Read Online #SOBLESSED: the Annoying Actor Friend's Guide to Werking in Show Business by Annoying Actor Friend @Actor_Friend - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Annoying Actor Friend @Actor_Friend
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on
Broadway, where the cast made over twice the amount. But – hey! At least
the tour was union!
Things weren’t looking that dark yet, though. Hits
like The Producers and Hairspray were going out Full Production,
so there were still opportunities and reasons to go on tour. Plus, the novelty
of being plucked out of a touring company to replace someone on Broadway was
still an alluring possibility. There was always a chance you’d get “bumped up”
because the show was still running in New York. Now, tours rarely launch until well
after their Broadway doppelgänger has posted a closing notice. Somewhere, a
stigma was developed that booking a touring production is not as good as booking
the Broadway production. Never mind that often the creative team goes back to
the drawing board to improve the show for the road and future regional
licensing. You’re not going to appreciate that, because you’re still wondering
why it took you six auditions for the Broadway company to book the tour.
Contract Experimentation
By 2004, Equity started dabbling in "experimental”
touring programs designed to accommodate the diverse economic conditions of
each show that went on the road by offering different tiers of salaries and
other compensations. Like any good taboo experimentation, our union (with its
members’ best interest at heart) bent over and firmly grabbed its ankles to Bottom
for the producers – and we all woke up with crabs in our eyes. Actors’
Equity’s experimental phase in touring gave birth to the bastard Tiered
Production Contract – and we’re not talking a cool bastard, like Jon
Snow. The Tiered Production Contract is full on Special-Ed-King-Joffrey-Inbred.
The Tiered Production Contract was a sexy excuse to
keep a show union while paying actors an amount based off how well the
producers thought a tour would perform financially. The formula to decide our
pay cut was based off words like “presenter, “guarantee,” and “Net Adjusted
Gross Box Office Receipts.” Now – I’m too drunk to explain what any of
that means, but it sounds pretty bad. Basically, the level of the tier is
reflective of the cost of running the show vs. potential money earned.
Productions that either cost too much to run or aren’t projected to make a lot
of money, are often placed on lower tiers. Can you imagine if this theory were
applied to Broadway productions? I mean like – wouldn’t Scandalous:
the Life and Trials of a Kathie Gifford Vanity Piece have been Tier C based
off its box office advance? Wouldn’t Spider-Man: Turn Off the Crazy be
Tier D based off its running cost? Why is this behavior acceptable on the road?
Is it only a matter of time before Actors’ Equity agrees to a tiered Short
Engagement Broadway Contract? Is anybody listening to me? #jazzhands.
Along Came SETA
There were originally six tiered categories ranging
from B to G. In 2008, it was discovered that by the time a production qualified
for the bottom three tiers, it was sold to a producer who would tour it non-equity.
That is when tiers E, F, and G spun off and became the SETA contract – which
has since grown to six categories itself. When I say “spun-off,” I’m not so
much talking a spin-off like Frasier, but more like the kind of spin-off
when three of the Golden Girls moved to Miami to run a hotel. If you don’t
understand that reference, then I’ll go back to the “bastard” one. Tiered
Production Contract Tours is to Special-Ed-King-Joffrey-Inbred as SETA Tours is
to people who think they’re too cool to watch Game of Thrones … God, I
suck at this – um … The SETA contract is so horrible it has two more
categories than cancer.
The SETA contract stands for, “Take a-SEAT-a Before
You Read That Paycheck.” It also stands for Short Engagement Touring Agreement.
The name suggests it was developed for small productions that tour for a short
time. Wrong! It applies to any open-ended tour that doesn’t play a given venue
longer
Broadway, where the cast made over twice the amount. But – hey! At least
the tour was union!
Things weren’t looking that dark yet, though. Hits
like The Producers and Hairspray were going out Full Production,
so there were still opportunities and reasons to go on tour. Plus, the novelty
of being plucked out of a touring company to replace someone on Broadway was
still an alluring possibility. There was always a chance you’d get “bumped up”
because the show was still running in New York. Now, tours rarely launch until well
after their Broadway doppelgänger has posted a closing notice. Somewhere, a
stigma was developed that booking a touring production is not as good as booking
the Broadway production. Never mind that often the creative team goes back to
the drawing board to improve the show for the road and future regional
licensing. You’re not going to appreciate that, because you’re still wondering
why it took you six auditions for the Broadway company to book the tour.
Contract Experimentation
By 2004, Equity started dabbling in "experimental”
touring programs designed to accommodate the diverse economic conditions of
each show that went on the road by offering different tiers of salaries and
other compensations. Like any good taboo experimentation, our union (with its
members’ best interest at heart) bent over and firmly grabbed its ankles to Bottom
for the producers – and we all woke up with crabs in our eyes. Actors’
Equity’s experimental phase in touring gave birth to the bastard Tiered
Production Contract – and we’re not talking a cool bastard, like Jon
Snow. The Tiered Production Contract is full on Special-Ed-King-Joffrey-Inbred.
The Tiered Production Contract was a sexy excuse to
keep a show union while paying actors an amount based off how well the
producers thought a tour would perform financially. The formula to decide our
pay cut was based off words like “presenter, “guarantee,” and “Net Adjusted
Gross Box Office Receipts.” Now – I’m too drunk to explain what any of
that means, but it sounds pretty bad. Basically, the level of the tier is
reflective of the cost of running the show vs. potential money earned.
Productions that either cost too much to run or aren’t projected to make a lot
of money, are often placed on lower tiers. Can you imagine if this theory were
applied to Broadway productions? I mean like – wouldn’t Scandalous:
the Life and Trials of a Kathie Gifford Vanity Piece have been Tier C based
off its box office advance? Wouldn’t Spider-Man: Turn Off the Crazy be
Tier D based off its running cost? Why is this behavior acceptable on the road?
Is it only a matter of time before Actors’ Equity agrees to a tiered Short
Engagement Broadway Contract? Is anybody listening to me? #jazzhands.
Along Came SETA
There were originally six tiered categories ranging
from B to G. In 2008, it was discovered that by the time a production qualified
for the bottom three tiers, it was sold to a producer who would tour it non-equity.
That is when tiers E, F, and G spun off and became the SETA contract – which
has since grown to six categories itself. When I say “spun-off,” I’m not so
much talking a spin-off like Frasier, but more like the kind of spin-off
when three of the Golden Girls moved to Miami to run a hotel. If you don’t
understand that reference, then I’ll go back to the “bastard” one. Tiered
Production Contract Tours is to Special-Ed-King-Joffrey-Inbred as SETA Tours is
to people who think they’re too cool to watch Game of Thrones … God, I
suck at this – um … The SETA contract is so horrible it has two more
categories than cancer.
The SETA contract stands for, “Take a-SEAT-a Before
You Read That Paycheck.” It also stands for Short Engagement Touring Agreement.
The name suggests it was developed for small productions that tour for a short
time. Wrong! It applies to any open-ended tour that doesn’t play a given venue
longer
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