Offstage > The Green Room

The Big "Thank You Notes" Thread!

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djemily:
EDIT: Since we had six different conversations going on about thank you notes in various sections of the board, I've merged them all together and placed them on the board where they actually belong - the Green Room. - PSMKay, November 2013

The first show I worked on was Six Characters in Search of an Author. This is also the only show I have worked on. I remember the director/AD doing thank you notes and I was wondering if this is also usually done by the SM as well. I ASMed that show and the cast had about 26 people not including the production team. I'm just curious about standard practices for this. Any advice/ideas/suggestions would be great. Thank you all in advance :)

Emily

Mac Calder:
As an SM, I like to thank casts and crew. Usually, I do a fairly general cast thankyou, as the director usually gets nice and cudly with them, however I really like to say a few words to the crew - as they tend to be overlooked quite a bit.

There truely is no standard. It all depends on what you think you need to do.

Some casts and crews, I don't say a thankyou to, because I honestly think they have abused my position (I am not your personal masseus! I may be pretty good at massaging shoulders, but I don't get paid enough to do it!) others I thank profeusly and invite arround for dinner a couple of times.

nmno:
It usually depends for me.  If I'm SMing I'll often do cards for the cast, the show crew, production departments/heads, designers, directors, company management. This usually ends up being around 20 + cast (It's the one point I'm glad I'm working with small crews).  I usually like to make a note something more substantial than "It's been a pleasure working with you" but sometimes that's all I can do and I figure that's at least something.  It just often depends on how much energy I have, how creative and/or thankful I'm feeling...  Once made over 35 snowglobes from scratch!  Other times, I'll just make cards.

I'll do an all-or-nothing for each group (ie. I won't do my deck crew and not the booth crew. But I might do my crew and no one else) so at least I feel like I'm being equitable.  

I also space out my thank yous: I do things like bring donuts to the load-in crew or beer for post-strike or snacks to tech.  

I will ALWAYS do something for my ASM/PA's/Interns (anywhere from a Starbucks Gift cert to a Gift Cert for a massage).

As an ASM, I'll do something for my SM and my deck crew.  If I have a good relationship with the SM, we'll sometimes go in on cards/gifts for the others.  Otherwise, as an ASM I don't often do thank yous for the cast but sometimes we've been really close so...

jensparkingonly:
In general, I think ThankYou's are a must. Especially if you want to leave a good impression with the people you worked with.  You never know whos may be in a position to recommend you for a job sometime down the road.  

Whether it is opening night or closing I don't think really matters. It is all up to personal preference. The cast usually gets lauded over by eachother, the producers, the director; but the stage hands, dressers, wardrobe, follow spot ops usually get forgotten.  It doesn't always have to be a note either...I leave cookies, beer or snacks for my road guys or in house crews which is always appreciated.  Even taking the time to walk around and thank everyone personally for their work goes a long way.

isha:
I do nice(personal) thanks you notes for everybody...

my last show it took a solid 2 days with every single moment of free time (as well as skipping classes for those 2 days) to finish them
cast=30
orchestra=14
crew=6 (this is highschool so our crew isn't very big)

I just print business card sized break a leg cards and write my notes on the back. I have extra small handwriting tho, and I try to fill each one up..it forces me to get a sense of closure with each person, and it's a great way to improve peer relationships (cause at about that point all the older kids hate you for "bossing them around" and the younger kids hate you for stopping them from killing eachother...lol)
it's gotten harder and harder to do as my casts increase in size....
-isha

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