th eds that were sent to me gratis as thanks for SMNetwork. I had an 8th ed as well, but gave it away to a student in need.)

20
I don't normally like to cross-pollinate between my normal life and SMNetwork, but I figured you guys might be able to help out, especially since it has roots in things I've learned from building this website.

So remember back when I made the Internship Survey? And designed a survey to help objectively rate internships? So that's still running. It's doing well, although slowly, mostly due to lack of promotion, but hey, that's how it goes.

After leaving stage management I was an apartment leasing agent for five years, and then a Realtor, and then I quit outright in October to start my own company. It's focused on apartment rentals, it's web based, and it uses a lot of what I learned from the SMNetwork internship project.

RentConfident is the new company. We're a web-based research company that is trying to be the Carfax of apartments. Customers give us addresses of places they're thinking of renting, and we make details reports about the landlord, building, condo association, neighborhood, property manager, and make a risk assessment. We're in beta testing right now and hope to launch to the Chicago market this spring. Other locations may follow, depending on demand and data availability.

It's a neat idea and I'm very happy with how things are progressing, but we're having some trouble getting market data. We've got a survey put together and we've received just shy of 70 responses so far, but in order to have a decent sample size that reflects even the Chicago rental market we need closer to 400 responses. This is where you guys come in.

If you've rented before and feel so inclined, or have friends who have rented before, could you please take our market research survey and spread the word about it? They don't have to have rented in Chicago, or even in the US. We'd like to hear from anyone who's rented an apartment before.

Here's the survey link: https://rentconfident.com/survey/index.php/422893/lang-en

Of course, if you like the idea and happen to live in Chicago, I'd love it if you could spread the word about the company to your friends and fam. But for now the market research is the crucial thing so we can make a business plan that's got some basis in reality.

Thanks!

21
Announcements / Planned downtime: Jan 8-10 2015
« on: Jan 06, 2015, 07:36 pm »
Hello - I will be taking the site down on the 8th (pretty much as soon as December madness ends) to upgrade the server. I expect it will take me less than a day to get everything back up and running again but it may take longer.

22
December Madness 2 / FINALS: Excel vs Webmail
« on: Jan 01, 2015, 03:01 am »
**** Drumroll ****
**** Fanfare ****

Months of preparation and hard work have led our two teams to this point here at the December Madness finals. Your votes have eliminated 30 excellent digital competitors and now we're down to only two remaining. It's time for the Stage Managers of SMNetwork to make the final decision as to the most useful digital tool in their arsenal.

This entire competition has seen a pitched battle waged between the two main focal points of the stage manager's job: communication and organization. Our final matchup is no different.

On the one side we have Webmail, a universally accessible and free resource that allows rapid dissemination and easy control of the large amounts of information that pass through our hands on a regular basis. Webmail came out of the semifinal match with text messaging with a landslide victory, 21-4. With a strong offensive lineup including Gmail, Yahoo mail, AOL mail and whatever Microsoft is choosing to call their mail offering at this time, Webmail brings a lot to the table. It has made the rehearsal hotline obsolete and allowed theatres to cut postal and travel budgets since its invention in 1996. Its foundation technology, Email, has had half a century to practice (since 1962) its defensive moves and turn into a powerhouse to which current webmail interfaces merely add flair and gloss.

Of course, its competitor is no slouch, and it brings an equally long history of evolution and refinement to the court today. Spreadsheet technology also dates back to 1962 and Excel descends from an equally impressive pedigree including Lotus, Quattro Pro and VisiCalc. However, while Webmail is free, immediate and targeted towards communication, Excel has a cost to it and a more substantial learning curve to use to its fullest extent. While Webmail has made the communication part of the stage manager's job infinitely easier, Excel led the charge of stage managers bringing the computer into backstage work. Its ability to parse information into tidy boxes has tickled the stage manager's organization urges all the way along, and its mathematic abilities have allowed it to integrate throughout the backstage world from the box office to the scene shop. Excel came out of the semifinals with a perfect 31-0 victory over Facebook, a result that I'm sure pleased the SMblr crowd. Can it repeat its vicious trouncing of opponents in the finals?

The outcome is in your hands, stage managers. Let the voting begin! Polls remain open for 1 week.

23
December Madness 2 / SOUP BOWL: Facebook vs Excel
« on: Dec 25, 2014, 12:10 am »
The Soup Bowl sees two powerhouse teams facing off. After steamrolling over Twitter, Tumblr and SMNetwork, Facebook may finally have a worthy competitor as it stares down Excel in the Work vs Play battle of the century.

Will the Xmas break put SMs in a leisurely mood and tip the scales to Facebook? Or will the tried and true workhorse of the profession carry it all the way home?

This Semi-final match will run for a full week, from Christmas through New Year's Eve. We'll see you with the final count when the ball drops in NYC.

24
December Madness 2 / SUGAR BOWL: Texting vs Webmail
« on: Dec 25, 2014, 12:10 am »
The Sugar Bowl this year pits short-form/modern against long-form/old school, serving as a reminder to all of us that email is definitely "old school".

Short and doughty, Text Messaging has roundly claimed in the Division finals that there is no real substitute. However, as it stares down the court at Webmail it may be thinking about eating its words.

Two immediate written forms of communication are before you this week. One is short, sweet, and potentially expensive for those without unlimited phone service. The other is longer, more elegant and free, but the little problem of SPAM has weighed down its offensive pushes before.

You have one full week to decide which one moves on to the finals.

25
December Madness 2 / SOFTWARE Division Finals: Excel vs Qlab
« on: Dec 22, 2014, 12:01 am »
It's David vs Goliath here at Stage Manager Stadium as we head into the Software division finals. The winner here will be the ultimate champion out of all the excellent software options we've discussed, and will move on to face the winner of the Social division at midnight on Christmas Eve.

In some ways (although I am loath to admit it) this competition is Apple vs Microsoft. One team is only available for Macs, while the other is the daily bread for the Washington state wonder. The two are comparably priced, and neither are cheap investments.

Qlab has dimmed the lights on Lightwright and slashed away Photoshop's unsharp mask to reach the division finals. Timecode technology is changing the face of stage management as we know it, and this one piece of software is leading the charge.

Meanwhile, Excel is probably the first piece of software that crossed your mind when you saw that SMNetwork was doing a digital December Madness. While not as performance-focused as Qlab, it's victories over Word and PDF position it as possibly the trademark software for stage management.

Will you pick the old faithful or the new game changer? We'll find out in a few days!

26
Oh, it's getting exciting now!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to choose which app will represent the entire apps division in the tournament semifinals. We have two very solid competitors here, and looking at both of them one thing is very clear: when it comes to stage management, tried and true wins out over new technology across the board.

Once again we face an organization vs communication decision here.

Clock has triumphed over Evernote and shuttered Camera with ease. Its simple function and reliable presence on every smartphone makes it indispensable. They say you can't please all of the people all of the time, but I don't think you'll ever hear a stage manager griping about how they wish they could delete the Clock app from their phone.

Meanwhile, Text Messaging has faced two cloud-sharing apps (Dropbox and Drive) but has yet to take on a real organizational tool like Clock. Stage managers have come down strongly in favor of organizational tools throughout this entire tournament. A win here for text messaging would turn that time in favor of the communication side of the job.

Santa will bring the answers to this matchup when he comes down the chimney at midnight (EST) on Christmas Eve.

27
Pre-production takes on the open run in the "Mac Attack" Software division semi-finals. On the one side of the court we have surprise winner Photoshop, which survived a tight match against Filemaker last week. It remains to be seen if Adobe's most widely pirated moneymaker can hold its own when paired against Qlab, an app made specifically for the backstage industry.

The main question of this tournament - "Which software is the most useful" - takes on a different connotation in this round. These two digital tools may be the most exclusive ones remaining in the tournament with the smallest user base. Rather than "more useful," we may be determining which of the two has been used at all among the users of SMNetwork.

The winner here will take on battered and bruised Excel, fresh from its knock down, drag out rumble against its sibling Excel, in the division finals next week.

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Today we have a matchup between two Apps that are often taken for granted. It can be easy to forget that both of these teams are actually apps, as they come pre-installed as part of every smartphone's operating system.

In a way this match is the stage manager's personality test. At stake is the innate split personality of the stage manager: relentlessly orderly, but also extremely creative. Aware of what's coming up in the near future, but focused on retaining archives and preserving what's gone before.

The winning team here will go on to face the other remaining default stock application, Text Messaging, in the division final. Cast your votes well! We'll see you at the close of Sunday.

29
Kicking off the Sweet Sixteen- It's a showdown of two powerhouse Website contenders- Webmail vs. Webcalendar!! This match is going to be quite a nailbiter- our experts judge these teams to be fairly evenly matched.

Webmail has changed the lives of stage managers in the last 2 decades. The increasing polularity and availability of Webmail has decreased the need for rehearsal hotlines, saving SMs the necessiry of recording the call 7 times just to squeeze In the last two lines. It has increased the ability for last minute communiques, and made SM-designer relations increase tenfold. Its offense is not to be stopped!

Webcalendar has strong foothold in the Website round- its ability to track multiple shows and easy comparison to one's personal calendar lead to a strong defense for this team. The ease of sharibility amongst production staff makes it a strong contender.

VOTE for your favorite Website! Polls open through midnight 12/17.

-Maribeth

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December Madness 2 / SOCIAL Division Semis: Facebook vs Tumblr
« on: Dec 15, 2014, 12:19 am »
In the Social division, the ever popular Facebook faces off against the up-and-comer Tumblr. This match is going to be all about the fans!

Tumblr's got the “loud and rowdy sixth man” advantage in this match- its fans have been lining up to get tickets for days. Facebook does have a solid fan base itself- can it compare to the enthusiasm of the Tumblr crowd? Facebook did have a more solid win in the first round, but the Tumblr fans may carry their team to the top!

Vote here! Polls close Wednesday at midnight.


- Maribeth

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