Local 1 update!

[henryt]

Posted: 10/18/07 at 7:44pm

Nederlander won't change contract

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/18/07 at 8:09pm

There's more to the story. The League says Local 1 is in error.
Backstage

[whatever2]

Posted: 10/19/07 at 12:09am

> The League says Local 1 is in error.

actually, i dont get anything like that from the backstage article. what i read was:

(1) the Nederlanders contract w/ Local 1 is still active.
(2) according to the League, the Nederlanders support the League's position.
(3) as has occurred in the past, the Nederlanders are likely to seek a renegotiation of their contract with Local 1 in order to mirror the terms of whatever the League and the Union ultimately agree to.

as the article notes, the Nederlanders cannot unilaterally change an active contract. they are observers at the table currently because their contract is not currently up for re-negotiation.

Posted: 10/19/07 at 12:55am

Nederlander Venues
=======================
Legally Blonde - Palace
Rent - Nederlander
Hairspray - Simon
Wicked - Gershwin
Cyrano - Rodgers
Grease - Atkinson
Drowsy - Marquis
Mermaid - Lunt-Fontanne
Lion King - Minskoff

Other Venues No Lockout?
==============================
Young Frankenstein - Hilton
Mary Poppins - New Amsterdam
Mauritius - Biltmore
Pygmalion - AA
Ritz - Studio 54
Xanadu - Hayes
Spelling Bee - Circle
Lincoln Center
Radio City
MSG

[bially082]

Posted: 10/19/07 at 1:03am

I doubt they will strike before mid-week, if at all.

[LittleMsUsher]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 3:10am

Hey has anyone bothered to look at the weekly grosses per theater that is reported to playbill.com I mean really for a company like Jujamcyn -Theater August Wilson formally the Virginia Theater- Jersey Boys grossed $1,272,077.00 for the week of October 8-14, or look at Subert Theater -Shubert Organization-Spamalot grossed $712,888.00 for that week as well. I mean really how much money do they have to make. Also what happens if Broadway goes dark those shows that happen to be sold out for a while say a year or two and hey I'm on bus trip from say Allentown PA are they going to not only give me ticket for a year from now are they going to pay my bus fare as well or for the whole group in general I mean the average bus trip group is about 50 people. Unions need to stick together Lead on Local 1 just remember your other Brother and Sister Unions.

[Boq101]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 3:19am

LittleM, you're getting annoying, shut the **** up.

[tourboi]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 3:42am

LittleM... you need to know something. The THEATRES don't get that money. It goes to the various productions housed in those theatres (the theatre's get rent, and perhaps a percentage). But let's say a show grosses 800,000.00 in a week. Here's the (very very very basic) breakdown:

500,000 of that goes into the weekly "nut" or cost of running the show (salaries, rent, rental equipment (lighting, sound, etc), and any left goes back into the business (usually producers create seperate individual businesses (LP's, or LLC's usually) as a way to build up reserve. If the show makes profit, it is distributed evenly (at the percentage they invested) to the producers and investors.

Believe me, it looks like a lot every week. But it takes a lot to do that show week after week. Yes, there are (more than less) greedy producers, but realize that this argument isn't about HOW MUCH money is made, it's about how much one should be expected to pay.

Should someone be paid for a load-in when they have no need to be there and are sitting around doing nothing? Or should there be a set number of people for every show, regardless of how many are actually needed?

If you ran a little shop, and it was bringing in 10,000.00 a week. You find over time that you need 2 people to run it, but you employ 3, and say you pay them 200.00 each a week. 600 a week total, yes you're making a huge profit. But if you could eliminate that third person who isn't needed... isn't that just smart business? It's not a slight to the person. It's just smart business. And that's what this is. Show BUSINESS.

[Boq101]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 3:48am

tourboi makes sense, LittleM needs to put down the copy and paste and do some research.

[LittleMsUsher]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 4:31am

Not for nothing you must be out of work actors. I understand why they need to strike or at least be given the option, what would you do if you were getting laid off for job cuts, oh wait you are probably not in the actor union seriously unions are their to protect the members, it's basic job security. Not only that most Broadway shows are given a two week notice prior to the show closing and then the theater is dark for who knows maybe six months maybe longer and oh guess what those stage hands are out of work gee if it's not a hit like Spamalot, Mama Mia, Phantom, Jersey Boys, Hairspray, Wicked your NOT WORKING....

[Lynnespock2]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 7:05pm

I am neither out of work nor an actor! You must like union busting because that is the kind of rhetoric you are using. Give it and us a rest!

[don logan]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 7:09pm

I have zero respect or sympathy for the producers. Zero. If they wanted to be rich they should have gone into finance.

[BwayInsider]

Posted: 10/22/07 at 8:31pm

LocalOne, thanks for trashing me on the other thread.

I would like to ask you where you get your running cost figures from? I would venture to say that you have never seen the weekly financial documents from a musical production on Broadway from your estimate of the running cost of 'most big musicals'. When you factor in costs of marketing and advertising, which bring people to see the shows you work on, the 'nut' can be upwards of 650K in many cases.