Production Manager Interview Advice?

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Greetings, all!

I just landed a phone interview for a Production Manager position, and I'm trying to prepare for it! I've been working in a 750 seat roadhouse as the ATD for nearly five years and I'm comfortable being the jack-of-all-trades tech lead that schedules and trains the crew, but I know production management is largely budget management focused, and though I have input on our yearly capital spending now, the financial side of theatre is a little out of my wheelhouse. I would love any input or resources that would introduce me to that side of things (how to approach creating a budget, how to read a contract, how to negotiate, etc). Any production managers here that would be willing to impart a little wisdom? Any specific questions I should be prepared to answer? Is there any industry standard software I should be aware of?

Thank you!

 

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What kind of venue/company? What I do as a PM/Production Coordinator at a two venue road house and what a PM of a regional theatre does are worlds different. For me, its not really creating a budget, its more of digesting a rider, creating ppwk on how much it will cost to do, negotiating that, then filling calls, lining up vendors, getting settlement costs to the promoter, making sure the people I hire actually do the job, etc. In addition to that you have to keep the building operating. How much staff is below the position? Is it a boot on the ground position or just office based? PM is a term like SM... what it means can be a totally different job depending on where the job is.

Have you read a rider before? If so, you know they are a book of lies. They are wants, not demands, but we usually start with filling them to the letter. Based on that we send an estimate to the promoter. When they have a heart attack we then start a 3 way negotiation with the road co, us, and the promoter. Its not your job to save the promoter money. Its your job to facilitate getting the show up however those two parties want to do it. Every deal is different, so you never know who is eating what cost. The biggest thing with the job is to be open and transparent. You don't want to tell someone you can do something that you can not. You'll find yourself backed into a corner quick. After you do it for awhile you figure out where the friction points usually are... and watch out for those.

Finally, make sure you don't have to advance catering. The catering person always gets crap on no matter what.