local 1 strike, day 4: the dark holds out

• local 1 strike, day 4: the dark holds out

  for my money, this new times article gives a very fair and complete breakdown of the current broadway strike: Broadway's Showdown
  
  basically, it explains why and how the producers' league wants more flexibility in numbers of stage hands for a given show on given days. it also explains how the union is resisting.
  
  i've also learned why some shows aren't affected by the strike: certain theatres, including the disney owned ones, operate under an exclusive contract that is negotiated separately. so these handful of shows can remain open. unfortunately for everyone involved with the Grinch which is part of the general league, the union is forcing them to participate in the strike, despite the special contract that Grinch works under due to its seasonal contract. this is major for everyone involved in that show b/c they only perform for the holidays. strike = no shows = no income = no salaries. even their stage hands are begging to go on.
  
  

  

  
  of course, it's not just us. the NY Daily News reports: "Already, the estimated losses for the city have skyrocketed to as high as $17 million a day."
  
  neither side is even talking. and the local 1 strike affects us much more severely than the better publicized writers strike--no one can cross these pickets lines. the shows can't throw up reruns, skip certain sections, or use pre-prepared material. nope. as one of my coworkers, who has been forced to call every invitee to our opening, put it "we can't even open the doors and have a conversation. the stage hands have the keys."
  though in fairness, no other unions want to cross the picket lines. everyone had their own negotiations coming up and don't want to jeopardize support from either local 1 or the producers' league. so they are pretty much laying low.
  
  our show's opening is definitely postponed. no matter when the strike ends, we will need at least a rehearsal, a preview, and a press show, at the very least before the opening. but of course, tickets have already been sold for all the dates we are now eating in to.
  people's guests, their parents and friends, are having to eat the cost of plane tickets, hotels, etc. with no idea when they might get to see the show. sad.
  
  for me, well, truthfully i'll probably make a bit more out of it. i have longer to design and put together material for the opening, though the dates will always be wrong. plus i'll rack up more hours. but i don't have to feel right doing it.
• Nov 12, 2007

  stage hands’ strike: day 3, the underbelly

  
  
  a few facts (via the times) on broadway and the city:
  "Broadway is a $939 million industry, more than 12 million tickets were sold last year, the 2003 Broadway musicians strike cost the city about $7 million a day, the producers have amassed a $20 million emergency fund, the union's got $4.1 million in reserve, currently stagehands earn between $1,225 and $1,600 per week – and that's not counting all the O.T."
  
  boy, this one is complicated. with the writers' strike, i personally think that there is a clear cut right/wrong on the issue. writers, not to mention actors and the rest, deserve to get a piece of the digital pie, especially as we move more to a digital driven market.
  
  but the stage hands are hard to figure. working for a producer, i definitely get his side of the picture- according to the producers, (as the Gothamist puts it): "The League of American Theatres and Producers used their air time to decry the union's contractual "featherbedding", which requires producers to hire more workers than necessary."
  
  this is certainly the feeling of my producer. as he also points out, the stage hands make a lot of money. he scorned their mantra "we're striking for our families." from the times statistics above, they make above $60,000/year on the low end. and, unlike actors and designers, they are not usually going from one gig to no gig for months on end.
  
  our show, "The Farnsworth Invention" which was to open on broadway on wednesday is now in a state of indefinite flux. we know we can't open wednesday--even if by some miracle the strike ended tomorrow, which it won't. we'll need to have at least a couple of pickups before opening. plus we have to be sure the right people will be able to be in attendance for the show to get appropriate press. we can't reschedule any of this without knowing when the strike will end. we can't reschedule the galas, the receptions, the opening, without prior notice for all the staff, planners, caterers, etc. Our show alone is eating thousands of $ a day.
• Nov 11, 2007

  writers strike explained
• Nov 11, 2007

  all the world’s

  
  my dream is to be in amazing work, where everyone involved are the best of their game. that is how fabulous theatre and film get made. people outside the industry look at a play or blockbuster and see the movie star and now a days the director. but if it wasn't for all those other people - the editors, the writers, the scene designers, the set painters, the makeup designers, the props, etc... it's just - what, the news?
  
  sadly, it's been a rough week. first it was the tv writers. striking has put the talk shows on hiatus while scripted shows have about 3 weeks before they run out of material to shoot. then this weekend the stage hands struck. this has ground broadway to a halt. without stage hands, you can't run a show. that means the other technicians, the musicians, the actors, are out of work as well. we are about to open a new show with Hank Azaria on wednesday. but if there are no stage hands, there are no openings, no openings can kill a new show. but, as the new york times points out ( Strike Dampens the Moods ) it's not just the theatre and the audience that suffer, when broadway is dark, the town that never sleeps takes a nap.
  
  here's to everything getting settled quickly.