According to a Crain's New York article about Charlotte St. Martin the head flack for the League of American Theatres and Producers, she is bewildered and surprised.
“I am surprised that with the number of hours we’ve been at the table together, we haven’t made more progress in really developing a new contract that’s more representative of business conditions today,”
So are the stagehands.
“[We] are trying to improve the future of the health of the industry so Broadway will continue to survive in times that aren’t as healthy as today,” Ms. St. Martin said. “When you fill as many seats as we’re filling and still have losses every night, you have to have new business conditions.”
Now the problem is the new business conditions (don't look at the grosses) and not the lack of quality scripts.
So the PR campaign has taken a new tack. The League of American Theatres and Producers is trying to save the industry from it's own success. Let me see if I can get this straight. Times are good so Local One and the theatrical unions have to tighten our belts so that when times are bad, Local One and the theatrical unions can tighten our belts. And you're surprised that the League hasn't made more progress at the table?
An insight into the lack of awareness that the Producers have about the day to day workings of a theatre can be found in a CNN transcript of an interview with Jonathan Tisch chairman of the Loews Hotel chain and Ms St. Martins former boss.
He spent a couple of days working in one of his hotels for a short lived TLC show called "Now Who's Boss? Should Ms. Martin have been paying attention she might have gotten some insight into the inner working of show business. The show only lasted for 5 episodes. Hello Unemployment. I can only presume they cleared the illegals out of the hotel before the TV crew got there.
"TISCH: One of the reasons I wanted to do the show was to have a better understanding of something that I knew already, which is the concept that our employees are more responsible for our success as a hotel company than in many ways I am. So to go down there, and having done the housekeeping position, and look at the 35 individuals who do this every single day on a particular shift, and also to understand that they're from 12 different nations, they speak six different languages, and somehow every single day this has to come together to turn over an 800-room hotel, and make the beds and clean the bathrooms. So I just wanted to tell them that I appreciate what they do."
I suggest that Ms. St Martin, the investors and the producers jump in on the next load-in. "Hey Charlotte, take off your heels and drop these points from the grid." 'Hey Trust Fund Baby, run these feeders from the basement to the jump and make it neat." "Yo, Max Bialystock, the trucks are here."
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
No Moving Lights, No Tony
WARNING: If you think that a moving head is the same as a bobble head, you may not want to continue reading this post.
Part of the misinformation campaign that the League has waged is to take proposals about staffing and twist them out of context in order to make Local One look like a bunch of fat, lazy, union guys out to that do nothing and get over-paid for it. Granted there is a kernel of truth in it. The percentage of people who work like that tends to be universal. Theatre management is not immune to the person who drifts through work, having little ambition and taking up space.
One of the most convoluted of these issues is the one where "In some instances up to three electricians have operated the board that controls light, projection and sound cues -- a job that can be handled by one electrician." Ignoring for the moment that this is a work rule the League already has, consider what kind of machine is that can do all these things. Lighting, projection and sound. For somebody who started in the business when rotary dimmers and 6x9 Lekos were the norm, I stand in awe at these what has happened in the course of my career in terms of technology.
When "Chorus Line" opened in 1975, Tharon Musser was the first to bring a computer board to Broadway to control lighting cues. When Vari-lites first came out, their proprietary systems were so protected that techs had to open them up and work on them under a sheet or drop in order to keep prying eyes away.
In today’s world lighting designers say "no moving lights, no Tony." Everyone who has read this far has seen a Vari-Lite in action even if they don't know the proper name for them. But far fewer are aware of the newest equipment that this contract issues revolves around.
The extraordinary High End Systems has a line of units that are outstanding. The DL-2 digital lighting unit that has enormous capability. I won't go into the details but it lights, it projects, it sees in the dark and it can record video. High End also has a terrific range of other products such as the Whole Hog 3 board and the Showgun luminaries.
There are some terrific Strand boards that are radically different from the the older boards. There is also a line of LED washes from Color Kinetics that can create milions of colors and consume very little electricity. The Color Blast and the Color Blaze line are really going to change the future of theatrical lighting.
It takes a pretty sophisticated programmer and operator to be able to do all this and the Local has several. This is the future and we, as stagehands, embrace it. So when you hear the Producers complain about costs, look at the type of equipment we run and the dollars that this equipment and its operators earn them.
Part of the misinformation campaign that the League has waged is to take proposals about staffing and twist them out of context in order to make Local One look like a bunch of fat, lazy, union guys out to that do nothing and get over-paid for it. Granted there is a kernel of truth in it. The percentage of people who work like that tends to be universal. Theatre management is not immune to the person who drifts through work, having little ambition and taking up space.
One of the most convoluted of these issues is the one where "In some instances up to three electricians have operated the board that controls light, projection and sound cues -- a job that can be handled by one electrician." Ignoring for the moment that this is a work rule the League already has, consider what kind of machine is that can do all these things. Lighting, projection and sound. For somebody who started in the business when rotary dimmers and 6x9 Lekos were the norm, I stand in awe at these what has happened in the course of my career in terms of technology.
When "Chorus Line" opened in 1975, Tharon Musser was the first to bring a computer board to Broadway to control lighting cues. When Vari-lites first came out, their proprietary systems were so protected that techs had to open them up and work on them under a sheet or drop in order to keep prying eyes away.
In today’s world lighting designers say "no moving lights, no Tony." Everyone who has read this far has seen a Vari-Lite in action even if they don't know the proper name for them. But far fewer are aware of the newest equipment that this contract issues revolves around.
The extraordinary High End Systems has a line of units that are outstanding. The DL-2 digital lighting unit that has enormous capability. I won't go into the details but it lights, it projects, it sees in the dark and it can record video. High End also has a terrific range of other products such as the Whole Hog 3 board and the Showgun luminaries.
There are some terrific Strand boards that are radically different from the the older boards. There is also a line of LED washes from Color Kinetics that can create milions of colors and consume very little electricity. The Color Blast and the Color Blaze line are really going to change the future of theatrical lighting.
It takes a pretty sophisticated programmer and operator to be able to do all this and the Local has several. This is the future and we, as stagehands, embrace it. So when you hear the Producers complain about costs, look at the type of equipment we run and the dollars that this equipment and its operators earn them.
Darpa Geek Stuff
Tomorrow is Darpa's Urban Challenge, a race designed for autonomous vehicles. The vehicle must complete a 60 mile closed course in six hours, following California traffic laws and mixing with 50 human driven traffic.
“Vehicles competing in the Urban Challenge will have to think like human drivers and continually make split-second decisions to avoid moving vehicles, including robotic vehicles without drivers, and operate safely on the course. The urban setting adds considerable complexity to the challenge faced by the robotic vehicles, and replicates the environments where many of today’s military missions are conducted.”
-Dr. Norman Whitaker, Urban Challenge Program Manager
Wired has been covering the run up to the race in it's Danger Room blog.
I love this kind of stuff. The entertainment business has gotten technologically more complex and computer driven. Many stagehands now come into the business with a love of spectacle and technology and are terrific engineers and programmers.
The race will be webcast, starting at 7:30 AM, PST.
“Vehicles competing in the Urban Challenge will have to think like human drivers and continually make split-second decisions to avoid moving vehicles, including robotic vehicles without drivers, and operate safely on the course. The urban setting adds considerable complexity to the challenge faced by the robotic vehicles, and replicates the environments where many of today’s military missions are conducted.”
-Dr. Norman Whitaker, Urban Challenge Program Manager
Wired has been covering the run up to the race in it's Danger Room blog.
I love this kind of stuff. The entertainment business has gotten technologically more complex and computer driven. Many stagehands now come into the business with a love of spectacle and technology and are terrific engineers and programmers.
The race will be webcast, starting at 7:30 AM, PST.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Accidents as a way of life
I like to read Roadie.net because it's a look into life on the road and it's a little different world than Broadway. We do exactly the same things(set up stages, lighting, sound) and often in the same kind of lousy weather. However in NYC, we (the local crew) get off work, get on public transportation and sleep in our own beds. The roadies live their lives from arena to hotel to the bus and back.
One of the things often overlooked in the recent dispute with the League is the quality of the Local One crews. Since we do this work regularly, incessantly, we're pretty damn good at it and pretty fast. It's that whole NY minute thing. And we're safe at it. I recently spoke with a Onesie who is out of town. He told me that he was appalled that the Local Crew he was working on took 4 hours to set up part of an opera. "It would have taken an hour at the State and we would have gotten yelled at for taking to long!" Opera is a way of life in NYC. Not so much in other places, so it takes a little longer.
Rarely do we have problems like the canopy collapse at the Akon concert at Emory. In reading the blog about it on Roadie.net, it seem that this is the second time in two years that this has happened to this particular company.
In Spain, three stagehands are killed in a collapse at a Stones concert.
And for anyone who deals regularily with issues of public assembly, be it backstage or FOH, this Great White Fire video should be required viewing at least once a month, as a refresher. It's long and very difficult to watch so be forewarned. Go to the second entry for a link that skip the pop-ups.
In Local One, we've had our share of accidents, regretfully. Most can't be avoided. The causes can vary from exhaustion to carelessness to poor planning. We work to avoid them. The premise is that if I look out for my coworker, they will look out for me. This still holds true for us.
One other place I recommend is Bill Sapsis's site. Devoted to riggers, it promotes safety and technology.
One of the things often overlooked in the recent dispute with the League is the quality of the Local One crews. Since we do this work regularly, incessantly, we're pretty damn good at it and pretty fast. It's that whole NY minute thing. And we're safe at it. I recently spoke with a Onesie who is out of town. He told me that he was appalled that the Local Crew he was working on took 4 hours to set up part of an opera. "It would have taken an hour at the State and we would have gotten yelled at for taking to long!" Opera is a way of life in NYC. Not so much in other places, so it takes a little longer.
Rarely do we have problems like the canopy collapse at the Akon concert at Emory. In reading the blog about it on Roadie.net, it seem that this is the second time in two years that this has happened to this particular company.
In Spain, three stagehands are killed in a collapse at a Stones concert.
And for anyone who deals regularily with issues of public assembly, be it backstage or FOH, this Great White Fire video should be required viewing at least once a month, as a refresher. It's long and very difficult to watch so be forewarned. Go to the second entry for a link that skip the pop-ups.
In Local One, we've had our share of accidents, regretfully. Most can't be avoided. The causes can vary from exhaustion to carelessness to poor planning. We work to avoid them. The premise is that if I look out for my coworker, they will look out for me. This still holds true for us.
One other place I recommend is Bill Sapsis's site. Devoted to riggers, it promotes safety and technology.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Pigs, Lipstick, Producers and the Press
In The Playgoer post about Linda Winer’s complaint about the Producers of “Walmartopia” and "Grease" pulling quotes, he cites a made up word to describe the situation, contextomy. Here is an example of just what I was describing in my previous post about the stagehands that complain about the press publishing the “lies” that the League of American Theatres and Producers are putting out about Local One without the context. Readers tend to accept on the surface what is printed or published but when a writer is personally involved, they’re shocked that the news bears little semblance to the truth. The Critics Circle wants to create a “commission” to research ethical breaches in the area of theatre reviews. A lot of research has already been done about the whole lack of quality journalism at FAIR or Project Censured. I would suggest that Howard Kissel, who is to run the Commission, start searching for ethical breaches on the front page and work his way back to the sports pages.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Swiftboating On Broadway
Regularly, in discussing the contract dispute with my fellow stagehands, I’m always startled when they complain of what they view as the lies being put out by the League of American Theatres and Producers. I respond by saying that if this is how your story is being reported in the mainstream press, a story that you know more intimately than any casual reader, imagine that this is happening with every story that they read in the press. The supposed facts are being twisted and the Local One is being cast in the worst possible light. Now imagine someone in each story is being demonized for the benefit of someone else’s purpose.
In today’s parlance it’s called “swift boating”.
After a political group attacked John Kerry’s military record and evoked the turmoil of the Viet Nam war era by using carefully chosen words and phrases designed to cast him in the worst possible way, Kerry’s campaign was over. The mainstream media simply went along because they had been cowed with a similar campaign painting them as having a “liberal bias.” Now, instead of having reporters skeptically asking their sources if the information is true, the vast majority of reporters will passively accept what is given them and pass it along as information. I worked for the better part of a decade at a major television network and saw this process from the inside.
Anyone who has seen their job “outsourced” or “downsized” or tried to preserve their benefits, will recognize the public relations playbook being used by the League. The carefully constructed phases have been tested in focus groups to create powerful negative images. They have dragged out “featherbedding”. They have used “archaic work rules”, “most highly paid”, “fair and balanced”, “at this critical time”, “no work, no pay”, “pay even more people to do nothing”, “hire people who don't do work”, “fair work practices”, “people who don't do work” and more. Bearing little resemblance to the actual facts, these phrases evoke a workplace of big-bellied white guys with their knuckles dragging on the floor that are keeping the poor investors from getting a good return on their money. Not a word is spoken of the skill it takes to create the illusion that is theatre eight shows a week. Nor any reference to the endurance of working eight to midnights for weeks at a time in order to get the show ready for first preview. Not a word is spoken about the time away from the family or working nights, weekends and holidays to get the show on.
But we in IATSE knew that these are the work conditions when we went into this business. We’ve adapted and embraced technology that reduces manpower but creates better illusions the audience demands. Many of these same work rules have been agreed to over the years because both sides recognized that this was a unique business that attracted a unique cast of characters.
What’s forgotten in the demonizing is that in the days following September 11th, when there was smoke still hanging in the air and Times Square was empty, this Local took a 25% pay cut in order to keep shows running. Now with the houses full and every house booked the League of American Theatres and Producers wants us to take a permanent 38% pay cut.
Now I know how Max Cleland felt.
In today’s parlance it’s called “swift boating”.
After a political group attacked John Kerry’s military record and evoked the turmoil of the Viet Nam war era by using carefully chosen words and phrases designed to cast him in the worst possible way, Kerry’s campaign was over. The mainstream media simply went along because they had been cowed with a similar campaign painting them as having a “liberal bias.” Now, instead of having reporters skeptically asking their sources if the information is true, the vast majority of reporters will passively accept what is given them and pass it along as information. I worked for the better part of a decade at a major television network and saw this process from the inside.
Anyone who has seen their job “outsourced” or “downsized” or tried to preserve their benefits, will recognize the public relations playbook being used by the League. The carefully constructed phases have been tested in focus groups to create powerful negative images. They have dragged out “featherbedding”. They have used “archaic work rules”, “most highly paid”, “fair and balanced”, “at this critical time”, “no work, no pay”, “pay even more people to do nothing”, “hire people who don't do work”, “fair work practices”, “people who don't do work” and more. Bearing little resemblance to the actual facts, these phrases evoke a workplace of big-bellied white guys with their knuckles dragging on the floor that are keeping the poor investors from getting a good return on their money. Not a word is spoken of the skill it takes to create the illusion that is theatre eight shows a week. Nor any reference to the endurance of working eight to midnights for weeks at a time in order to get the show ready for first preview. Not a word is spoken about the time away from the family or working nights, weekends and holidays to get the show on.
But we in IATSE knew that these are the work conditions when we went into this business. We’ve adapted and embraced technology that reduces manpower but creates better illusions the audience demands. Many of these same work rules have been agreed to over the years because both sides recognized that this was a unique business that attracted a unique cast of characters.
What’s forgotten in the demonizing is that in the days following September 11th, when there was smoke still hanging in the air and Times Square was empty, this Local took a 25% pay cut in order to keep shows running. Now with the houses full and every house booked the League of American Theatres and Producers wants us to take a permanent 38% pay cut.
Now I know how Max Cleland felt.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
New Rules
So the "new rules" have been implemented and the world as we stagehands know it has not stopped spinning on it's axis. From what I've seen they're more about petulance than productivity. The guy who mops gets a cut in pay for an hour. The crews can't leave until checking with Stage Management to find out if there is "something broken". The provided lunch may consist of cold pizza. In some houses, the stagehands have to stay until the end of their call no matter how long the show has been over. "Post show work, don't need it to make you stay. Stay here until I tell you to go."
Here's Playbills article about the newly imposed work rules. Read this and decide if any of this is worth going to war over.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112142.html
Anyone who has been involved with "downsizing" is familiar with the routine. Some MBA decides that the old rules are "archaic" and "inefficient" and sets about letting the market decide what's the best, new, modern way to run things. In what Joseph Schumpeter, in 1942, described as "creative destruction" a brilliant entrepreneur introduces innovation and casts aside the former giants because this will cause innovation and economic development, or as least as it is taught at Wharton and Harvard Business School. Jack Welsh, a demigod in the today's business pantheon, once said that, if he had his way, all the GE factories would be put on rafts and floated to where ever labor was cheapest. You see it's for the benefit of the investor. A modern company doesn't exist to sell products or be part of the community. It exists in order to return a profit for the investor. The investor is the key component here, the raison d'être. Kissinger used this term in one of his books to describe Cardinal Richelieu’s foreign policy in which a State acts solely in its own best interests. Here the Corporation does the same. Richelieu didn’t think the state was comprised of its people but rather of its leaders. Today the Corporation does the same.
The League of American Theatres and Producers has its raison d'être. Not to assist in creating art but to sell tickets. To sell tickets quickly in order to return profit sooner to the investors. The New Broadway Order will stop at nothing in order to accomplish this. So get used to this. The Theatrical Syndicate maintained a chokehold on this industry until the Shubert Brothers used some creative destruction to stop them. Now it’s going to be used on the Shuberts and on the working people who have benefited from the rather comfortable system the Theatre Owners have set up. The other IATSE Theatrical Locals will be next. Then Equity. And then they will turn on the Theatre Owners.
Après moi le deluge.
Here's Playbills article about the newly imposed work rules. Read this and decide if any of this is worth going to war over.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112142.html
Anyone who has been involved with "downsizing" is familiar with the routine. Some MBA decides that the old rules are "archaic" and "inefficient" and sets about letting the market decide what's the best, new, modern way to run things. In what Joseph Schumpeter, in 1942, described as "creative destruction" a brilliant entrepreneur introduces innovation and casts aside the former giants because this will cause innovation and economic development, or as least as it is taught at Wharton and Harvard Business School. Jack Welsh, a demigod in the today's business pantheon, once said that, if he had his way, all the GE factories would be put on rafts and floated to where ever labor was cheapest. You see it's for the benefit of the investor. A modern company doesn't exist to sell products or be part of the community. It exists in order to return a profit for the investor. The investor is the key component here, the raison d'être. Kissinger used this term in one of his books to describe Cardinal Richelieu’s foreign policy in which a State acts solely in its own best interests. Here the Corporation does the same. Richelieu didn’t think the state was comprised of its people but rather of its leaders. Today the Corporation does the same.
The League of American Theatres and Producers has its raison d'être. Not to assist in creating art but to sell tickets. To sell tickets quickly in order to return profit sooner to the investors. The New Broadway Order will stop at nothing in order to accomplish this. So get used to this. The Theatrical Syndicate maintained a chokehold on this industry until the Shubert Brothers used some creative destruction to stop them. Now it’s going to be used on the Shuberts and on the working people who have benefited from the rather comfortable system the Theatre Owners have set up. The other IATSE Theatrical Locals will be next. Then Equity. And then they will turn on the Theatre Owners.
Après moi le deluge.
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