To be Honest or to MRE

[MatthewShiner]

I have a friend who was recently offered a great opportunity for a show with a prestigious producing organization in a former city I lived in. 

It was a contract that had a MRE in it - but this producing organization did everything from LORT to Production Contract to Special Appearance.  (Think if it as a large performing arts center)

He had a past history with the show and with the director - have done a previous workshop and a previous full production

He was offered a ten week contract, but was only available for 7.5 weeks . . . the first 7.5 weeks.  The last 2.5 weeks that had a signed contract for the MRE

There are several options he could have done . . .

1) Pass on the job.

2) Accept the job and not tell the producer about the MRE - but use the out, giving notice per the contract.

3) Tell the producer about the conflict, and try to work it out.

What would you do?

I am gave some advice . . . but would like to see other peoples' thoughts.

[PSMKay]

It's somewhat known around here that I currently make a living helping folks to buy, sell and rent housing. In my city, as in many, there are far more dog owners than there are dog-friendly apartments. There are also many large families who need 3+ bedroom apartments, while the housing stock breakdown favors units with 2 beds or fewer.

This seemingly random story will make sense in a moment.

If I'm trying to find housing for a couple with no pets, I will not put them in a dog-friendly unit, and I will not put them in an apartment with more than 2 bedrooms. I don't care if they need to work from home, I don't care if they have a lot of guests come to visit. Because I know if I waste that dog-friendly 4 bedroom apartment on the pet-free couple my next clients will be a family with five kids and a puppy. Some housing resources are simply too scarce to waste on people who "want" them for part time use over people who actually need them in order to keep everyone in the real house instead of the doghouse. (Pun utterly intentional.)

Theatre jobs are also scarce, MRE-eligible ones moreso. Your friend is much like my example couple above - the job isn't a perfect fit and I guarantee there is someone out there who really needs those 10 weeks. It would be a disservice to the community to take the job. I know self-preservation comes into it here and a good freelancer should watch out for their own career above all, but still, there are always several folks in the "right person for the gig" club and schedule conflicts mean you can't join.

In addition, there's the "dead grandma" factor here. There was a kid in my high school class who tended to skip a LOT. His excuses of illness got pretty worn out so he shifted to saying that assorted family members had died. He was on his sixth dead grandmother before the school figured it out. I'm of the mind that MRE, like funerals, should be used only in case of emergency when they actually occur so one doesn't get the reputation for skipping out on gigs.

So yeah, either tell the truth and see if you're the sine qua non of the director's mise en scene, or take a pass on the gig altogether. Perhaps with a light scolding to the company for waiting too long to book a hot commodity.

[VSM]

Talk with the Employer and see if you can accept the first 7.5 weeks and then be replaced.
If you can't, it wasn't meant to be.

[loebtmc]

Honestly, I've come in to pick up a closing week or three - it's the easy part of the gig. They might be really happy to have someone they know and trust dealing with the hard part of the deal: rehearsal/tech/opening. And, especially if he can recommend someone who can pick up those final few weeks, he becomes a hero on several levels (I might add, I am available....)

[KMC]

Talk with the Employer and see if you can accept the first 7.5 weeks and then be replaced.
If you can't, it wasn't meant to be.

Agreed on this. And echoing it's best to be up front about it, especially if it's an employer your friend would seek employment with in the future. That'd be comparable to stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.

[lsears]

Agreed with KMC and VSM.  Last season I was asked to do a show with a possible extension week listed on the contract which conflicted with something I had already booked.  I told the company that I could under no circumstances stay for the extension and they still hired me and dealt with it by asking me to file MRE for the extension week which they ended up using.  I would have rather just had my contract end, but since it was true that the previous commitment was MRE I didn't see an issue with doing it that way.

[Aerial]

Agreed with KMC and VSM.  Last season I was asked to do a show with a possible extension week listed on the contract which conflicted with something I had already booked.  I told the company that I could under no circumstances stay for the extension and they still hired me and dealt with it by asking me to file MRE for the extension week which they ended up using.  I would have rather just had my contract end, but since it was true that the previous commitment was MRE I didn't see an issue with doing it that way.

I am in this same situation with my next show.  I have another show that starts immediately after the originally scheduled end of run, but they are looking to extend now, so I cannot do the extension.  I was honest with the producer about this because this is a theatre that I have worked at many times and hope to again in the future.  I believe they are going to write my contract ending with the original date, but I'm not opposed to filing for MRE, as I am leaving for a significantly better paying job.