Messages

241

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Calling sound cues

« on: Jul 31, 2006, 12:04 pm »

The correct call would be:

Sound B GO
Sound B Prime GO

"Correct"?!!??! Tell me you're kidding, right?

Well, when I say correct, I mean to say that given the example given in the question posed, the clearest call that would be understood by the majority of professional audio operators in the United States would be the call I suggested.

(That's my story and I'm sticking to it...until I find that this notation is a practical joke perpetuated on me years ago that everyone since seems to have gone along with...)

In terms of rises and falls (volume up and down) -- I've been expected to learn those myself when I've run sound professionally and I generally expect the same from my audio ops.

I haven't yet met the op who was confused by a consistent labeling system (whether letters or numbers) for multiple sources and actions and hope I never will.

242

The Hardline / Re: AEA

« on: Jul 30, 2006, 12:41 pm »

My understanding of the eligibility criteria is that you may elect to join AEA while working under a "contract" in 2 separate productions

My understanding is that you can be join Equity working on any one production under contract, though some contracts specify minimun requirements for the "Stage Manager" position, as opposed to the "Assistant Stage Manager" position.

(I know a number of SMs who got into Equity by being hired as SM on a TYA contract, specifically for TheatreWorks/USA.)

This one of the reasons Off Broadway has become flooded with SMs in recent years -- many producers will hire a newbie ASM and get them their card, knowing that the young stage manager is less likely to be familar with the details and intent of contract as well as less likely to raise a fuss about non-compensated additional duties.

As a tangental note: every year I see postings and/or hear stories about "producers" who offer the reward of EMC (Equity Membership Candidate) points as an inducement for working on Showcase Code productions.  There are NO EMC POINTS FOR SHOWCASE and currently no EMC points available at all Off Broadway.

(Does anyone know if the theatres that operate in NYC under a LORT contract [e.g. Roundabout] are permitted to offer EMC?)

243

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: resumes

« on: Jul 30, 2006, 12:17 pm »

Any document that is being sent to be edited, sure, distribute in word, but for things like resumes which are static, PDF is (at least in the business world) considered to be the polite method of distribution. Especially as there are now quite a few excelent PDF printer applications out there for public use.

Discussed this in some detail with my source in the world of General Management (mostly commercial Off Broadway, as well as some producing on Broadway and Off Broadway) and he assured me again that while G.M.'s now do use .PDF for their P/L statements, they (from his point of view) do not want resumes submitted in .PDF.

His primary point seemed to be that .PDF files take up more room (which I don't believe is always true... but there you have it.)  His secondary point seemed to be that some important creatives in the field (the playwright in his most recent Off Broadway commercial venture, for example) still can't handle .PDF files while everyone can open Word documents.

Whether .PDF files are considered more "polite" in the business world is somewhat irrelevant compared to the needs of the theatrical business world.  Moving from making $ in the computer/financial sector (comptroller then M.I.S. for a small Wall Street software company) in the mid-90's, it was apparent to me that in general, the computer saviness of theatre back office, especially in regionals, was well behind that of the general business world. Perhaps that has changed.

A few years ago, it appeared that I held some sort of unoffical record (in the world of the SMA postings anyway) for being hired "blind" (resume submission, references, maybe phone interview, no in-person contact) so, personally, I'm going to stick with what works until it doesn't.  Anyone else out there have significant but different experience in being hired "blind"? -- I'd love to hear about it.  (Especially since SMA no longer casually tracks how many people get jobs from their postings).

(As far as Off Broadway goes ... well, there are far too many stage managers out there for too few positions -- it's every man and woman for themselves

Happy hunting!

244

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: resumes

« on: Jul 29, 2006, 08:15 am »

This is so that the margins don't come up differently for the other person, and also because PDF is a more standard way to send a resume. 

I would take issue with this assertion.

More people (especially General Managers, etc.) have either MS Word or some other word processor that can recognize Word documents than have Adobe on their computer.  I've been sending resumes by e-mail for close to a decade and have never had a request for a PDF instead of a document.  (Also, Adobe was crashing a lot of computers -- especially those using AOL -- until about a year ago.) I always offer to resend using another format in my cover letter if requested -- I think I've had to resend using a plain text document once.

Happy job hunting!

245

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Calling sound cues

« on: Jul 20, 2006, 01:21 pm »

Music on : Sound B GO
Music off : Sound C GO

The correct call would be:

Sound B GO
Sound B Prime GO

Sound B Prime is annotated as SQ B'

(Of course, if you're using Q-lights, then you don't pronounce the B' at all.)

I would say that while most pro. sound ops don't like to stay on headset at all times (and it's crippling for them not to have at least one ear free), they can generally run their Q from headset calls, since so much of playback is digital and visual.