"7 out of 9" vs. "8 out of 10"

[JMullane]

I have a question about a particular rule from the LORT agreement, Rule (51)(C)(1): "At the Theatre’s option, on non-performance days, rehearsal shall not exceed “7 out of 9” or “8 out of 10” consecutive hours."

My question is this: Why not just say that rehearsal shall not exceed "8 out of 10" consecutive hours?

It seems simple to determine what exceeds an 8 out of 10. You just can't rehearse more than 8 hours that day, and you have to make sure the entire work day is less than 10 hours inclusive of the meal break.

But what exceeds a 7 out of 9 that wouldn't just automatically become an 8 out of 10?

Are we saying that if you want to rehearse an actor more than 7 hours in the rehearsal day, the actor's span of day must then count as 10 hours (since it exceeds a 7 out of 9, you must call it an 8 out of 10). And how does that affect things? Does it affect 12-hour turnaround, so that if an actor rehearses 12n-5p & 6p-9p (an 8 out of 9), you really have to call it either a 11a-9p span of day or a 12n-10p span of day, and make sure they get the proper 12 hour turnaround based on one of those spans.

Or is scheduling an 8 out of 9 rehearsal day fine, because it does not "exceed" an 8 our of 10? And if so, again, why include the "7 out of 9" option in the rule?

Is the rule just saying you can't schedule 7 hours of rehearsal spread across a 10 hour span of day (that is, without officially crediting the actor for 8 hours worked for the day, even if one hour was part of an unusually long meal break.) And does that mean as soon as an actor's span of day is longer than 9 hours, they must be credited as having worked 8 hours that day?

The more I think about the rule, the more my head spins about what the spirit of it is, and what it's trying to say we shouldn't be doing.

Does anyone have a simple explanation?

[RuthNY]

I think you are making it more complicated than it really is, Jeremiah.

If the book only said 8 out of 10, there would be no guidelines for the 7 hour rehearsal. If each of 6 days were an 8 hour rehearsal,  this is 48 hours of rehearsal, and small cast plays get 45 and large cast plays get 47. No play gets 48 hours of rehearsal prior to "Tech Week."

Therefore, there has to be a rule for the 7 hour rehearsal.

Am I answering your question?

Ruth

I have a question about a particular rule from the LORT agreement, Rule (51)(C)(1): "At the Theatre’s option, on non-performance days, rehearsal shall not exceed “7 out of 9” or “8 out of 10” consecutive hours."

My question is this: Why not just say that rehearsal shall not exceed "8 out of 10" consecutive hours?

It seems simple to determine what exceeds an 8 out of 10. You just can't rehearse more than 8 hours that day, and you have to make sure the entire work day is less than 10 hours inclusive of the meal break.

But what exceeds a 7 out of 9 that wouldn't just automatically become an 8 out of 10?

Are we saying that if you want to rehearse an actor more than 7 hours in the rehearsal day, the actor's span of day must then count as 10 hours (since it exceeds a 7 out of 9, you must call it an 8 out of 10). And how does that affect things? Does it affect 12-hour turnaround, so that if an actor rehearses 12n-5p & 6p-9p (an 8 out of 9), you really have to call it either a 11a-9p span of day or a 12n-10p span of day, and make sure they get the proper 12 hour turnaround based on one of those spans.

Or is scheduling an 8 out of 9 rehearsal day fine, because it does not "exceed" an 8 our of 10? And if so, again, why include the "7 out of 9" option in the rule?

Is the rule just saying you can't schedule 7 hours of rehearsal spread across a 10 hour span of day (that is, without officially crediting the actor for 8 hours worked for the day, even if one hour was part of an unusually long meal break.) And does that mean as soon as an actor's span of day is longer than 9 hours, they must be credited as having worked 8 hours that day?

The more I think about the rule, the more my head spins about what the spirit of it is, and what it's trying to say we shouldn't be doing.

Does anyone have a simple explanation?

[JMullane]

Of course I'm making it too complicated, Ruth.   
I'm definitely thinking more hypothetically than practically. And that always gets me into trouble. Anyway...

Ruth's response makes me think about the rule slightly differently. Now I read it more like a menu with two options.

On non-performance days, at the theatre's option, rehearsal can be either of the following:
For rehearsals that consist of 7 work hours or less, the rehearsal span of day must be 9 hours or less.
For rehearsals that consist of more than 7 work hours up to a maximum of 8, the rehearsal span of day must be 10 hours or less.

So in this case, a rehearsal that is 12:00n-5:00p, 7:00p-9:00p is a legit 7 out of 9. But if you try to schedule an actor for 12:00n-5:00p, 8:00p-10:00p it exceeds the "out of 9", so you have to credit the actor for an 8 out of 10.

But that brings up yet another question in my mind. Can you actually give an actor a 2-hour break and have the whole break not count as rehearsal hours? Or does it break this other rule?...

Rule 51(C)(6)(f): "Rehearsals must be consecutive except for a break of 1½ hours after five consecutive hours of work. This break shall be reduced (or eliminated on a 5½-hour rehearsal day when permitted under section (C)(4) above) in accordance with section (E) below."

I read that rule to mean when you tally an actor's rehearsal hours, you can only deduct 1.5 hours (or 1 hour if reduced) for their meal break, and the rest of their rehearsal span of day counts as rehearsal hours whether they were really rehearsing the whole time or not. And if that's correct, then you couldn't ever really reach the span of day limits of a 7 out of 9 or an 8 out of 10 without running out of rehearsal hours first.

But I'm probably making all that out to be more complicated than it should be too. 

[MatthewShiner]

This is all my opinion . . . I wonder if Ruth (or others) agree with me.


Okay . . . here is how I always thought about this . . .

It's a poorly written rule

(1) At the Theatre’s option, on non-performance days, rehearsal shall not exceed  “7 out of 9” or “8 out of 10” consecutive hours. The Company shall receive no  less than 12 hours’ notice of the span of each rehearsal day.

Great.

So, can you do a 7.5 out of 9.5?  I always thought so . . . it's does not exceed a 8 out of 10.

So, let's see what works for this schedule . . .

Can you rehearse 12:00n - 1:00p, 8:00-10:00p - yep, it does not exceed 8 out of 10.

Can you rehearse 12:00n - 1:00p, 7:00p - 9:00p - yep, it does not exceed 7 out of 9 (which also does not exceed 8 out of 10).

Can you rehearse 10:00a - 12:00n and then 8:00p - 10:00p - nope, it exceeds 8 out of 10 (it exceeds the later part).  I mean you can do it, you have to pay the overtime.

So, let's look at this schedule . . .

Monday: OFF
Tuesday:  12:00n - 2:00p, 4:00p - 10:00p  (Total Rehearsal hours 8 out of 10)
Wednesday:  12:00n - 2:00p, 8:00p - 10:00P (Total Rehearsal hours 4 out of 10)
Thursday:  12:00n - 1:00p, 9:30p - 10:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 1.5 out of 10)
Friday:  12:00n - 5:00p, 7:00p - 10:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 8 out of 10)
Saturday: 12:00n - 4:00p,  6:00p - 7:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 5 out of 7)
Sunday:  12:00n - 5:00p, 7:00p - 10:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 8 out of 10)

Great, so every day his daily schedule does not exceed 8 out of 10.

You are clear on the daily check.

Let's say this is small play.

You have 48 hours in the work week. no more then 45 can be rehearsal.

This is where things get tricky, and you should talk to an Business Rep . . . (Corrected from deputy)

I feel that work week was 34.5 hours against his 45 hours rehearsal week.  (I don't think you count the full span of the day - so I don't think you count this as a 47 hour rehearsal week.  (That is, I don't think each 8 out of 10 counts as 8 rehearsal hours against your weekly count).

The 7 out of 9, and 8 out 10 only counts as day to day span OF REHEARSAL.

You have to count actual rehearsal hours in regards to the 45.

NOW - depending on your business rep is . . . the work week thing gets really bonkers.

Let's say you are doing an ensemble show, and you are maxed out . . .
you are doing
three 7 out of 9's and three 8 out of 10's.

You have the 45 hours.

Now, you have three hours to play around with costume fittings (and anything else you and your general manager feel should be billed against work week hours). 

The rule above ONLY STATES REHEARSAL NEEDS TO BE WITHIN THAT SPAN.

You rehearse 12:00n - 10:00p, with a two hour break, your rehearsal fits with in the 8 out 10.

NOW, you can schedule a costume fitting up against that, but outside the 8 out of 10 - rehearsal span does not equal work day span.  The span of work shall not exceed 12.

So you could do . . .

10:00a - 10:30a Costume Fitting
12:00n - 10:00p Rehearsal, with a two hour break.

That's a legit day.

Can't do 9:30-10:30a Costume Fitting - outside of the 12 hour span.

(Although you will find VERY different readings of that rule, I still stand firm that's a legit day . . . some people got hung up on the "consecutive" word - but I have already ranted about that . . . just hope you are working on east coast).

SO,


Doesn't 7 out of 9 not exceed 8 out of 10?  Does it need to be there?  Do we need that spelled out?  If we spell out 7 out 9, do we need to spell out 7.5 out of 9.5 - it all seems very silly.  But that's the way the rule is written.

Remember that's just your daily span, and has to do with week bucket of hours.

[RuthNY]

I agree with most of this, Matthew, except:

Monday: OFF
Tuesday:  12:00n - 2:00p, 4:00p - 10:00p  (Total Rehearsal hours 8 out of 10)
Wednesday:  12:00n - 2:00p, 8:00p - 10:00P (Total Rehearsal hours 4 out of 10)
Thursday:  12:00n - 1:00p, 9:30p - 10:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 1.5 out of 10)
Friday:  12:00n - 5:00p, 7:00p - 10:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 8 out of 10)
Saturday: 12:00n - 4:00p,  6:00p - 7:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 5 out of 7)
Sunday:  12:00n - 5:00p, 7:00p - 10:00p (Total Rehearsal hours 8 out of 10)

I put to you that once you begin rehearsal, your "rehearsal hours" time clock does not stop until you are dismissed for the day. Therefore the Wednesday and Thursday calls above, would be considered eight hour days.  That's how I've experienced rulings from Business Reps.


Also, your statement about talking to the AEA Deputy--they generally have to call the Business Rep., just like we do, to get a ruling. 
I prefer to make the call myself, with the Deputy present, if possible.

[MatthewShiner]

Ruth, interesting, the way I shaped my opinion was after discussion with a business rep on a verbal ruling.

But, my logic is the 7/9 and 8/10 rule falls under span of day, and not the work weeks . . . 

But look further down in the straight six rules

(ii) Each six-hour rehearsal block used shall count as eight hours for the purposes of calculating the hours rehearsed in a work week.

Note, that it does not say it counts as an 8/10, it counts as eight hours of rehearsal time.

I think the rule is vague on purpose.


(ALSO, RUTH, I MEANT TO TYPE BUSINESS REP - NOT DEPUTY - FIXED BELOW)

[JMullane]

I suppose the takeaway from this discussion is that there are many interpretations of even the most basic rules in the contract, so getting lost in theoretical details may not be as productive as handling each practical situation as it arises.

It's a little crazy to me that Equity Business Reps can and have ruled differently about whether or not you should count an actor's rehearsal hours based on the span of day they are called for (minus only the meal break), versus actual hours spent rehearsing (minus any time during the rehearsal day they are not called into the studio).

I can imagine legitimate arguments for both ways of doing things, but it seems like a really big fundamental disagreement that could vastly change how much overtime someone gets. Just the idea of that being subject to interpretation makes me uneasy.

But my unease aside, this has been a very interesting topic for me to read other people's opinions about. Thanks Matthew and Ruth!