Dimmer Beach: I don’t care how bad ass any of you think you are when it comes to a show, it doesn’t mean you will get every gig. There is more to gigging than the gig itself. Numerous factors come into play when forming a crew, so let’s take a few minutes and look at some of the factors when people look to build a crew.
4 comments:
This article makes a lot of good points. Some of the factors that the article points out are pretty well know, like the money and experience factors. Of course, experience is a must have but when you add money into the mix, the level of experience an employer is looking for can vary. Its also interesting that the article brings up the fact that it is a problem that a lot of people are being underpaid because of the money factor. The other factors of appearance and personality are things that seem like every employer will be looking at to compare you to another person with the same skill and experience level. Those are the attributes that will separate you from the rest. I think the most interesting factor was the last one, "A good hang". I really hadn't ever thought of how the time you spend on break and what kind of experiences you create affect the way your employer sees you and whether or not you can get a job. The quote that the article leaves us with is really interesting, “Playing in a team does not make you a team player. Playing by the team rules will turn you into a team leader.” Norbert Harms. I think it leaves the readers with the lesson to go by the rules and do the job you were hired to do.
I agree with what this article is saying. People should take all of this into account because you need to be production and work together to get anything done. Especially if a production team is on tour, when you're constantly on the move, you need a convenient team to work together to put up the show before it opens. Here at CMU, it's different because we cannot take into account for the attitude of students. Crew here is required for every Design and Production student who is undeclared. However, crew is basically required free labor for 4 hours a day. The amount of days depends on your schedule, but crew can get in the way of a lot of work. So stress and sleep deprivation piles up which causes students to have a bad attitude on crew. I commend all students who do clubs and other activities outside of being a Design and Production major because it is so hard to complete projects on time because we're so limited.
Assembling a strong crew is a cornerstone of a possibly successful production, without a doubt. The article touches on what goes into making a strong crew, and makes good points about what it means to actually work a show. Some of these factors we have discussed in PTM, such as skill level and cost associated, as each show only has a set allocation of resources for crew, so would you rather have ten cheap idiots or two smart guys? This is something you must examine while making your crew. Personality is probably the most important thing on the list, as you will be working with the people you hire for a long time on one of the most taxing art forms you possible could. If you don't get along with the people you're working with, you will dread going to work every day, and with the kind of insane hours you spend working on theatre, you're gonna be hateful for a whole lot of your day, which just doesn't seem worth it. Crew is important, but the people inside the crew are even more.
According to the article I feel like experience, skill set, personality, appearance, and being a good hang really can all be lumped into one ideal to follow by. This is because the greatest advice I have ever received about never being out of work is always been present to work with because at the end of the day people will be spending a lot of hours with you to complete a project and they want to enjoy it. In reality, as long as you are pleasant person to work with you will always get hired regardless of the fact that you do satisfactory work, compared to the person who is a huge arrogant pain to work with but does amazing work. When people have to work with other people they find extremely unpleasant or just aggravating, productivity will always be the first thing on the decline.
The second piece of advice I received was it better to be a jack of all trades and do all of the jobs no one wants than to specialize if you always want to get work. In the context of the article I don’t know how this really fits because if one processes a lot of skills and are really good it doesn’t that mean they are going to cost more money? But again if it the important jobs no one wants to do then that means it makes you invaluable and necessary.
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