Productions, it takes a village people! Welcome to running your Production: whether it is your first, last or somewhere in between, we've got all your resources to get started. Let's go!


Checklist ✅

This outlines what needs to be considered at different points of the production process, including purchasing performance rights and scripts/scores, organising a tech meeting, putting tickets online, and more. Follow this guide, as well as adding reminders for yourselves, to keep on top of deadlines.


Production Rights 

As soon as the bid has been accepted, please submit the completed production rights document, as well as a purchase request form . If you are able to get an invoice for the production rights/scripts, please include this too. The sooner we get this, the sooner we can pay and get your production underway! 


Venues

  • SU Venue - 800 capacity, 160 seated, stage area 6.5mx5m, PA system with full line array and 64 channel sound console, full intelligent DMX lighting system
  • Tommy's Lounge & Kitchen - 200 capacity, available for use as dressing room / side of stage area, bar open for intervals and available for after parties
  • Medicine - 650 capacity, 120 seated, full range PA speakers with 32 channel sound console and 16 channel stage box, full intelligent lighting system with dimmable house lights, portable stage


Booking Process

  • The Production Booking Form (see attached) and risk assessment (template attached) must be sent to the Venues team at least 6 weeks before the production. This must include proposed dates, times, ticket information and tech requirements. Please note hire of SU venues are done one term in advance, so if you're trying to book something for Term 1 during Term 1, the likelihood is that this won't be able to get booked. Ensure to keep your eyes on your emails for production deadlines!
  • A meeting with the Venues team will be arranged to discuss details, tickets, costs and tech requirements
  • We don't charge for venue or equipment hire, only for staffing costs that are required to run your event and any consumables that you require. The Venues team will send the cost to the Student Opportunities team to check you have the funds available and give the final go ahead for the event. 
  • The Venues team will set up the tickets for you, adding them to the website, and you'll be able to log on and track ticket sales as well as print out ticket lists on the day.
  • After the meeting, the Venues team will send out a list of action points together with timescales for completion.


Tech

The Tech team are vital to the production! We invest lots of time and money training them up to a high quality level. Usual jobs roles during a production include:

  • Tech supervisor
  • Sound engineer
  • Lighting engineer
  • Stage hand


Attached is also the cue sheet template. This needs to be completed with enough detail so that the Tech team are able to help! Here's an example sheet to show how much detail we need:

Programming takes a long time! On average its 30 cues per hour. For bigger products, the Tech team will need to pre-programme a few days before the tech run and dress rehearsal.


For sound cues, a mic plot may be required. So make sure to have all audio files named and numbered on a USB in mp3 or WAV format.


Risk Assessment 

When filling out your risk assessments we want the usual suspects such as card machine handling, food allergens, no glass on stage, no real guns or swords etc for your props, but also think about specific to your show what the risks are for using your props, using the stage and what people are going to be doing through the event and what the risks involved are.


Timeline

  • Production booking form and risk assessment submitted - 6 weeks before
  • Venues team meeting and Student Opportunities approve costs - earliest available date
  • Tickets added to website - 1 month before
  • Cue sheets and script sent to Venues team - 1 week before
  • Print ticket list - day of the show


On the Day

A typical day looks like:

  • Tech and production team call - 10am
  • Tech set up, sound check and programming - 10am to 1pm
  • Dress rehearsal - 1pm to 4pm
  • Break - 4pm to 6pm
  • Doors - 7pm
  • Show - 7:30 to 10pm
  • De-rig - 10pm to 11pm


Finances

Attached is a handy template to track your income and expenditure, so you know how much you've got left to spend and can check you're on track with your budget. An option could be to use your google accounts so you can share it with the whole production team and treasurer!