I didn’t. I got calls from three other LDs last week asking me if I could cover one of their gigs, and, if not, do I have anyone? Requests for media server operators came frequently as well. I replied to the lighting company that I thought they had a stack of résumés from young people and old pros. Why did they wait until summer to sift through them?
I can’t help the youngsters coming straight from school find work. All I can offer is advice. The summer is touring season, and lighting shops find themselves shorthanded by June. I think some of the larger lighting companies may like to hear from the next generation of techs so they can groom them with the necessary knowledge in how their company sets up its gear.
Certain lighting rental houses are huge, as they always acquire new acts and more gear. They are great places to try and get your foot in the door. But you may be the low man on the totem pole for quite some time until you work your way up.
Smart Moves
There is nothing wrong with the idea of “earn while you learn.” I just met a young man named Sam. He was on summer break from some university. He caught a break and landed a job as an intern, making $11 an hour in a lighting shop. He explained that, nine months out of the year, he studied theater. And for three months, he got to play with all the toys that his college didn’t own. Smart move by both the kid and the company. The guy learns stuff they will never teach him in school, and the company stands a good chance of hiring a well-educated young man when he graduates.
I am a big fan of the little guys. I mean those regional lighting companies that excel in their particular part of the States. Companies that seldom appear in the articles you read in the trade mags, but they are out there, working hard. These companies may not be able to pay you what you wish to start, but they can give you a faster way to work yourself up in the biz.
Inevitably, these companies will find themselves shorthanded, and young techs will be “thrown into the fire” by necessity. And the faster you figure out how to squelch that fire and do something new, the more valuable you become to everyone. I remember being scared to death patching a 36-channel dimmer rack when I was new. But Tom Blancato took 10 minutes to explain it all to me. Within six months of my first patch, I was the ME on a show with 800 dimmers. I never said, “No, I can’t do it.” Instead, I just asked for a few minutes of someone’s time to point me in the right direction and give some pointers.
Big companies are so busy with their summer tours and persistent clients that, often, they just don’t have time for some of my little acts. There are times I hate calling them, because I feel like their 12-hour office days will stretch even longer if they try to help me with anything. So I look to the little guys. When I email them, they call right back. They don’t send me emails with little questions on how to make their own life better, but call me to offer their services. They remind me of the kid’s book, The Little Engine That Could, because they constantly have to prove that they can run with the big dogs, and I dig that. Just like a young tech, they are hungry.
Ready to Serve
I love Bob Morrissey over at East Coast Lighting in Rhode Island. I had a video shoot last week in Boston, and I desperately needed a grandMA console for me and a small desk for my buddy Stan Crocker to run some key lights. Five minutes later he calls back, apologizing, as his company is slammed this week. In those five minutes he had called all over his region. He could get me a grandMA2 from some other company I had never heard of. He took the time to bail Stan and I out, as we each shared faders on the same console. Bob probably didn’t make a dime, but he knows he’s got my utmost respect. Lobster’s on me next time, buddy.
I played the brand-new Revel Casino in Atlantic City last month. I needed a few trusses of MAC 700s and a console to punt my way through a sold-out show. The casino pointed me to their preferred vendor. I had the privilege of meeting and working with Don Earl, the owner of Earls Girls Lighting in Jersey. He actually had all the gear I wanted (Bigger companies would all have offered me substitute fixtures at a later date), and I was thrilled. Don was the ultimate gentleman, and his gear performed flawlessly. He personally came down and rigged the call.
I had met Don years ago through the LightNetwork, an online forum for lighting techs to chat. But upon meeting him in person, he was nothing like the chap I had pictured. Every question I had was met with the proper answer, “No problem. I can do that.” In my opinion, the New York area is full of big-name lighting companies with gear that is in constant use and not well-kept. Finding Earls Girls was like finding a diamond in the rough for me.
TMS (Theatrical Media Services), another little jewel of a company, is located in Omaha. Well, not so little. They seem to supply gear for all these Midwest fairs and festivals I go through. I used their gear on six different stages in six states last summer alone. Then, last winter, a band’s manager told me that they wanted me to use TMS as the lighting vendor for a tour. She said the big-name lighting companies had no time for their little arena tour the previous summer. But TMS did. The band remained faithful, and I could not blame them. In fact, I was glad to check them out. Account exec Holly Vogt must work 20 hours per day, but she always finds time to answer me promptly. She never turns me down at the last minute when she’s sold out of gear. Instead, she finds it by outsourcing it from some other company. And the marked-up prices are still lower than most large companies. While any company can do the same, I feel like I’m bothering the large ones when I ask for help. The little guys make me feel special, even though I know Holly will have no social life that week.
So if you were to ask me for the fastest way to increase your lighting skills and get some gigs, I would advise that you get your foot in the door of a smaller company. And go in with a positive attitude and a smile on your face. Call them until they have to hire you. If you want a more well-rounded education and learn everything about lighting gear, the big companies are fine places to work as well. They will teach you plenty before you do your first gig. You just have to find the right moment when someone can actually talk to you.
