A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 2nd Edition

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A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO STAGE LIGHTING

average off-Broadway electrician’s salary is some-

where around or under $1,000.00 a week. That’s an

average, before any taxes are taken out. The produc-

tion electrician and assistant may make more, and the

youngest electrician would probably earn less. The

load-in weeks will be higher, the weeks running the

show will be lower. But $1K a week, per electrician,

is a reasonable place to start calculations. Using that

formula, the load-in payroll is budgeted for about

25-person weeks, while the running crew will be

limited to six or seven people at the most.

Since it appears to be 5 days in the theatre until the

tech begins, and presuming that most of the lighting

package will be rented, it’s possible to bench-mark the

“prep” period at approximately a week. If the prep/

load-in/get-us-thru-focus crew includes the production

electrician, an assistant, and another eight electricians,

that roughly translates to $10,000.00 a week. If the

“prep” period only refers to the period of time through

focus, the $18K number seems high and might be able

to be adjusted to other line items. If the “prep” instead

is referring to the entire period of time through pre-

views until opening, which is over 2 weeks, then the

designer potentially there may be a problem.

The funny part about budgets is that often it

seems like it’s all about interpretation, depend-

ing on who’s analyzing them. They’re like the half

glass of water; some say the glass is half empty, oth-

ers say the glass is half full, and some say the glass

is too big. Even though the budget’s numbers don’t

change, their impact can often be radically different,

depending on who’s doing the talking. Here are some

questions that might be posed to the person who’s

actually going to analyze the projected labor costs

and the results of the rental cost estimates. In profes-

sional situations that will be either the general man-

ager, or the producer:

•Willthecrewbepaidweeklyorbythehour?

•Whenisthecalendarbreakpointbetween

“load-in” and “weekly”?

•Whenisthebreakpointbetweenweeks?

Sunday or Monday? During the tech there’s no

Monday off. Will the crew go into some kind of

overtime?

Usually the lighting designer doesn’t get involved in

this facet of the show. For the purposes of this book,

however, the issue of labor is going to be examined

a few times, in order to see what takes place when

money is tight and the show is too big.

As far as the weekly rental goes, looking at

that number and having some sense of what it

means is a little more difficult. Having worked in

the Hybrid Theatre in the past, and having some

sense of the house inventory, a lot of the show will

have to be rented. There aren’t many instruments

and there isn’t much hardware stock in the venue.

There are no boom bases, no pipe, and no side-

arms. There’s also very little cable and two-fers.

If memory serves there’s not much house circuitry, and

the number of the functional house dimmers is ques-

tionable. Without a preliminary site survey, there’s no

telling how much house gear can really be used.

So how much gear does this budget actually

translate into? Sadly, it depends on a lot of things;

the city, the rental house, the quality of gear, what’s

available on the shelves, what’s the latest expensive

“gotta-have” toy, and so on. When you’re the big-

time lighting designer you can ask, or demand, that

light shops cater to you, since you bring them a lot

of business. When you’re the small-time or the new-

bie lighting designer, you rarely get those kinds of

breaks, or that kind of treatment. There are many

other ways to develop relationships with lighting

rental shops. One method begins by familiarizing

yourself with the shops and the rental account repre-

sentatives and then finding the account rep that you

get along with. Take him or her out for lunch, and

ask questions: how to get the best rental bang for

your buck, what’s the best way to present them with

rental requests, and so on. A different method is to

make friends with the production electricians in that

city, or the house elecs in town, and ask for their

opinions about the lighting rental shops. Everyone

has their own stories, and more often than not, is

very willing to share them.

The amount of weekly rental money may not be

substantial enough to cover both conventional and

moving light fixtures. The rental will either consist of

some number of conventional fixtures, or a lot fewer

moving light fixtures. And that takes us to a discussion

of moving lights.

Shelley’s

Note s

Shelley’s Notes:

Movers or Not?

When confronted with having to choose between con-

ventional and moving lights, there are two extremes

and a lot of in betweens. Like the little devil on one

shoulder, and the angel on the other, the devil says

“Sure, the moving light fixtures provide you with

more flexibility and pizzazz, they have movement,

color, what’s not to like?” But the angel says, “Yes,

they are pretty, but they come at a price. They cost

more money than the same number of conventional

fixtures, and their replacement bulbs can be very

expensive. Not only that, there are lots of extra pieces

needed for the moving light: power supplies, special