hey people... just wanted to vent and ask about your experiences.
I just quit my job last week and feel a bit down but liberated at the same time.
as some might know, I work in the performing arts. I was with the municipal theatre dortmund for four and a half years, working as a directors assistant, then tried to become a freelance video artist over the last half year or so.
I started working for an independent collective of actors/artists under the direction of a guy I had worked with before in dortmund. He was looking for someone to do live camera work, live cutting and vjing on stage. I had done two plays with the guy and thought I knew his quirks. Now I know better...
He was just impossible to work with. Maybe it's chemistry and we just don't get along. anyway, he'd push me and push me so much, I'd barely sleep during productions, because his expectations were huge. Main problem to me seems to have been communication and having no grasp of technical feasibility. During the rehearsals for the last production, I was in Würzburg working on the play for 6 weeks (if anyone near there in Germany wants to check it out, it's called "Kafka 2.0"). I had to be there to run the system for the whole duration of rehearsals (3 live cameras, greenscreen and constant video/audio show playing) and produce new footage on a daily basis which practically meant that I was working 14 hour minimum daily, 7 days a week for 6 weeks. We had a couple of fights about this and because there wasn't enough time to program the show on stage because he couldn't get into his head, that the expectations he had needed a lot of time to program. So I threatened, I'd quit if I had to do both jobs in the next production (cutting and producing footage while also performing live), and since I am not coming from a video production background, we decided to get someone to produce the footage while I would just attend rehearsal and take care of programming cues, doing live cam setup and the technical side while also performing with the actors.
well since the new play started production, we quickly got into each others hair again. it appears, he's learned nothing from the previous production. Luckily, the theatre we are working with now, has a bunch of very talented people behind the stage and we got rolling again for a while. the show was programmed, all cues were essentially built, before we actually got on stage, because me and my intern (who knew how to do most of the programming since he had worked with the software before) were able to take three days while the director was gone, and just polish and build our cues and midi network. then we went on stage for the last 2 weeks before the premiere. it escalated very quickly. the second stage rehearsal was a disaster. the director got really pissed because the timing on a video cue was not correct (like 30 seconds in the play...). normally you'd ask your assistant to put it on the to do list and then continue rehearsal, but he publicly had a fit of rage and insulted me in front of everyone (this has happened a lot before, he has lost his shit with a bunch of actors as well, before). What really gets me infuriated is, that I knew he was out drinking the day before and it was a common occurence, that he'd be in a shitty mood the next day and start trouble with people at rehearsals. He was actually two hours late that day, the assistant had to get him out of bed because his cellphone was unreachable... so everyone had been waiting for hours... and then he starts fucking around because of some shit like that and insults me publibly in a hissy fit... ridiculous.
I wasn't going to take that shit any longer and blew my top off. I haven't shouted in a long time, never really at work as I am usually able to control myself even if people get me angry. Anyway I packed all my stuff and left, told him to get his shit done himself if he wasn't able to work with me. after cooling down for about an hour and smoking a couple of cigarettes, we sat down together and decided it was time to go our seperate ways. So I left my intern with the show, he'll actually get some of my wage as compensation. Good thing was, that I would have had to leave the show in the hands of the local technicians this week anyway, as they also have to control the show on and after the premiere, so everything was pretty much built, cues were all essentially there and just a lot of polishing left to do, like fade times, tidying up the cue list, doing volume adjustments and gains etc.
Still it feels weird to just leave like that. Everyday now, I am constantly checking my phone for any calls/news because I still feel responsible. I am not sure if I failed, if the cooperation failed, or if that guy is just an egomaniac narcissist asshole.
since this is the first job that I have quit because of something like this, I wonder what people have experienced in their field of work. obviously quitting like this would have different consequences for most people, and working in theatres has a bunch of advantages, but the stress and work load is insane for the pay. after all we don't save lives or offer anything vital to the public, it's entertainment for most people and a little bit of political and intellectual education for some.
like for this production, I would have gotten 2000eur pay (no taxes etc included) and that is for 6 weeks of very hard work and very long days, pretty much 10 to 14hrs 6 days a week. just not worth the pressure for me.
I just quit my job last week and feel a bit down but liberated at the same time.
as some might know, I work in the performing arts. I was with the municipal theatre dortmund for four and a half years, working as a directors assistant, then tried to become a freelance video artist over the last half year or so.
I started working for an independent collective of actors/artists under the direction of a guy I had worked with before in dortmund. He was looking for someone to do live camera work, live cutting and vjing on stage. I had done two plays with the guy and thought I knew his quirks. Now I know better...
He was just impossible to work with. Maybe it's chemistry and we just don't get along. anyway, he'd push me and push me so much, I'd barely sleep during productions, because his expectations were huge. Main problem to me seems to have been communication and having no grasp of technical feasibility. During the rehearsals for the last production, I was in Würzburg working on the play for 6 weeks (if anyone near there in Germany wants to check it out, it's called "Kafka 2.0"). I had to be there to run the system for the whole duration of rehearsals (3 live cameras, greenscreen and constant video/audio show playing) and produce new footage on a daily basis which practically meant that I was working 14 hour minimum daily, 7 days a week for 6 weeks. We had a couple of fights about this and because there wasn't enough time to program the show on stage because he couldn't get into his head, that the expectations he had needed a lot of time to program. So I threatened, I'd quit if I had to do both jobs in the next production (cutting and producing footage while also performing live), and since I am not coming from a video production background, we decided to get someone to produce the footage while I would just attend rehearsal and take care of programming cues, doing live cam setup and the technical side while also performing with the actors.
well since the new play started production, we quickly got into each others hair again. it appears, he's learned nothing from the previous production. Luckily, the theatre we are working with now, has a bunch of very talented people behind the stage and we got rolling again for a while. the show was programmed, all cues were essentially built, before we actually got on stage, because me and my intern (who knew how to do most of the programming since he had worked with the software before) were able to take three days while the director was gone, and just polish and build our cues and midi network. then we went on stage for the last 2 weeks before the premiere. it escalated very quickly. the second stage rehearsal was a disaster. the director got really pissed because the timing on a video cue was not correct (like 30 seconds in the play...). normally you'd ask your assistant to put it on the to do list and then continue rehearsal, but he publicly had a fit of rage and insulted me in front of everyone (this has happened a lot before, he has lost his shit with a bunch of actors as well, before). What really gets me infuriated is, that I knew he was out drinking the day before and it was a common occurence, that he'd be in a shitty mood the next day and start trouble with people at rehearsals. He was actually two hours late that day, the assistant had to get him out of bed because his cellphone was unreachable... so everyone had been waiting for hours... and then he starts fucking around because of some shit like that and insults me publibly in a hissy fit... ridiculous.
I wasn't going to take that shit any longer and blew my top off. I haven't shouted in a long time, never really at work as I am usually able to control myself even if people get me angry. Anyway I packed all my stuff and left, told him to get his shit done himself if he wasn't able to work with me. after cooling down for about an hour and smoking a couple of cigarettes, we sat down together and decided it was time to go our seperate ways. So I left my intern with the show, he'll actually get some of my wage as compensation. Good thing was, that I would have had to leave the show in the hands of the local technicians this week anyway, as they also have to control the show on and after the premiere, so everything was pretty much built, cues were all essentially there and just a lot of polishing left to do, like fade times, tidying up the cue list, doing volume adjustments and gains etc.
Still it feels weird to just leave like that. Everyday now, I am constantly checking my phone for any calls/news because I still feel responsible. I am not sure if I failed, if the cooperation failed, or if that guy is just an egomaniac narcissist asshole.
since this is the first job that I have quit because of something like this, I wonder what people have experienced in their field of work. obviously quitting like this would have different consequences for most people, and working in theatres has a bunch of advantages, but the stress and work load is insane for the pay. after all we don't save lives or offer anything vital to the public, it's entertainment for most people and a little bit of political and intellectual education for some.
like for this production, I would have gotten 2000eur pay (no taxes etc included) and that is for 6 weeks of very hard work and very long days, pretty much 10 to 14hrs 6 days a week. just not worth the pressure for me.
