There's a sign posted on the wall of the shop at Upstaging Lighting that says, "If you arrive right on time for load in, you're late." These words are gospel; I have never been late to a call time in all my years. And I have zero tolerance for anyone who isn't there to meet me on time. The business of doing shows depends on time. Budgets are drawn out months before a show by people who try to take into account how long the preparation time for a show will take so they can bill properly for it and make a profit. The lighting rental company must know how many man-hours it needs to pay to prep a system going out. A production company must anticipate how many days and hours it will take to load in an event. If one player in the whole process does not show up on time, it can throw a wrench into the whole works.
From "LD-at-Large" by Nook Schoenfeld, PLSN, March 2010
