Police state tactics over taking pictures in the theater- Page 2

[Pootie2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:09pm

"Of course, now that Kristin Chenoweth has thanked the picture-taker on Twitter, there will be more to come."

Oh good grief. She actually opened the can of worms? Well.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:12pm

"He did not even try the soft approach first. He went in with both guns blazing against this couple. I guarantee they will never come to a show again after this experience."

Yay, who needs their type in a theater.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:17pm

There's only one approach when dealing with people like this - hard and fast. There's no time for a "soft approach", you get in there and take care of the situation. You're not going to bring over a cup of tea and explain why you're telling him to delete the photos.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:28pm

"He did not even try the soft approach first. He went in with both guns blazing against this couple. I guarantee they will never come to a show again after this experience."


Wait, I thought it was ticket prices driving people away? Man, at this rate Broadway's basically going to be finished in about two months.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:31pm

"Wait, I thought it was ticket prices driving people away? Man, at this rate Broadway's basically going to be finished in about two months"

I don't get your logic here. If you're saying that people will avoid going to the theater because they will be chastised for breaking a law, then thank goodness for that. The fewer people like that in the audience, the better.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:43pm

I was just kidding- on here the death of Broadway and theatre is predicted about every five minutes. I agree, as a performer and an audience member, people who blatantly disregard the camera rule drive me up the wall.

[Huss417]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:44pm

Personally I will take "hard and fast" over a "soft approach" any day of the week. :)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:45pm

If they start slow but then get hard and fast and then try the slow approach again before finishing hard and fast, that can be ok also.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:47pm

But the audience is warned multiple times already. First in writing, again verbally at the start of the show. After that, a zero tolerance policy is perfectly reasonable.

[Huss417]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 12:48pm

Fast and Hard also will work when in a rush.

Updated On: 2/15/15 at 12:48 PM

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 1:08pm

"Also, you may not know the whole story. I'm guessing this person might have been kind of extreme about it, or they wouldn't have done so much. The times I have seen a mid-show confrontation is when people are taking flash pictures or video. Or maybe she was already warned at intermission and ehe ignored them."

My youngest daughter has danced professionally with several dance company's and has told us how dangerous it can be when some idiot takes a picture with flash while you are on stage dancing. I can only imagine what it would be like on Broadway.

[brldisteach2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 1:10pm

I've worked as an Usher for over 20 years. Of course, we can't get to every picture taker, but we do what we can. To the person in the front row-most of the time ushers are stationed near the back of the house-they probably didn't hear or see the person in row 2 answering the call. As for the hard and fast vs soft approach-when it's during the show, you try to respond as quickly and quietly as possible in order not to bother other patrons. After the show, then you should try to be polite but firm about the picture taking. Unfortunately, some ushers have better customer service skills than others. It all varies from show to show as well. I work in a theatre that gets a lot of tours. Over the years, some shows have been fairly lax, and others have been really strict. During the time when people still brought in cameras with film, one company would take the film, develop it, and send the person any picture that wasn't of the show.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 1:12pm

The person I was referring to did not take pictures during the show. I think she felt that after the show was over it was ok to take a few pictures of Jackman taking curtain calls. It was not a flash camera either. A flash in the last few rows upstairs would have been a waste of time. I believe this person did it out of ignorance.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 1:17pm

" During the time when people still brought in cameras with film, one company would take the film, develop it, and send the person any picture that wasn't of the show."

I had to do that back in 2000. We had to go to great lengths to follow the rule. We had to carefully remove the roll of film so as to avoid exposing it. Then we had to pay for the whole role to be developed and printed, then send the patron all the legitimate images.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 1:28pm

"I had to do that back in 2000. We had to go to great lengths to follow the rule. We had to carefully remove the roll of film so as to avoid exposing it. Then we had to pay for the whole role to be developed and printed, then send the patron all the legitimate images."

Jane2- Wow, that is a lot of work/trouble for the you. I totally agree with people not taking pictures but wondering what concerns the show's management the most. I truly doubt these pictures are the greatest quality and person could somehow making a profit. Just curious from the business end.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 1:35pm

Good comments, yankeefan.

The producers of any particular show set the rules. Of course, flash photography is never allowed, but occasionally non-flash is allowed. OCCASIONALLY, lol.

The house staff must follow the production's rules. And you can bet that if we don't, the producers find out and heads will roll. I am aware of an usher being fired because he sat on the edge of a railing at the back of the theater. Producers rule and they are strict.

This doesn't only pertain to photography. The producers decide when and if and how late comers will be seated. People who believe that the house manager makes these decisions have a lot to learn concerning who sets the rules.

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:05pm

Jeez...what a ferocious, angry and mean-spirited response from some of you. Completely uncalled for. I am expressing a personal opinion about an incident that I witnessed in the theater, which is entirely appropriate for this site (even if you disagree with my take.) Personal attacks, replete with curses, are not. It is very sad that even highly-cultured adults are apparently incapable of expressing differing opinions without resorting to name-calling and personal attacks.

For the record, I am a MAN, with no relationship whatsoever with the picture taker (who was a woman.) I commented on the incident because I was seated several rows behind the hullabaloo, and was distracted by the usher running down the aisle and signaling to the woman (who was in the first or second row) during the show. At the moment, it was not clear what prompted the usher's excited response, and I only discerned what it was when the theater-manager type came walked to her during/after the curtain call to go through her phone.

And to those of you who went on a tirade, or who mistakenly thought that I tried to minimize or justify what the woman did, let me be clear: I am an AEA/SAG member, NYU trained, former professional actor with credits at Lincoln Center, BAM, etc. Notwithstanding the fact that in my day, people didn't carry cellphones, and picture-taking was thus not an issue, I can imagine how distracting it is for performers onstage. I am vehemently opposed to the taking of pictures in performance spaces (not simply for copyright reasons, but because it is distracting and disrespectful to performer and patron alike), have never done it, and never would do it. I don't condone what this woman allegedly did. I am merely stating that making a big production out of acts that are unequivocally wrong, but which are nonetheless unavoidable given the ubiquity of cellphones and bad manners, is overkill, and serves to diminish the experience for a lot more people than would be affected by a person taking a picture.

[Tom5]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:05pm

I feel sorry for Producers in this matter because today you can fit a hi-def lens in your top shirt button. So outside of performing a body cavity search of every ticket holder, I don't see how they can prevent an entire show from being taped.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:12pm

At least get those people who are blatant about it. Flash, red light (not so much these days), bright beacon screens seen from behind.

I do wonder if releasing an official pro recording would be one way to address modern technology and our current culture's expectations in keeping digital "souvenirs." At least the creators could get some money from that. I can see the pros/cons either way, though.

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:13pm

Precisely correct, Tom5 -- cameras are getting smaller and smaller, and are completely undetectable. Taking pictures in the theater is illegal, a nuisance, and a distraction -- but so is opening candy-bar wrappers in the seats (maybe not illegal, but certainly a distraction and a nuisance.) All a theater can and should do is implore people not to break the rules, and hope that they have the decency to be respectful. Throw them out at intermission, or take the offender's picture and bar him or her from entering again. But making a huge production during the show -- even if it succeeds at stopping a few offenders -- is not going to eliminate the problem altogether in an age in which everyone is carrying a camera. Some people will inevitably not have the decency to not use it. Enforcement tactics that involve interruptions mid-show are more trouble than they're worth.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:17pm

If you don't want a ferocious, angry response, try not using highly emotional and overly dramatic terms like Police State when placing a title on your threads. I wish people like you could have lived in East Germany in the 60's to know what a police state is really like. Oh, and do try to be more concise. If I wanted to read WAR AND PEACE, I would have, well... read War And Peace.

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:19pm

Fair point. "Police state" is a bit harsh. I just changed it.

Brevity has never been my strong suit. If you don't like the writing style, move on.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:19pm

"eez...what a ferocious, angry and mean-spirited response from some of you. Completely uncalled for. I am expressing a personal opinion about an incident that I witnessed in the theater, which is entirely appropriate for this site (even if you disagree with my take.) "

The attitudes you revealed in expressing your opinions were so uninformed and ignorant about how theater is run warranted the responses you got.

You belong to theater unions? Then you should know a lot more about theater operations than you seem to.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:21pm

Where is the OP in this thread again-doesn't wish to comment/defend?

I am so tired of how the manners of the world are changing. IF someone says 'sorry' that is only said when caught; seems 'lets see what we can get away with unil caught' is the mantra of today.

It is 2015 and we can't go backwards but education,rules,RESPECT.manners are slowly being eroded to 'it's all about ME'.

So many still do the right/correct thing but it seems the minority is becoming the majority in public displays of ignorance.
I protect myself by avoiding as I can be far too vocal in public-a one man show when provoked.
It saddens me to read how many have their theatre pleasure disrupted by bad manners.

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 2:24pm

As someone else pointed out earlier, a picture-taker (possibly the same one who came under fire at the performance) posted one of the pics she took on Twitter, and Kristen Chenoweth herself retweeted it, thanked the picture-taker, and called it 'lovely'.

So much for the ferocious and angry responses from you guys on behalf of the performers. Looks like the star of the show is a lot less angry about this issue than you.