Last night a photographer came to the final dress rehearsal of the show I am working on and took some great pictures of the cast in action. Afterwards I told the kids to thank him, that they were lucky to have a true professional there to take their photos. The photographer humbly said, “Well . . .??” as if to question his professional status. I laughingly said he had been paid for his work so he IS a professional!
After I said it I started thinking. (Yes, I know I think about everything a lot lately!) Does being paid make you a professional? I looked up the word and it says, “. . .engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation . . .”
Working in the arts I see lots of people do lots of quality work and not get paid a dime. I also see people that think that since they aren’t getting paid, what they are doing doesn’t have to be taken seriously. This photographer is a professional because he is on time, easy to deal with and does great work. I cheapened what he does by focusing on the money.
For almost 3 years I have been the Contributing Editor for the Birmingham region of BroadwayWorld.com. I have taken my job very seriously and worked hard to be professional. I have seen as many as 6 plays in one week and done several series of articles on actors and theatres that meant writing five days in a week. The little secret I have kept to myself until now is that this job pays nothing, nada, zilch. Not only has BWW not paid me a dime, the whole endeavor has cost me a boatload.
After building up my readership and being dedicated for all of these years, I am told that no regional writer for BWW gets paid. The End.
See, when I first took this job I was told that getting free tickets to shows would be my pay until I got established. I immediately thought that if I take free tickets, then my reviews would be tainted. After all, how do you take a free ticket, a gift as it were, from someone and then criticize them?? So unless a theatre absolutely insisted, I did not take free tickets. In fact, I tried to buy tickets online in the hopes the theatre would not know I was coming until after I was gone and the review was posted. I wanted no outside influences. So for 3 years I have purchased tickets and parking and even the paper and ink to print out the certificates for the awards.
Over these three years I have seen some great shows and some not so great shows. I have made lots of new friends and only a couple of enemies. I have had inspiring messages, but also correspondence that sent me into a rage! Overall, it has been a wonderful experience. But after the last two days, I think I am done.
I have worked hard to teach the kids in my workshop to act professionally when involved in a show. To be on time, to work hard, to come to rehearsal prepared, to be helpful and kind to each other, to respect the director and their vision. If I taught any of them those lessons, then I am happy. Because those are the lessons that they can carry through life, that they can use in anything they do from now on. It will make them better actors, but more importantly it will make them better people.
I have tried in everything I do, to work hard and give it my all. I stay up at night worried about doing the very best job I can, not matter what the task. Getting paid or not has never been my criteria. I don’t take my paying jobs, my non paying jobs or my volunteer work lightly. If I am going to give my time, which you know is my most important resource, I am going to try to do it right.
This year these BWW awards are my swan song. I was taking a hiatus while making a few decisions and thought I would hang on long enough to facilitate the awards for BWW. I thought from the input the past two years, that these awards had come to mean something to people. Putting together those awards are hours and hours of tedious work. I put out the open nomination process and this year got 680 nominations, huge for a market our size. I then edited out people that weren’t eligible due to the date of their show, etc and whittled it down to 508. I then manually and for hours took out duplicates and people in the wrong category, etc. I finally got it down to the nearly 200 nominees there are now up for a popular vote.
I personally only get one vote, just like anyone else. There are people nominated that I don’t agree with, but just like in the presidential election, these people are legally on the ballot and I have to abide by the will of the people. Now don’t get me wrong- I can take someone off the list if I want. But that wouldn’t be fair or professional.
Since last night, I have had several amazing comments and some that are infuriating. If you think the whole thing is a joke or rigged (no it’s not, Donald) then just let me know and I will be happy to take your name off of the ballot. If you have a question or see an error, I am happy to fix anything that I can when approached politely.
I sometimes wonder if people think I am a robot or that since they are hiding behind a computer keyboard they can forget their manners. I am doing my best to be professional in the midst of family tragedies, a busy work schedule and rude comments from people who should know better. All I can really say is that I will do my best to finish the job ahead of me. To make this a great, FINAL award season. If you don’t like it, hang on. Just like this presidential election season is almost over, my work at BWW is coming to an end.
Being professional is not about money. Being professional is about an attitude, hard work, high standards and fair play. I have always told my son not to base any decision in life solely on money. If you do, you probably won’t ever be happy. Being professional can involve lots of money or none at all. You can make a boatload of cash and not be very professional. You can work for free and exemplify high professionalism. You can take criticism or correct an error with class and a sense of professionalism or you can just be an ass. Up to you.
