Touring Vs. Television

Maybe it's just this tour, but I don't think it is.

Aside from missing my family, I've decided that for many reasons, touring sucks compared to working at home in television, or corporate.

The first time I noticed that touring was going to suck more now than staying at home, was when I was getting ready to go out on the Beastie Boys. As you know, that never happened because of the one Beastie Boys getting sick. In the process of getting hired for BB, I sent out what I call my "salary agreement" which more or less lays out what I expect to get paid, and how (i.e. daily, weekly, bi-weekly), plus travel and sometimes design fees.

Normally, when managers receive the salary agreement, they flip out about the fact that I ask for business class on international flights. This time, they flipped out at my salary requirements. Not that the money was too much, but rather that I specified my hours of work per day and per week, before overtime kicks in.

They didn't like that. As far as they were concerned, once I left on tour, I was working 24/7. At anytime and for any amount of time, I could be working. They did promise me that they were reasonable people and that I wasn't going to be killed working 48 hours straight. Nor would I work more than 5 days a week.

The common belief is that in the end, it all balances out in terms of worked hours and time off. I'm sure that would be the case with BB, but it's not a guarantee. I was asking for a guarantee.

Strangely, they did agree, without hesitation, to business class.

Here's a little breakdown of what I used to think was great about touring, and now how it sucks compared to television and corporate.

On tour, I used to think that the pay was better. I used the old formula of, "it all balances out in the end", but after the flip out on BB and the fact that on this tour, everyone works from 14 to 20 hours in a day it doesn't really balance out. In all fairness, I'm closer to the 14 hour mark with maybe 7 of those hours being intense work, yet it still doesn't balance out in comparison. In TV and corporate, I'm paid pretty much for every hour I work. It's not a "salaried" position, and I have a minimum guarantee of hours paid, and overtime. Plus one for TV and corporate.

I get per diem on tour, extra money in my pocket. Even with the extra money per week, I'm still making less on tour on a rate per hour basis, than I would working in TV or corporate. I actually figured it out a couple of days ago... Making the assumption that I'm on tour 24/7, then the money I get, divided over that time, works out to a little bit over the current minimum wage. Plus two for TV and corporate.

On tour, you have catering for every meal plus after-show food. TV usually involves a walk away for lunch, meaning I need to go find food myself, and a catered dinner, which often isn't great. There is a craft services table all day, but that just means I'm snacking on candy and donuts all day. Plus one for touring.

We have a bus on tour, that means there's a bunk I can crawl into at the end of the workday or if I have downtime, a TV I can watch. For TV, I have to drive my own truck to the gig, which can be far from home, and drive myself back. If there's down time, I'm usually standing around or surfing the internet on my cell phone. I think this is a plus two for touring.

When working in TV or corporate, I'm usually the designer or just the programmer. I've come to decide that I like either role. As the designer, I get to make all the decisions when it comes to the design. As the programmer, I'm just the button pusher, and I take all direction.

When working on tour, I'm more often than not, the lighting director, which is sort of the step between designer and programmer. I'm not the designer, so all the decisions are made by someone else. But I'm also not just a button pusher and am forced to make design decisions on a daily basis. And when you are working with an unmanageable monster (like this tour) the decisions you make have to be chosen between keeping the artistic vision of the designer, and keeping the crew happy. I don't like being in that position. Yes, I have been the designer on tour before, but I make it a point to create a design that is both manageable for the expected venues, and artistic enough to make a unique statement for the musical artist. Probably why I don't get many calls for design gigs, I don't dream big enough.

I think that all panned out to a plus three for TV and corporate.

And finally I miss my family too much when I'm on the road. I can do TV and corporate away from home as well, but it's not a tour, and I'm in one place for a period of time. So if it's an extended TV show, I can always fly my family out to join me. Plus four for TV and corporate.

4 to 2, TV and corporate wins. That's not to say, I won't ever tour again, but the offer really has to be right.

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