The Director’s Smile

I frequently find myself telling people outside of the entertainment or art business that artists, designers entertainers, may like their job, bu they need to be paid for it.  I enjoy designing.   BUT I earn my living from it.   When people ask me to design, I start by quoting a price.   Most folks come back with , “but you love it, you’ll do it for the love.”  No I won’t.  I’ll do it for being paid —  That’s how I pay my bills.

However, there are things that make my day, beyond the pay check.   Soon I will be writing a blog post about shows where the special effects are more important than the design.   I’m doing a show like this at the moment.  Their is a special effect in this show, and it begins technical rehearsals tomorrow.   On tuesday night, the Technical Director and I did a pre-try with the actors and the big special effect.    I was nervous — this special effect cost more than 2/3s the cost of the set design.   If this didn’t work, I was in trouble.  — No I wouldn’t loose my job (I’m resident designer), and yes the director would still talk to me in the morning.

BUT one of my greatest joys as a designer is the director’s smile.   At the end of the rehearsal the director had a large grin  (It seems to be much like the grin I had when my husband bought me a 12″ dewalt compound miter saw — but then you would have to know me to know what that probably looked like).    Tuesday night after the rehearsal, after seeing the director’s smile, I felt great.    I felt like a hero!  I felt like I could walk on the clouds!    I felt like I had my own theme music.

The director’s smile won’t pay my bills, but it is a great incentive.