I'm not a teacher (I'm a set designer), so I may be treading into unwelcome territory here, but I'm going to make a suggestion.
For the budgeting class, rather than basing the set design budget on "how many flats" or "how much lumber" and similar variables, base it on a number that reflects previous experiences. I've worked at many high-end community theatres (and one major scenery-construction company) that just came up with a number without learning anything from previous shows, and the results were very visible. "That's how we've always done it" is a common refrain, but as someone (or several someones) said, you can't keep doing things the same way and expect a different result.
Another problem is that basing a set budget on flats or lumber tends to back the creative process into a corner. It also tends to reinforce the erroneous idea that all sets are made of flats and/or platforms and such. We don't want to put the cart before the horse.
It's a fairly straightforward job to keep budget and expense documents from previous shows and analyze them every now and then. Then you can say things like, "Gee, we spent [so much] on the last big musical, but the set (or lights, costumes, whatever) weren't all that good. We should have spent more." OR you can say, "Gee, we didn't spend all our (set, lights, costumes, whatever) budget, but another department could have used the money."
Over the part thirty-odd years, I've heard a lot of money-challenged production companies start off by saying that they have a huge stock and want to use as much existing stuff as possible. And/or that they picked this particular show
precisely because they have a huge stock. That's fine, and any good set designer will take that into consideration when creating a physical environment for the story. But, as I've told production companies more than a few times, "I can't design
Mame or
Annie, from scratch, on an
Our Town budget."
------------------------------
George F. Ledo
Set designer
www.setdesignandtech.wordpress.comwww.georgefledo.nethttp://astore.amazon.com/sdtbookstore-20------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 10-15-2018 10:09
From: Jane Modlin
Subject: Budgeting Lesson Plan?
I do the 'dreaded budgeting' lesson every year (that's what my kids call it). They're given the amount of my budget to produce two full-length straight plays, complete with scenery, props, costumes, makeup, etc.
They use play catalogs or the catalog website to choose their plays. Each play must have a minimum of 5-6 characters, and they must present three performances and use 'X' number of flats (for which they must purchase lumber to build), and their ticket prices cannot be higher than what we typically charge. They can also sell refreshments for more income, but they have to allow funds to purchase what they sell. Plus, we talk about royalties and why we don't change/cut/alter a script.
I've found that, as much as they hate dealing with money, they have a much better grasp of why they need to clean paintbrushes and not waste paint and other supplies. They also understand why certain shows just can't physically be done well in our venue or why doing a heavy period-costume show can wipe out our budget.
Good luck!
------------------------------
Janie Modlin
Director of Theatre
Ashland Independent Schools
Ashland, KY
Original Message:
Sent: 10-11-2018 14:09
From: Erika Trahan
Subject: Budgeting Lesson Plan?
Hi all,
Just wondering if any you have done a lesson on Budgeting and looking at the cost of a show with students?
Many have NO CLUE (even though I mention it regularly) that we must pay royalties for each production.
I would love to see how you break it down and what you do?
I was thinking about printing an old MTI contract and starting there.
Thanks,
--
Erika TrahanKaplan High School
Speech and Theatre