Blue Eyes Designs

Looks like LD’s in Te-has (Texas) dodged a bullet this month. Just goes to show you the power that one ticked off constituent and a bunch of ignorant (to the ways of live entertainment) politicians and staffers.

For those of you who don’t know, basically a Texas state congressman amended a bill that had nothing to do with electrics or live entertainment, in an attempt to clean up engineering legislation, to include a provision that “lighting design” could not be performed by anyone except licensed engineers, electricians, and architects. (And not recognizing any of the LE industry licensing programs.) Basically, he had a constituent (i.e. big donor) call and complain that he was unhappy with the work of someone he hired to “design” his residential lighting. In a knee-jerk reaction, a the congressman added the above provision without knowing its full ramifications.

Thankfully, it was immediately brought to the attention of the lighting design community and heavy-hitters came out in force. Gently educating the congressman on what exactly that would mean to thousands and thousands of people, not just designers, but the people that hire them, the companies that supply them, etc, seemed to open their eyes and the amendment has since been pulled.

Kinda scary there for a minute, tho. Could have been illegal to practice lighting design in the state of Texas!

Welcome to Sparx, the latest edition to our small household.

I adopted him yesterday from the shelter in Genoa. He’s a needly little guy and quite the talker, but he’s sweet and adorable. (This is the best picture I have, I can’t get him to stand still long enough!)

So the Broadway strike has come to an end today. I guess the city of New York has been breathing down the necks of both sides, as it’s costing the city and local businesses millions with Broadway dark. In reading the New York Times article about it, it seems that the compromises were fairly reasonable.

Looks like they basically agreed that the number of crew at load-in could be a lot more flexible, that pre- and post-show calls could be extended some without initiating a minimum call (I.E. so they could call crew at an hour and a half to show and not have to pay a full four-hour minimum for that extra half hour.) In exchange for some of the concessions made on the behalf of the Union, the techs will see a higher than standard pay raise.

Dammit, I want a pay raise! I’d go on strike, but no one would give a damn.

I don’t see anything terribly earth-shattering here, but some of the fall-out remains to be seen. I just hope it doesn’t start to establish a precedence of justifying cutting into job security with paying more per hour. The temporary contract will be voted on by the members of Local 1 in the middle of December.

::crawls out from under rock::

As those of you who pay attention to the news may or may not know, IATSE Local One (Broadway stage technicians) has gone on strike. Add that to the Writer’s Guild strike, and it’s a hell of time to be in the entertainment industry.

I can’t say that I blame anyone involved in either of these strikes, but it’s a shame that the parties have been unable or unwilling to come to an agreement before this measure was taken.

Regardless, I’m going to be paying close attention to how these strikes play out and the changes made to their respective contracts, because I know that it will have important ramifications for all of us working in the industry, especially those of us on a contract basis.

Apparently I’m moving out of my parents house. We found a place that we liked earlier this week, applied and got it. We’re signing the lease tomorrow and probably moving in week after next.

Something I’ve wanted so bad for more than a year is finally here and I’m scared shitless.