Police state tactics over taking pictures in the theater- Page 6

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/19/15 at 5:46pm

The bottom line is that people need to learn how to follow rules and laws. Yes, productions want butts in the seats but that should not give patrons free reign to possible disrupt a performance or annoy people sitting near them. And whether I am comped in, paid discount or full price, I don't want to be distracted while watching a show.

Unfortunately I feel that picture taking before, at intermission and after is kind of like a "gateway drug" to taking them during the show. But I get the social media thing. I witnessed an argument between an usher and a patron who evidentally took a lot of pictures during a show and he was saying that taking pictures was the reason he came and that someone should have told him. Well, we were told twice upon entering the theater.

People have just gotten too entitled and don't like to be told what to do. And not only have I seen picture taking but also people climbing over seats and feet up on the seats in front of them. I would never have been allowed to do any of those things as I was taught not to.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/19/15 at 6:00pm

." Frankly, a lot of people already dislike going to the theatre - and if there are ushers berating peopl"

"Then why are they there? and if there are ushers berating people for taking photos, those people might be discouraged to return in the future. "

OH exccuuuuuuse me for berating you for breaking the rules and disturbing everyone around you. You don't want to be here in the first place, stay home.

"As much as I'd hate to sit next to someone taking pictures - we need their buts in the seats supporting (and paying for) the arts. So let's make everyone feel welcome and deal with situations like the one the OP described with a little restraint."

Oh, then let's equip the ushers with casseroles so the rule breakers feel welcome.

"(You can catch more flies with honey vs. vinegar sort of plays in here, doesn't it?) "

No. We're doing our job as we're told to, not catching flies.

Updated On: 2/19/15 at 06:00 PM

[MOUSTACHA]

Posted: 2/19/15 at 6:15pm

This is our new culture.

[Begin Rant]

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/07/viral_craigslist_post_on_smartphones_in_restaurants_is_tech_ruining_the.html


An article about service times bloated at restaurants and was found to be linked to our phone use (skip down if you don't care):

--26 out of 45 customers spend an average of 3 minutes taking photos of the food.

--14 out of 45 customers take pictures of each other with the food in front of them or as they are eating the food. This takes on average another 4 minutes as they must review and sometimes retake the photo.

--9 out of 45 customers sent their food back to reheat. Obviously if they didn’t pause to do whatever on their phone the food wouldn’t have gotten cold.

--27 out of 45 customers asked their waiter to take a group photo. 14 of those requested the waiter retake the photo.



WE. WANT. TO. TAKE. PICTURES. OF. EVERYTHING.
We NEED to facebook, tweet, instagram, snapchat, or whatever else we're doing these days to all of our "friends." It's an epidemic that will likely never go away.

So, even though people are told when they buy their tickets, at the door, as they walk in, as they're escorted to their seats, and before the show - they sit down and have 10 minutes before the show starts, so what do they do? What they always do. They take a picture because they're so excited they just HAVE TO SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE!

These front of house employees (I work in the biz, I can attest) struggle with this all the time. It's always a fight, and the people taking the pictures are more often combative and rude than not (usually because they're tourists feeling terribly entitled). I really never believe anyone misses the 5-8 times they were told in the last 5 minutes that they shouldn't be taking pictures, ergo I never believe the "Oh, I didn't realize" routine.

How can we fix it? Call these people out yourself (if you're comfortable with confrontation). I say, "Hey, you know you aren't supposed to take pictures in the theatre? It's technically a Felony." Most people hate confrontation, especially in public settings from their peers. If you get push back, just disengage. If you're near an usher who happens to see you do it, you'll probably make a friend (and possibly a seat upgrade). Front of house is a tough gig. Ultimately everyone should just learn to put away their phones and enjoy the show.

[End Rant]

[South Florida]

Posted: 2/19/15 at 6:24pm

Good passionate rant. Ratting out and confronting these picture takers is cool. Get a life, the live show is special. Must confess I have watched the videos.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/19/15 at 6:40pm

This is how I personally would handle these events.

I see someone taking a picture, before the show starts. I say to them "you're not allowed to take pictures." I say it in an informative way. Not combative, not sweet and welcoming.

If I saw someone taking photos during the show, I got as close to them as possible and say the same thing, adding "we'll have to delete the pictures after the show." None ever started anything with me.

[brldisteach2]

Posted: 2/19/15 at 10:49pm

To Fosse: The ushers didn't take the film, the people who were running the tour took it.

For those that are worried that it's scaring people away-a lot of us try to handle it politely, but some audience members feel entitled to do whatever they want and respond rudely or act offended no matter how polite you are as a staff member.

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 2/19/15 at 11:14pm

At the intermission of POTO, on Broadway and on earlier tours, picture-taking of the the chandelier rising after the crash is perfectly ok. Ditto on the current tour before the show.

Before the show, I asked permission to take pictures of the orchestra members arriving in the pit. One said, "I guess so," so I shot away. I think someone complained to security.

POTO ushers are careful to warn people not to shoot DURING the show.

[Boq101]

Posted: 2/20/15 at 3:57am

As a person who's ushered many different types of events in many different kinds of theaters I can tell you that there's no one way any usher does anything. We are simply told how to react according to the show and the wishes of the production. If I have to run down to the second row and flash a flashlight at your face to get you to stop talking on your phone, that's what I have to do. If you're in the middle of the row then usually we can wait till after the show is over and then ask you to delete everything and watch you do it.

Sometimes these tactics are to set an example. I've worked in theaters where every usher who helps a patron HAS to remind them that phone use is not permitted during the performance/while in the theater. It's my job. The actors are grateful for it, the producers are grateful for it, and more often than not most of the audience is grateful for it, too. You all paid a lot of money to have a live, visceral experience. There is no reason for the guy next to you to get away with taking a photo you know he shouldn't take and you know you wouldn't take.

This conversation, while interesting and all of that, is moot. This is part of an usher's job. If you wanna tell them how to do their job, complain to a house manager or a theater manager. If not, then do yourself a favor and stop victimizing people for breaking the law. Don't pretend to be that vapid.

[BOM]

Posted: 2/20/15 at 4:18am

Ushers are a joke. Some people take their minimum wage job way to seriously. Give me a playbill and show me to my seat. If i want to take a picture of curtain then I will. I'm spending over $100 on a ticket, ill take a picture if i damn well please. Some of you will probably say im trolling, but you're probably over 45 lol. Obviously taking pictues during the show is disruptive, but the only people who do that are foreign people who don't speak english. Some people these days are way too sensitive. A picture is a ****ing picture, cry about it haha.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 2/20/15 at 4:37am

Regarding losing patrons [customers] because of strong-arm tactics.
I had my own spa/retail business and if I had annoying/demanding/rude customes I politely told them that I didn't like their attitude and they would not be welcome back in my establishment.
My staff knew that I would stand up for them, other customers saw me do it and my business was successful-and this was one of the reasons.

You have the right to run your business YOUR way, and each theatre is an individual business so rules are different in each one-look what 39 Steps is doing-their choice.
When you buy a ticket you are buying rules of that ticket and there should be conditions also when you use that ticket.
Going too far?--of course--because 100% of the people on here know how to behave in a theatre but it's the 60% or so of the masses that don't.
A friend who owns a theatre says that the majority of problems he has comes from people who only watch TV and go to sporting events and have no idea how to behave in a live theatre setting--do they take a photo in a movie?

If my enjoyment was spoilt by annoying behaviour around me theatre managment would know about it--I no longer accept the words 'I'm sorry' as they are totally meaningless these days--a 'get out of jail free-do not collect $200' sort of thing.
God what a rant--ending now, back to watching Blacklist-has some good moments but James Spader trying to be Hannibal is a bit waring.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/20/15 at 5:04am

Certainly no entitlement in your beliefs there, are there, BOM? And no, it's not only foreigners (regardless of their language) that take photos at live theater.

BTW...just how many people can you insult in one post? You must be a joy.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/20/15 at 8:40am

"Some of you will probably say im trolling, but you're probably over 45 lol.:

Nah. I say you're an a-hole lol. You're under 12, right?

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 4:21am

Many of the recent posts have focused on the propriety of ushers' enforcement acts against the offender. But to me, that's of secondary importance. Attending a theatrical production is a privilege. If you don't know how to behave in the theater, the privilege of attendance can and should be revoked. Brazenly break the rules, and the ushers can and should show you the door.

But what about the 'rights' of non-offenders? Why is it that all the FOH people who've commented on the thread don't seem to be bothered by how their enforcement tactics disturb paying customers who have not broken any rules? Shining your flashlight in the eyes of a picture-taker may well be an appropriate response to someone breaking rules in a vacuum, but when there are other rule-following people sitting around him/her, and you disturb their experience, why is that OK? The approach seems wholly machiavellian -- if the rules have been broken, we can take whatever steps are necessary to squash the problem, regardless of who else it affects. Others be damned. Why aren't you as hellbent and zealous about ensuring that rule-followers get to enjoy the benefits of the experience they paid for, as you are about ensuring that rule-breakers get punished?

[indytallguy]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 7:58am

You raise an interesting point, but we can't have it both ways. Either house mgmt confronts offenders who are disturbing others (and cause a temporary distraction themselves) or the offenders go unchallenged and continue to be a distraction. And of course as patrons, we have the option to politely ask people in our vicinity to stop engaging in their distracting behavior as well.

We simply don't live in a time when people from around the world (where cultural norms differ) are going to all live in perfect harmony when gathered together in a shared space like a theatre.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 9:03am

oy

Updated On: 2/21/15 at 09:03 AM

[Marianne2]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 10:01am

Agree with joy, Jane. I had an usher stop someone in front of me once for recording a show and I was glad they did. And same show and same row some kid pulled out a camera just to play with it. Fortunately his dad stopped that before it could escalate.

and BOM, regardless of pay for a job, they should all be taken seriously. Rules and exoectations of employee are not just for those making $20 or more an hour. They apply to everyone. So yes, if you do a crappy job at a minimum wage job, then that person should lose that job. I hope this has never happened to you.

[brldisteach2]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 11:08am

Actually Seperite, my first commment on this thread addressed the other patrons:

"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." Of course, we are concerned with the other patron's experience.

As an usher who also goes to a lot of theatre when not working, I understand not wanting to be disrupted during a show. I also am very distracted by people taking pictures in the theatre, and I appreciate someone putting a stop to it. I also feel it would be much more disruptive to try to kick the person out of the theatre. Most of the time I've seen that happen, they refuse to listen to the usher, so the usher has to get the manager. Then when they refuse to listen to the manager, then security needs to be brought in to deal with the person. It's much more disruptive to try to kick someone out, then to just try to get them to stop taking a picture.

[indytallguy]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 12:40pm

Sorry, this thread has gotten the sociologist-researcher part of my brain thinking. While they should not have to, I wonder if theatres have ever considered better and more interesting ways of making a no photography announcement ... much as they have done with turning phones off or the airlines have done with humorous safety videos.

Again, people should just do the right thing, but there is ample social science research about how to Nudge (see book by same name) people into engaging in the behaviors you desire. National Geographic just aired an entire series with the author Daniel Pink conducting a bunch of different experiments in this spirit (take the stairs, don't park in handicapped spots, et al).

[Seperite]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 1:51pm

Indytallguy --

Anecdotal evidence to support your points:

At the River, they actually had one of the understudies come out on stage prior to each performance and given an impassioned and direct plea to people to turn off their phones. She even went through a ritual, described by someone on this board as kindergarten-ish, where she asked everyone to take out their phones and, on the count of three, turn them off. She then started pointing at random people in the audience and asking directly "is your phone off? Is your phone off?"

The effect, at the two performances I attended, was exactly zero incidents of people taking out their phones or otherwise disturbing the performance. Another poster here described the River audience as the quietest and best behaved he'd ever seen. Yes, yes, causation vs. correlation, anecdotal or circumstantial evidence, etc. I know. But still. The direct and impassioned approach SEEMED to firmly implant an idea in people's heads, and that may be all that's needed.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 2:04pm

This is the STUPIDEST FVCKING THREAD EVER. It's just full of people rationalizing why they should be allowed to be a$$holes and disrupt peoples enjoyment of a show.

[Tom5]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 2:09pm

If I was a criminal, I would just put a high tech lens in my jacket lapel and record the whole show. No one would be bothered, no one would know. This is 2015 and this thread is indeed moot.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 2:23pm

this thread is not moot whatsoever. Just the opposite. The topic we're discussing is current and getting worse every day. You're welcome.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 2:27pm

Indy, times have changed. People feel much more entitled than they ever have. I don't have to read any books, practical experience shows us that there are people who will do whatever the hell they want to no matter how they're told not to. They think that the rules are there for someone else, not them. How many people do not clean up after their dogs $hit, for example.

[brdway411]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 2:32pm

okay, lets get a few things straight here, first off the use of phone in the theater is illegal.

The taking of photos in the theater is illegal. It is theft of intellectual property.

What the hell is so hard to understand.

If you must prove you were there. Check in on Facebook outside the theater and buy a freaking program.




Cell Phones Banned in New York City theaters Updated On: 2/21/15 at 02:32 PM

[brdway411]

Posted: 2/21/15 at 2:46pm

Here it is from Playbill
ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Why Can't I Take Photos in a Broadway Theatre?