No Standbys!

[NickVon]

personaly as person who pushes a go button or cues audio. I want a standby if I:

a) do not have a script
b) have not had a cue in the last 2 minutes
c) have cues clustered together in less then 2 minutes (make sure all scene change light cues, or stacked audio effects) go off and that I end where i should be after the series of cues
d) have a cue that relies on others to be doing other thing at the same time (I want to know they are all paying attention too )

If i have a script, I usually just like a 10 page warning to get me out of what ever book i'm reading or webpage i'm checking out ;-)

on the rare occaisions when i'm just running board

That said i'm mostly used to taking all my cues myself (me being the LD/Sound/TD all the time, and am usually following a script for myself since we don't have a SM calling the show

This for me as well

I must really agree with myself since i quoted myself.. just realized that. whoops

 

[shiben]

Always give standbys, if you want the cue to run when its supposed to. If Im running the board, I could even be paying attention, but let me tell you that my hand is NOT going to hovering over the Go button the entire few hours of the show... forget the standby and im half a second off, which when cuing to music looks like crap. And seriously, the show I just designed has 100 odd cues in 70 minutes of run time, which averages out to a cue every 42 seconds. Its actually more than that, because there are 2 scenes that are about 5 min long without any cues in them... so there is pretty much no "down" time on the show except for those two scenes. Standbys still get called for every cue tho... Also, it helps ensure that if you have say 4 cues that only change intensities of one area, then down it, bring up another, then even out the stage, the cue is right. Has happened to me before, just always do it.

But the bottom line was, standbys are nice, but when stuff is constantly going on, it just got so busy! And after all, it was a talent show.

2 issues with this statement:

1: stuff is constantly going on for any show, standbys help cut through that clutter. Thats exactly what they are for, if you have 30 min of orchestra, then give a minute warning as well as a standby.

2: It was a talent show. Apparently this means that you dont need to worry about profesionalism? Sorry dude, but you gotta take a talent show as seriously as you do your lighting design for the big musical or rock show, and those should be the same level of seriousness as an Orchestra in the space lights up lights down. Otherwise, you get a reputation as inconsistant. Happened to a good friend, and he no longer works for us because of it. Dont want it to happen to you.

 

[NHStech]

...And actors SHOULD stand in the lights, and singers SHOULD know how to hold mics, etc. Bottom line: As stage manager, this is your show from a technical standpoint. Do you want to risk needless screwups because of "woulda,shoulda,couldas," or do you want to take every opportunity to make it the best show it can be, for yourself AND for the performers who are putting in their time and effort?

 

[nick2401]

Call the stand bys. No the tech shouldn't fall asleep but if they freelance and if they worked till four this morning then their minds might drift. It isn't that their bad techs they are human. Also in a long chunk with no cues your voice might just stop working in mid sentence for one word. Better the standby not be perfect then the Go not comming out. Think of a stand by as a mini vocal warm up.

 

[Sparkinium]

I do tend to agree. Standbys are great, and important. As a technician, I make sure I'm always ready for my next cue even if I'm not told to stand by, but as the SM, you can't know if everyone holds themselves to the same standard. (A particular show a friend of mine worked at college had a slightly narceleptic board op... Calling his cues was an adventure.)

My worst experience with a stage manager, however, was the stage manager who couldn't decide the order in which to put her words. Frequently we'd get a "go lights" instead of "lights go," making a bunch of random things go before she specified what needed to happen.

 

[chris325]

I must add that getting into the habit of using the word "ready" instead of "standby" is really annoying. Whether you're running cues every 20 seconds or 20 minutes, it's a pain to prepare to press the go button whenever someone mentions that they're really ready to go home, or wondering if the Hot Pocket that went into the microwave a minute ago is ready. Particularly important if the board op is a nervous wreck while running (this was me during my first show, and there were multiple instances where I heard the word "GO" and there would be a blackout in the middle of the scene.)

 

[MrsFooter]

I work for a roadhouse that does a large variety of shows, from plays to rock shows. Sometimes there's an SM from the company calling the show, sometimes the house PSM calls the show, and sometimes no one calls the show and it's all on me. My general rule is if you don't want to give me G-Os, that's fine, but timing is entirely at my discretion. If you want a say in when cues go, that's also fine, but I need properly called cues: a standby, and an "LX (or Lights) Go". I've had a lot of bad SMs call cues, (things like no standby, no warning, and no G-O, just an "Oh, lights!") and my rule is if you can't call cues correctly, I can't be responsible for the timing of the cue.

What I'm trying to say is if you have an opinion about when the cues should be executed, (and as a good SM, you should,) it is your responsibility to set the crew up to succeed by giving them a standby and a G-O.