PRODUCTION LABOUR BUDGETING

All productions at the School are assigned a budget by the Chair, based on the approved scale (or size) of each show. This is currently a “production expense” budget only, and does not reflect the labour, or people, side of the equation. However, even in a school where the performers and Production students work for academic credit and not money, there are real labour costs that add to the show budget: contracted, professional Directors, Choreographers, Designers, and Consultants.

To make a meaningful educational experience for the student managers of each production, the tasks of labour costing and tracking are included in the job descriptions of both the Production Managers and the Technical Directors. They are required to project and monitor all costs associated with mounting the show, and accomplish this, in part, by assigning dollar figures to all hours worked, even by students: each position will have a salary or hourly wage associated with it.

Prior to the first week of rehearsal, the PM and TD will meet with the Production and Operations Manager to discuss budgets and salaries. Together they will develop realistic labour costs based on:

• Current Equity and ADC rates, for contracted professionals and students on student contracts

• Negotiated collective agreements, for union-format productions

• Market-value average rates for non-union and client services productions

After this meeting, the PM and TD will produce a comprehensive labour budget breakdown, outlining day by day, the projected costs.

The next step is the tracking of all hours worked on the production. Production Managers are expected to develop a time sheet that will track individual positions and the hours worked.

Paycheques will be issued weekly by the PM, giving all members of the production a sense of the time/money consequences.