CRITICAL TIMING

When you get a proposed routing and as you start the advance, too often you realize how little time you will have….to load in, to be show ready, to load out, and to get to the next city. This is what I want to talk about. Even as a novice production manager you should take heed of the following advice for scheduling that does pertain to any tour big or small, and get these skills learnt, and then you will be setting yourself up for success when you are running the bigger tours.

I know sometimes production managers believe that their artist’s agent has no clue about the show that he or she is booking. But let’s be fair here. The venues we play in are busy; like super busy, between sports, which is such a huge money earner for venues, then events, and finally concerts, the availability of appropriate nights for a band to play is proper tight and then the agent still has to schedule a logical (sort of) routing and this becomes harder and harder; and we arrive at the problem that starts with this complex scheduling puzzle and then comes to us to solve in reality.

If you are fortunate enough to be allowed some input when it comes to the routing of a tour leg; then the game is one of ‘best case’. You wont get everything you want, because of a number of factors as well as the aforementioned lack of venue availability. But you may get to suggest a few changes. It is essential early on (before the routing is decided) to let management know your thoughts on the mileage limits for an overnighter, which is dependent on the show size obviously. It is also vital at this early stage (before the on sale) that you can contribute not just on what mileage is possible but also what the possible ‘fixes’… like a second rigging package or the use of a B rig, will in fact cost. DO NOT WAIT. As I have spoken about before, managers, agents, business management, and your artist never like to be ambushed by late arriving costs (especially large ones). If you get these facts known early they can be factored into a deal. Sometimes it can as simple (sorry) as adding a show that can help pay for these additional costs.

So here we are not truly solving the timing problem, but we are paying for it, and now you can work on the logistics and actually solve the problem.

Here you are staring at the routing, now confirmed. How to get the timing right? Look at the whole run. How many load ins will be late? Or later than than what you think you need. Will you be using a second rigging package? (This sort of fix is definitely a luxury for a bigger tour it should be said).

I am watching a nineteen truck show build in five (ish) hours minus rigging (you will understand why this is left out next) currently day in day out. You might do a small theatre tour with two trucks, and you might load in at 9am each day. You will probably be ready for a soundcheck at 3pm or 4pm. Same, right?….just scales up or down with labor, number of crew and most importantly, show size. We always prefer to work first and rest second, so now we have a dilemma. If we have five (ish) hours of build, we have our first known. The second is the distances between cities and probable drive times. The third ‘to be’ known is our load in time/s. You can do the usual and set up a normal start time, for all the shows where you will be there on time, and just do the later ones when you get there and go hard, but here’s another idea.

I bang on about consistency a lot. I think (like a lot of people) that a crew works better when they are running to the same plan day in day out. We talk about finding our rhythm on tour, which happens when all departments get in sync and the load ins and load outs start going quicker and easier. So with that in mind we can take the times we know we will get to the venues on the routing and find the time that works for all of them. For me on this last run, it was quite a bit later than usual. If we had no time issues I probably would have done a 6am mark out and a 7am start. Due to long drives, my latest load in on this routing was going to be 10:00am, and this was going to happen on seven occasions, so you can see the dilemma. If it was only happening once or twice then it would be a different problem with a different solution but it was nearly one third of the shows and so made for a bigger issue. My client was made aware when we were working on the routing and at that time I got the budget for a second rigging package, so then I knew I could at least take off the three hours for rigging for the really long overnighters (for this size show I usually schedule one hour for marking out and two hours just for rigging). This would bring me to a 9:00am start. So the problem had shrunk. Now, I knew that my crew could get this built in five to six hours. I then moved the first call after rigging to 10:00am for every show. When my crew chiefs first saw the labor sheet there were a few frowns; I mean the video call was 12:00pm, and the work now, rest later ethic appeared to have gone away so they were forgiven for the doubt, BUT after a few shows everyone relaxed into the schedule and we had our rhythm quickly.

I had gone for consistency over squeezing the schedule, and it was a pleasure to see crew getting plenty of sleep (one bonus of the long drives) as well as getting the show built each day without drama. Now this is only one example from my experience. How does this relate to you? My point is that the schedule is yours to write and you must be both involved and informed to write it correctly.

Know the show intimately, from the beginning by being a part of design process, through the creation of the rigging plot (even if it just a couple of trusses) , the set construction (even if it just a few risers), and then to the vendor advance and prep time. From this knowledge of the show to the involvement in the routing you then can write an informed labor schedule, you can then make the above timing decisions with confidence, a confidence that will spread to your crew as they hit their rhythm, as the the days get smoother and easier.

I hate panic and disorder (like most of us?) and I really do believe that if you think through this part of your job carefully, seeking to instill a calm and methodical approach to all timing challenges, you and the production you manage will benefit. You can only be a good production manager if you understand that the management of time is the primary task you have. You don’t hang the PA, or the lights. You don’t tune guitars or prepare content. Your job is to manage the time. Next thing for you to think about and understand is that the time you manage is not your own…forget about that, you wont have any for yourself. Production Management is not a job for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time supporting the work of others.

Let’s wrap this up. I said in the title that I am talking to novice production managers. It is unlikely in your first few outings as a PM, that you will be wanting to do much more than get the show up and built in time for doors each day and not make too many mistakes. This job is a big one and not for the faint of heart. It also needs confidence; you are leading after all. Back when I did my first gig as a PM, no one was there to hold my hand, and I am pretty sure my contemporaries will tell a similar story. But we built the shows, we learned as we went along and we tried (and failed…) but in pretty much 100 percent of occasions the shows went on and mistakes were few (or not noticed!). Now, things are a little different. Shows tend to be more complex; even the smaller ones. Crews need to know more, and you as the leader needs to know the most. SO, listen to your mentors. You will be presented with challenges as we all were/are and having some tried and tested tricks (like the above example) in your toolbox will help propel you along in your career. Think about things….a lot. As I said above, get involved in and understand every aspect of your show….

…to know the show inside out is barely enough knowledge.