Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:19:56 -0500
From: Andrew Young <beartown-AT-bear-town.com>
To: puptcrit-driftline.org-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] UNIONS - Puppeteers


How does the old saying go?

It's worst system in the world...except for all the others.

Bob Stone wrote:

> Mark,
>
> Interesting post.  My Dad was a union organizer back in the 30's, when 
> the cops hit you over the head for marching in a picket line.
> So, I was raised in a very pro-union household.  Even Mom was a Teamster.
>
> When I entered "show biz" as a writer/performer/puppeteer working for 
> a production company in New York that did corporate shows, I saw the 
> other side of unions.  In certain cities, hotels, and convention 
> centers our non-union crew of projectionists, sound people, lighting 
> guys and performers were often bothered by union people demanding that 
> they have people assigned to the show to "stand by" while the show was 
> set up, run, and struck.  In Chicago's McCormick Place we had to have 
> a union electrician "stand by" while i set up my gear . . .which was 
> proprietary so I knew they had never seen it before and had no idea 
> how to actually help with anything.  Technically they were supposed to 
> plug in anything electrical, but of course i could never find them 
> when I actually had to fire up my gear.  The clients got stuck with 
> the tab, of course, but it was all part of doing business.
>
> Currently, I KNOW that unions are necessary, absolutely, to give the 
> workers some equality in negotiations with management.  However, too 
> often the rules become unnecessarily complex, and the waste introduced 
> by unions can cripple a show, or an entire industry.  As with most 
> things in the world, there are both good and necessary aspects of 
> unions, as well as abuses of the power that they have.
>
> At 12:42 PM 11/29/2004, you wrote:
>
>> Had wanted to say something about unions (sort of) but had decided 
>> against it until the latest invitation was made (sort of).
>>
>> From the time I was a young actor working in equity houses to now it 
>> has seemed to me that when interested in "the work" (specifically 
>> theatre work including puppetry) unions were a bit counterproductive.
>>
>> I remember a union steward calling a break pretty much as a protest 
>> against the director as anything else. Certainly not for the sake of 
>> the actors. I also remember at this specific theatre that when a very 
>> well known actor brought a new group in to play in a show he was 
>> directing, they waived equity rules to allow notes being given after 
>> a paid performance.....they seemed to care about the product and the 
>> feeling was palatable.
>>
>> I remember doing a truck and bus tour where we were all non equity 
>> and when playing union houses, the union members had to set up the 
>> staging, even though they didn't know what they were doing. Also 
>> remember being told not to pick up a piece of string on the stage 
>> because a union man had to do that.
>>
>> I remember being told that the equity rates helped kill Bil Baird's 
>> theatre on Barrow street, although I believe that I read somewhere 
>> here that that was just an erroneous myth.
>>
>> I remember when bringing my staging into a union facility like a TV 
>> studio, the union people had to be directed on how to set it up...I 
>> couldn't touch it.
>>
>> I remember when a union (non theatre) almost shut down a professional 
>> that I was working for at the time as a grudge caused by an unhappy 
>> girlfriend. It was brutal!
>>
>> I know that when someone hires me for a video it is because they want 
>> me....(I charge much more then the going rate mentioned). Of course I 
>> don't get residuals.
>>
>> I am a live performer, those in the Philadelphia area know (of) me 
>> and some have seen my work. I actually prefer live over video I guess 
>> now in part because there are so many really good video performers 
>> out there.
>>
>> My favorite job though was a puppet on the radio host(ess)ing (it was 
>> a female character) a kid's sing - along  program that unfortunately 
>> didn't go anywhere. It was a GREAT concept I actually brought the 
>> puppet into the sound studio and performed that way. I absolutely 
>> loved the idea of letting the audience's imagination create what they 
>> were seeing by listening.
>>
>> Sorry that this became long...
>>
>> Mark
>>
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>
>
> -Bob Stone
> www.serious-comedy.com
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>
>
>

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