Author Topic: The Big "Thank You Notes" Thread!  (Read 181942 times)

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stagebear

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #30 on: Jun 25, 2012, 01:47 pm »
I always did a curtain call photo from the pro photo shoot in a frame. (But my photo, so I don't have to worry about photo rights.)

BayAreaSM

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #31 on: Jun 25, 2012, 02:33 pm »
During my 6 years with a Shakespeare company, I was known for candy. I always provided candy in rehearsals, but once we got into tech, the candy stopped since my available time to go to Costco/Walgreens stopped. So for every opening night, I would provide each actor with their own individual hand-sized bag of candy.

Granted, that sounds generic - but each bag of candy was special. During rehearsals I'd take note during the breaks of who would eat what. Some people loved snickers more, others gobbled my chocolate covered altoids, and yet one particular actor loved my ice breakers sour mints. I'd pack each bag with a small variety of candy, but mostly their individual favorites. If the cast was large, I just gave the candy in small gift bags. If the cast were smaller, and generally more close-knit, there would a small token related to the show given with the candy, or sometimes the candy would be inside the token item. At least with the actors I worked with, they always appreciated the candy.

As far as for the design team, it was not a point of mine to give them anything. And I didn't receive anything in return - except one time a costume designer for a very long-running show made cards with her renderings on them for everyone. Those were really special. I tend to write a thank you card to the director, and for my SM team, I would give them gift cards based on what I picked up during rehearsals. Complaints about gas prices and how far away the theater was, the fact that they were always stopping for Starbucks before every rehearsal and tech, or they were almost finished with this particular book in a series and that they really wanted to buy the next one.... Just like the actors and their candy, I'd give each person a gift card that fit their particular wants.

leastlikely

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #32 on: Aug 23, 2012, 02:17 am »
I write an individual thank you note to every person involved (just found a bunch of cute blank thank you cards at Target on sale last week! I got 64 new cards for $24!). I give cards to designers and director at opening, and to actors and crew at closing. I've never found occasion to give gifts. Maybe some day I'll see a need for it, if I'm working with a company that seems to do the gift thing. But I love writing everyone a card, and will probably continue to do so even if I also give gifts.

Also, I will usually bring delicious baked goods at least once at some point during the run. My personal favorite to bring for my casts is marbled banana/chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting :)

On my last show, I was ASM... there were 2 actors that my SM hated so much that he ended up deciding to not write thank you notes at all, because he literally had nothing nice to say to those 2 people, so he had to just not say anything to anyone. That made me really sad.

Kelasaurus

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #33 on: Aug 24, 2012, 01:32 am »
I usually do cards for everyone on opening (actors, director, designers, PM, etc.) I feel like it's a nice personal touch, and it's a good thing to show your appreciation, especially to those who don't always get all the love they deserve.

I am not much of a baker, but I try to bake something show related on opening (for All Shook Up I made red velvet cupcakes, but used blue food dye instead, making them blue suede cupcakes... I thought that was pretty clever).

I'm big into opening night gestures.  I think it's a nice tradition, I love receiving cards and little somethings as well.
‎"We keep moving forward, opening new doors... because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
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SMeustace

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #34 on: Aug 26, 2012, 08:34 am »
How about something that doesn't involve cooking or baking? I am beyond terrible at it and such attempts will be atrocious lol
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Jessie_K

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #35 on: Sep 03, 2012, 12:49 am »
My last show (of two years) just closed and I did candy for the cast and crew with cards.  I left a bowl of the candy and a note in the green room for the cast and then dropped off treats and cards at the different crew stations (grid, booth, backstage sound area) as well as the tech office.

I made crocheted animals for the director, artistic coordinator and physio therapist.  For my SM team, I got them each a USB stick and put a collection of photos from the show and various show-related parties.  I put a different cell phone charm on each USB stick to tell them apart.

I think I will use the USB with photos idea again.

bex

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #36 on: Sep 03, 2012, 01:26 am »
The show I'm working on now has a bunch of promo postcards left over that never got passed out- I'm planning on using them to write notes to all the cast & crew members at closing. I figure it's more memorable than a generic "thank you" card, and bonus- free!
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ejsmith3130

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #37 on: Sep 03, 2012, 10:41 am »
I like to do cards for the SM and tech team... sometimes I will write cards for all the actors too, but it really depends on the cast- for example I just did an opera, so I limited my cards to the director and SM team (as an extra 40+ cards was going to be extremely time consuming.)

I am one who also ALWAYS has candy on the production table. I guess this started during my internship when the Director would always bring us different foods and leave them on our table for everyone to share. I liked how it opened everyone up, and made the table really approachable. ...I also just really like candy...


BayAreaSM

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Re: Gifts and thankyou cards
« Reply #38 on: Sep 03, 2012, 01:09 pm »
I am one who also ALWAYS has candy on the production table. I guess this started during my internship when the Director would always bring us different foods and leave them on our table for everyone to share. I liked how it opened everyone up, and made the table really approachable. ...I also just really like candy...

Off topic: I also do this in my rehearsals. I have a variety of altoids and ice breakers mints on my table. (What actor doesn't want a mint?) I did this for the sole purpose of getting them to come up to  me and my assistant and get comfortable with us. They always come up and ask for the mints the first time, then after that they come back and you get a pleasant exchange going.

LCSM

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Thank You Cards for Interviews
« Reply #39 on: Jan 19, 2013, 10:17 pm »
I'm curious if this is something you do - send follow-up cards to the interviewer(s), thanking them for their time. And if so, what you put in them.


I'm writing up quick little cards, just thank you for your time/consideration and pleasure speaking with you. I also try to include something that relates back to our conversation (for example, the one I just wrote up, the interviewer recommended an opera I should look up, so I said a few words about that).

Bwoodbury

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Re: Thank You Cards for Interviews
« Reply #40 on: Jan 20, 2013, 12:34 am »
I always write thank yous, but they are usually in the form of emails. I love paper thank you notes, but sometimes they won't get there fast enough for the interviewer to remember what I'm talking about and the number of submissions I do via mail are few and far between these days. I usually thank them for their time, tell them I enjoyed speaking with them, mention something memorable about the conversation, and say something I learn that made me excited about the idea of working with them/their company.

ejsmith3130

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Re: Thank You Cards for Interviews
« Reply #41 on: Jan 20, 2013, 04:29 pm »
I usually follow up in one way or another. Like Bwoodbury said, most of the time that is just a quick e-mail because I will know in a few days either way about the job. However, if there is more time between the interview and when I will find out (especially when I was applying for year long internships that were interviewing many candidates over a couple months) I totally sent paper cards.

I think you are on the right track with the contents. You need to make some personal connection that will bring you up in their minds and make you stand out among the other applicants. I had a professor in college who said that sending postcards and thank yous are a great way of making your name pop up, and make sure that you are not forgotten- even if they seem like a lot of work. A paper card in the mail, when appropriate, is going to make you stand out.

KMC

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Re: Thank You Cards for Interviews
« Reply #42 on: Jan 21, 2013, 08:33 am »
I follow up via email 24-48 hours after an interview.  I try to hit that spot right after you may have slipped out of the interviewer's mind, but not too late in the process.

I think of "thank you" cards as something to give when a person has gone out of their way to do something nice for you.  You should be appreciative of the time, but really it's their job to interview candidates.
Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action. -T. Roosevelt

ejsmith3130

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Re: Thank You Cards for Interviews
« Reply #43 on: Jan 21, 2013, 08:28 pm »
To be fair- before e-mail the way people followed up was via phone or sending a quick note. The ones I send don't actually say "thank you" on them- they are blank cards where I can write a note.

I think having something tangible is a really nice touch in a world of electronic communication where it is so easy to hit delete and forget about it.

MatthewShiner

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Re: Thank You Cards for Interviews
« Reply #44 on: Jan 21, 2013, 09:30 pm »
But I think for an interview, the "norm" would be responding via the way most communication happened - and that was probably e-mail.

I think if I had an entirely e-mail conversation, and then an interview, followed by a written thank you card, it would smack of overkill or trying too hard.

But it depends on your overall marketing plan.
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