Below is all the information you need to know about a director
Purpose of the role |
The directors role is to have a vision for the overall performance thinking about everything that goes into the performance to create an effective end product for an appropriate audience. The director has to pass this vision on to the cast and co workers and crew in order for them to understand what they have to do. Throughout the rehearsal process they need to make sure that the space is used correctly and decide what the cast and crew are working on at each point in the day. The director is the main role that is there from the start, brainstorming ideas and coming up with an end product.
|
Day to day tasks and responsibilities
The director is responsible for holding the auditions and being present in these, casting the roles to who is suitable. As well as the cast , the director has to hire the crew and co-workers, like the MD, choreographer, designers, musicians and many other important roles within the production as these are the people that they will be working closely with the create the end product. For the script of the musical, the director usually adapts the script to make it suitable to them and their vision that they had in mind, making alterations if needed thinking about things like their budget and amount of time. The director will have regular meetings with other people do do with the production to discuss things such as progression, set, advertisement etc. With the advertisement the director will be working closely with it by doing interviews for newspapers or for radio stations that are interested to make sure that their target audience is aware of their recent work. In rehearsal the director has to create a schedule for the cast, crew and co-workers to decided what their focus and aim is for each day. Then throughout the day they will be working closely with the MD, choreographer etc. to direct the cast in creating content for their musical.
Skills, attributes, character and knowledgeFirst of all, the director has to be able to work with people. Throughout the whole process the director will have to work with many kinds of people that may be below or above them in the industry so they need to make sure they treat everyone the same and with a mutual respect so that they get respect back. They have to have good organisation skills as this is an important part of their job from the start. A director needs to be able to communicate their ideas and visions to other leading roles in order for the end product to be what they envisioned from the start. Full dedication is required for the director as this will ensure that the performance has the best setup it can also to make the cast and crew motivated and inspired to work to their best ability. They also need to be realistic, not have unachieveable goals both for the performance and crew taking into consideration the budget etc.
|
Working hoursThe working hours for the director during the rehearsal period will be the same throughout as the director has to attend all rehearsals. They typically will have to work long hours from early in the morning to late and night if necessary. When the performance is on the director wont go and see every show but the first few shows they will be at the theatre an hour early to check that everything is ok and that they everything it all set to run etc. Then after the first few the director wont go to see every other one they will just go to see them if there is a problem or notes that need to be looked at or given. In this time they may not be paid so it is their choice.
Qualifications and experiencesA degree or a higher national diploma is not essential for a director. If someone was to go to university or any type of higher education the subjects that could provide some of the necassey skills are:
SalarySimilar to most of the jobs in this industry, they pay depends of the type of musical they are working on and how much budget they have etc. It also depends of the type of contract they have as well whether its a freelance, repertory or a touring contract. A director of a full-length play should get a minimum preparatory fee of £1,439 and weekly rehearsal payments of £440. Freelance directors in a commercial repertory theatre can command a minimum fee of around £2,300, with a weekly fee of £430 to £520.
|
Career progression
For a director the best way to start is to have lots of experience of working with other professional people, smaller productions and working in the industry. Usually directors start out with working with a local theatre group creating small play or musicals to be performed in their local theatre or smaller venues like a school hall etc. Sometimes they might create their own theatre group themselves and work on plays or musicals with them, developing more skills and experience with the industry and what is it like to be a director and the responsibilities that come with it. It usually will take 10 years of experience before a director will work on a professional production in the west end and other high status musicals. So before they do they need people to go and see their current work to show them what they can do and their potential. This will usually progress them to becoming a assistant director meaning they can work with a professional director and watch how they go about doing things, getting inspiration from them. Which will then lead them becoming a director through people they have worked with and gain experience in being similar jobs.
Unions
Equity
Equity supports theatre directors throughout their working lives, providing help with contracts, pay and professional development. Equity represents individual directors who may be going through difficulties with their contracts. Equity will make sure that if a director isn't getting the payment they should be within their contract, they will get the payment to them that is due. Legal costs can be very expensive but when you go through equity all the expenses are paid for them. There is an equity directors committee that works on behalf of directors in the major subsidised companies, subsidised and non-subsidised repertory companies, commercial theatre, the fringe, opera and drama schools, as well as the first Equity contract for directors in the West End and No. 1 touring theatre and with the ITC, small and medium scale theatre.
“As theatre directors we work all the time with companies of actors, but as professionals we can sometimes feel a little isolated ourselves. Equity is an important collective voice and champions the role of directors. The union is fighting to defend jobs and conditions in theatre and its vision is to give creative teams greater influence in the running of arts organisations. I believe that the more theatre directors that join Equity, the greater influence we will have in maintaining the high quality of UK theatre. Equity will support you and, by joining the union, you will be supporting the future of theatre, one of the UK’s greatest success stories.”
Michael Grandage, Director
Equity supports theatre directors throughout their working lives, providing help with contracts, pay and professional development. Equity represents individual directors who may be going through difficulties with their contracts. Equity will make sure that if a director isn't getting the payment they should be within their contract, they will get the payment to them that is due. Legal costs can be very expensive but when you go through equity all the expenses are paid for them. There is an equity directors committee that works on behalf of directors in the major subsidised companies, subsidised and non-subsidised repertory companies, commercial theatre, the fringe, opera and drama schools, as well as the first Equity contract for directors in the West End and No. 1 touring theatre and with the ITC, small and medium scale theatre.
“As theatre directors we work all the time with companies of actors, but as professionals we can sometimes feel a little isolated ourselves. Equity is an important collective voice and champions the role of directors. The union is fighting to defend jobs and conditions in theatre and its vision is to give creative teams greater influence in the running of arts organisations. I believe that the more theatre directors that join Equity, the greater influence we will have in maintaining the high quality of UK theatre. Equity will support you and, by joining the union, you will be supporting the future of theatre, one of the UK’s greatest success stories.”
Michael Grandage, Director
How they interrelate
The director is one of the most important roles within the production which is why they are at the top of the pyramid in job roles. These are the ones that communicate the main idea and purpose of the production to the other job roles in order to then create the performance that the director had envisioned. This means that it is important for the director to have clear communication skills so that their vision is understood by the other roles. The director will work very closely with the choreographer and MD. The director will tell these people what he wants them to do with a certain song or scene and then the choreographers and MD will workshop ideas with the intention that the director has given them and then get feedback from the director. The director is always giving the choreographer and MD feedback from watching bits and pieces of the performance so far which then has to be passed on to the cast in order to resolve the improvements. The director also works very closely with the stage manager ensuring that all the back stage and set runs smoothly throughout the performance. The director will also have to ensure that they explain to them what he wants for the technical side of the performance and his intentions for the performance so that they can discuss the SMs suggestions in order to make his vision possible. With this they also have to tell the lightning and sound crew also what is expected of them. They need to be able to communicate with the director so that if any changes are made, they are made aware of them. The director also works with the costume and set designers in order to make the show come to life. They will have to nogciate with each other to make sure that everything that the director has envisioned is possible with the budget and crew and time in mind. Overall, the director has to be able to have good communication skills with the job roles mentioned above in order for them to all work together to create the performance that the director wanted.