I spend a lot of time traveling, but I’m home a lot more often than I was when I toured the world with rock bands. I’m frequently asked by lots of young folks how to get into the road business. But lately, I’ve been asked by older people a more important question: How do you get off the road?
Getting a Road Gig
First off, you need to decide which avenue you’d like to go down. You’ve already decided that you want to see the world and get paid to do it, but would you like to pursue a career in audio, lighting, scenic, video or production? Would you rather work in theatre, film, trade shows or the music biz? Choose what you want to do.
Should you go to college to get started? I believe it builds a good base for rounding out a person and learning the basics of your chosen field. I went, but that and 90 cents will get you a cup of joe. Unfortunately, few people in the entertainment business get hired because of their college credits. They get hired because they show ambition and enthusiasm. The actual skills you learn on a work site far exceed anything that is learned in a classroom.
If you wish to be a lighting designer, you should learn from the ground up. Pay your dues as a tech while you hone your craft. The best way to learn about lighting is to work for a lighting vendor or to work summer stock. There are hundreds of lighting rental companies in the U.S.; there is probably at least one within 100 miles of your house. These companies are often looking for young grunts — people who will pull cable, hoist trusses and set up gear. The positions don’t always pay well to start, but you have to view it as getting your foot in the door and a “learn-as-you-earn” system. Sending a résumé to a lighting company is helpful, but nothing beats a face-to-face sit down with a potential employer. They will remember meeting you and when they get in a crunch for manpower, they may look for your number. I believe in following up these visits with periodic e-mails saying that you are still looking forward to the day when you can work with their company.
Most of these lighting companies provide techs with their gear, and this gear ships all over the world for various gigs. Many of them cover trade shows and corporate events. The money lighting vendors can make on music tours pales in comparison to the dough they earn on film shoots and corporate shows. Working for any of these vendors insures that you will travel, but you are likely to work long days in one town for a week or two at a time. However, there are several major audio and lighting vendors who also supply gear and techs for traveling music tours. At any given time, companies such as Bandit, PRG or Upstaging Lighting will have a dozen tours out on the road. The turnover of qualified technicians in the music biz means that these companies are always looking for young help — people who will grow and stay within their organization.
Audio and scenic companies follow the same route. A young audio guy will have to mic a lot of stages and fly plenty of speaker boxes before he gets to mix a show. Bug your local audio leasing company to give you a chance. Offer them your strong back to load their gear in exchange for a job and the chance to learn everything you can about audio. Scenic companies build all sizes of sets and generally need anyone with some basic construction skills. Once you’ve spent a summer working for a local theatre, you would do well to start contacting a shop in your area to offer your services.
Getting Out
Sooner or later, most of us get tired of living like a gypsy. But we have been doing this for so long, making a comfortable living, that we don’t know what else to do. If that sounds like you, the best advice I can give is to be a nice person and stay connected with everyone you work with over the years. Sooner or later, we all get off the tour bus for good, and we need a gig — and friends help old friends out.
Teaching is one way to come off the road. Someone has to school the young techs in the proper way to do things. Many of my old touring buddies now work full-time in various scenic and lighting shops, but they work behind computers and on the phones. Many techs go on to become project or production managers. Some of them call me and ask for lights and techs (usually along with a design), and I then call my old friends and we all work together on the design and logistics of the project. Then we send the young work force out to do the actual gigs.
Joining a union along the way is a good idea and can provide an option to getting off the road for many people. The IATSE stage hands union (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees – www.iatse-intl.org) is full of ex-touring guys. The insurance and pension plans they offer are fantastic, and for anyone looking for a way off the road, this is a great opportunity. You don’t have to travel for work, and if you are in a decent-sized city, you can keep busy. Getting affiliated with unions is not always easy, but it’s certainly worth going down to the local hall and seeing what it takes to get a union card. Maybe you can sign up part-time for now, do a few shows in between tours, and later in life turn it into a permanent job.
Studio work is another option. I work in various TV studios; sometimes I operate moving lights, sometimes I’m a gaffer, other times I consult with the permanent LDs who work certain TV shows. I networked in with several studio people over the years and they pass my name off to others. Being a nice guy for years has paid dividends in our word-of-mouth industry.
Film work is another option. Grip trucks are just lighting shops on wheels. When you get work on a film or TV series, you can be assured of several months work in one location, hopefully somewhere near where you live.
Last of all, you can go to work for yourself. While you’re touring all these years, keep thinking about what you can do to fill a void in the industry, then start planning it. My friend Manny Parodi was a touring set carpenter/stage manager for years. He realized that after a tour was over, bands needed a place to stash their old sets and gear. So he bought some storage space in L.A. and started keeping old stuff in mothballs until the bands needed it again.
Building a Web site can also help. I became a lighting/scenic designer 20 years ago, and I have collected pictures of hundreds of gigs. My partner and I built a site that we send potential clients to. Through all the networking I’ve done over the years, it was easy to get my friends to view it and pass it on. If you have no idea how your site should look, check out others. Check out mine at www.visualventuresdesign.com, just to get an idea.
Sometimes when you’re on the road, it seems like it never ends. But someday you’re going to wish it would, and then it’s up to you to figure out your next gig. Start thinking now, and the transition will be easier.
Nook Schoenfeld is a freelance lighting designer. He can be reached at nschoenfeld@plsn.com.
