I’ll level with you guys, I’ve been in a bit of a life funk the last few months. I have three best friends from high school. One got married last weekend, another is having a baby in 3 weeks and the other just bought their first house. And me… well, take your choice of the…
Fair warning, friends, I’m kind of in a #rant mood today. Entertainment is a really weird gig. I’m in rehearsals right now for a touring musical, something I’ve wanted to do for a while, since college really, since there’s a certain amount of prestige to musicals that you just don’t really find with… Clifford the…
Profile I am thirty two years old and I am the Stage Manager for Into the Woods JR at a regional theater in Virginia. I make $375 a week, which comes out to $317.16 after taxes, and I’m staying in theater provided housing for free. This gig is five weeks long and ends the first…
Last summer I wrote a post about going into budget lockdown for the first time since paying off my debt. Sad to say, I’m back in the same situation again. I was riding pretty high when I calculated my net worth in April, but I have several large expenses (already saved up for) coming up…
Profile I am thirty one years old and I am the Stage Manager/Lighting Director for Clifford the Big, Red Dog! I make $700 a week and receive a $30/day per diem. Saving & Spending I have made my financial life infinitely more complicated this month. So figuring out my net worth is really a joy.…
So you think you might want to be a stage manager? Let me warn you now, almost everyone who works in the arts thinks they can be a stage manager and the vast majority can’t. Just because you are an organized human being doesn’t mean you have the skillset to be an excellent stage manager.…
Profile I am thirty one years old and I am the Stage Manager/Lighting Director for Clifford the Big, Red Dog! I make $700 a week and receive a $30/day per diem. I also finished up Potted Sherlock the first week of this month and am now on the hunt for something to do this summer!…
If I could give every aspiring young stage manager one career tip, it would be: do what you say you’re going to do. And honestly, I’d give anyone aspiring to do anything that tip. I really wish I could remember the first person who told me that, because it definitely lodged itself in my mind…
One of the best ways to save money out on tour is to live on your per diem and the trick to that is keeping your necessary spending under that amount. The companies I’ve worked for have given me per diems in the $30-35 range, which seems to be pretty average for touring shows. Here’s…
Profile I am thirty one years old and I am a stage manager and lighting director for a touring children’s theater show called Clifford the Big Red Dog Live! I make $700 a week and get a $30 per diem for each travel day. I pay no rent and have about $210 in monthly bills.…
Let’s back up a little and assume that you’re just starting college. You’re trying to balance all your theater classes, along with those pointless other classes to make you well rounded, mandatory hours in the scene shop, and rehearsals. College is tough. Here’s a hint, the real world is worse. Here are a few things…
Profile I am thirty one years old and I am a stage manager and lighting director for a touring children’s theater show called Clifford the Big Red Dog Live! I also just left my job as stage manager for Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic (if you live in the tri-state area and like weird immersive theater, there…
I’ve been hanging out with a few old friends this week and a common topic that comes up is the good old days. Seriously, one of my oldest best friends and I complained about our knees for 20 minutes last night. That happened. On the flip side, I’ve also befriended a young, new stage manager…
Sometimes spending a little can make your life a lot easier. Apps are one of these instances. Like when I mentioned that a Macbook can be a frugal decision, sometimes a smartphone is too. Honestly, how did we get by before these things? A performer asks some crazy question about the origin of a word…
I realize in the entertainment industry, periods of collecting unemployment are the norm. I’ve never thought twice about a friend telling me they were on unemployment. Until the friend became me. Or might become me. I’m still not 100% decided. I’ve always thought of unemployment as a drastic final measure to make sure you’re fed…
Back in college, I used to hear my professors say “everyone knows everyone” and “the entertainment world is really small” all the time. And I thought they were nuts. Mostly because I knew no one and the world seemed incomprehensibly massive. Well… 10 years later, I can say they were right. And while everyone doesn’t…
It’s normal to assume you’ll graduate from college, get your first job and start making money, but some jobs require a little bit of investment for success. I remember shelling out several hundred dollars for medical tests for my first big job that stopped a good friend from taking a similar job – he didn’t…
Earlier this month I wrote about my mini money challenge idea and how I was going to live on just my per diem. I thought – I’m not going to have any problem doing this. I’m pretty much a golden god of saving anyway, especially after a year of living in NYC. So I nailed…
So today is my first day at a new job! It’s pretty common knowledge among my regular readers that I was discontent at the last one. I actually had a funny conversation one of the last days at my old job with the Stage Manager for the company doing the show there. She said she…
A few months ago I wrote a post about how to stock a stage management kit on a budget. One of those tips was to use freebie offers to stock your kit, but since then a few of you have reached out to find out more about exactly where and what you can find for…
A few months ago I tossed out the idea “how much do stage managers make?” Because as one, I’m generally pretty curious. There’s a wide variety of pay scales among us (and the job itself varies widely), but I’ve always been a little puzzled about why we keep what we make such a secret. If…
Stage Managers are people with the answers to all the questions. How do we get that way? With a heck of a small army of tools and tricks. If you’ve already checked out how to stock your kit on a budget, here’s a list of several apps to beef up your smartphone for free* too.…
Profile I am twenty-nine years old. I work as an assistant production manager and my yearly salary is $52,000. Saving & Spending Ugh. This is a month I don’t really ever want to repeat. Financially, it’s actually been a good one. It was a 5 payday instead of 4 payday month and I wound up…
So we’re about halfway through the year, how’s everyone doing with their New Year’s Resolutions? I was pretty excited a few months ago to cross off my first resolution, to find and furnish (in a financially responsible manner) an apartment. Thanks to my great hand me downs from my grandmother (who has pretty awesome taste) and…
My friend J$ over at Budgets Are Sexy was kind enough to let me guest post today! Hopefully he’s enjoying the extra day of paternity leave with his newest Penny. So if you’ve ever dreamt of running away with the circus, head over there and check this out. When I was eleven, I made a…