A few notes from someone who has been on the production end dealing with union calls for years...hopefully this will give you some ideas to save some $$$....
RE: Rep
Plot:
1> If the rep
plot is included in your package and it's
preset before you get there, you can just
bounce in linesets and
gel/adjust as needed, as was mentioned earlier. This would be ideal.
2> If the rep
plot is included in your package but they're expecting you to pay for the stagehands to set it up (maybe they had another event the night before that didn't use it,
etc) you have a few options depending on how far you want to take it, and how much $$$ you have as wiggle room if the
venue won't budge. I have argued with salespeople and theater managers (both before and after the event) that if I am paying for a "complete" lighting package (as termed in the contract with them) then I expect a working lighting
system for X amount of dollars as termed in the contract. I have both won this battle and lost this battle. You need to make sure you have the money to
cover the labor if you lose.
3> If you get no rep
plot as part of your rental or you decide to hang and
wire fixtures from scratch, as others have said you have to have all your **** in perfect order. See below for some advice on that.
RE: Labor Ethic
1> You have to take into account the
track record of the labor you'll have, and how nice they decide to be when your loading in. Stagehands and stewards WILL absolutely try to slow things down (whether their IA or not) if they have some leverage over you or you piss them off. Yes it sucks, but that is the unfortunate state of
stagehand labor in our industry. Bring donuts, coffee, and expect to
bend over. They might be thrilled to have the work, or they might be in a crappy mood from their
load-out last night. You don't have the wiggle room in that schedule, or the leverage of being a big show to bust balls if their in a bad mood. Take that into account.
2> Hire a local IA guy who is on your side, YOU bring him in and pay him. I do this every large $100,000+ production budget show I'm a part of in a union
venue, or if I'm under a time crunch. If you have a friend who is a higher-up in the union, pay him twice as much as he's worth to make your life easier....he will make sure the young guys work hard and keep the older do-nothings in
line. I even bring in my IA contacts in certain cities to non-union calls where I pay them (alot) to keep them happy the next time I come through the city and into a
union house. This is the dark-side of the industry but it's good for you to know about.
3> Make sure your "carloaders" (nifty workaround some locals use to get around collective bargaining agreements with
teamsters who wont allow the term "truckloaders" to be used, again only in some jurisdictions, but I find it funny) make sure they are NOT rolled into the next
call. This is highly unethical, and ALOT of locals will do it if they think the people coming in are inexperienced. What this means is, everybody knows a truck will only take an hour to unload. But, the loaders are on a 4-hour minimum. If those same 4 guys are on the
stagehand call as well and they start working after the truck is unloaded, then they
roll through to the next
call. Technically you are paying one guy for 2 jobs which is a big no-no. I actually don't bring it up with the
steward before
load-in or while the trucks are being unloaded. I specifically wait until AFTER I see them starting working on the second
call. Then you can go to the
steward , act shocked that this would be happening because it's so unethical. Then he'll be trying to get back on your good side the whole show. The one time I had a
steward go at it with me about this topic, I told him the entire
point of having loaders separate from stagehands was because they were specialized crafts (yeah gave him a taste of his own medicine!) and that if he had a problem with it I was going to bring it up with the national. An hour later we were best friends.
RE: Meal Times/Minimums
1> Someone mentioned the 1 hour lunch. Don't forget the 15 minute break after 2 or 2:30 into the
call, which stagehands love to stretch out to 20 or 30. I almost got into another shouting match with a crew-chief (non-union) who took 30 minutes with his guys. I "inquired" (in so many words!) why the 15 turned into a 30, and he insisted that they could only
smoke in one area of the convention center, and that walking to and from that area wasn't included in his break. ***hole. So keep things like that in mind.
2> Your contract may have a union to non-union ratio. It might or it might not. This means you can bring in non-union hands in certain ratios (usually 1:1 or 2:1) that will save you $$$ and probably time, if you can rehearse with those guys in your other space. Look for that in your contract.
OK well the lounge by my apt stops serving food at 10:45pm so I got to jet! Hopefully this helps!