Piece Pricing and Price Piecing, the price of peace.

Several years ago I worked for a crooked theatre academy in Dublin, CA. I left when I began to smell smoke and found employment at the construction company owned by the parents of former students. While so employed, I built price sheets -- spreadsheets of exactly what each piece of work performed in a given construction site would be worth. This is what is known as 'piece work': where a guy gets paid however much for each room of crown molding he installs, or for each cabinet or whatever. There are many differing opinions on the value of piece pricing vs. hourly wages. Frankly, I come down squarely on the side of piece pricing, and I would feel the same way if I were a skilled construction worker, and here's why: it seems to me that I would be more motivated to skillfully complete as many pieces per day as I could, so that I can take home enormous paychecks (crown molding, for example, is extremely lucrative this way). Were I working for an hourly wage, it would not matter how many rooms I complete per day, I'm still getting a paycheck. This is going to lead to a team of unmotivated, bored, lazy workers; I don't want to be on that team. When workers are unmotivated, bored and lazy, management gets angry and starts penalizing the group for the actions (or lack thereof) of the individual. This leads to grievances, disgruntled employees, rage, "accidents" and accidents.

While I was very thankful for that job and truly enjoyed working for that company, I auditioned for Oliver! at PCPA and, by February of 2006 I was driving between Santa Maria and Livermore on a weekly basis, rehearsing the role of Bill Sykes at PCPA as I performed Kodaly in She Loves Me at the now-defunct CTA/Crossroads Theatre in Walnut Creek. For playing the role of Bill Sykes, I was actually paid, for the first time in my life, over $1,000.00 to be in a play. Perspective: in 2006, I was 33. So, at age 33 I was finally paid over a grand to do what I do for a living. Think about this. Since 2003, we've been paying rent that has always been more than a grand. So, at any given time since 2003, Veronica has always been paying more of the rent than I have. Sure, there were times when I paid more or all of it. But most of the time, she's paid more. And sure, from 2003 to 2011, I paid for all of our Internet access. But the rent is far larger. So, clearly, if it were not for Veronica and her generosity, I would have nowhere to live and nothing to eat. Financially, I am a complete loser.

If she ever reads this blog (which she will probably only do if I bug her about it, which, in this case, I will not), Veronica is going to be very angry with me about this; she doesn't like it when I write about money or post things on Facebook about how I would have come to see Ain't Misbehavin' if I could afford to fill the gas tank for a 120-mile round trip to Suisun City when I'm not making any money on the travel. Veronica doesn't want me to talk about our financial situation; she wants us to be proudly silent as we starve and shiver. She doesn't even want to ask family for help with our wedding. This is why we will probably not get married this year. Frankly, knowing what kind of wedding we both want (it will cost about $10,000.00, not including the dress which, oh Christ, I have no idea ...), I cringe at the depressing yet realistic options facing us: drive-thru Las Vegas or local Justice of the Peace.

The fact is that it's amazing I can survive as a non-union actor in the SF Bay Area. Last month I turned down an offer to play Koko in The Mikado for $300.00; more asshole me for not turning it down the moment I learned the amount; it would have cost me more in gas just to get to rehearsals.

Last week, I was offered the Captain in Anything Goes at The Willows. It only paid $500.00, and I knew I couldn't make that work financially; I was told to name an amount that could work. Expecting them to make a counter offer, I said $370./week (the Equity minimum for that space). I'm non-equity, but that's the high end where I was starting what I thought would be negotiations. I should have made that clear in my e-mail, because the response was, basically, "Ooh, sorry, no, we can't afford that. But thanks! Bye!", only much nicer. So now I feel like the Supreme Asshole of the Universe for appearing to demand vast sums of money from starving little companies.

This week, I was offered the chance to direct The Sound of Music for Solano Youth Theatre, up in Fairfield. It would have paid over twice what I made playing Bill Sykes for PCPA. I have previously been Lead Director for their vast three-pronged productions of The Wizard of Oz and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and was director of the Vallejo Cast of Annie while playing Oliver Warbucks in the Mainstage (adult) cast of the same production. This was back before Solano Community College cut funding for the Solano Youth Theatre, prompting SYT's move to Vacaville. Withholding details, I can only say that I am only now getting over severe long-term stress-related health issues that stem directly from stress experienced while working with SYT, and I could not accept the job if I wanted to continue to heal. I said as much to the truly lovely person who offered me the job and I have not heard back.

I am almost 39 years old, I have a BFA in Theatre from the prestidigitatious Boston Conservatory and I haven't been able to pay my half of the rent since ... July? August? This is all very amusing on a collaborative Chekhov/Woody Allen level because last year I directed a feature film that had international distribution before it was even completed.

And I made a whopping $3,000.00 on that job.

Oh, sure, I've got 3% on the back end -- but that only comes after the producers have paid off everyone else they need to pay off. It doesn't matter that I turned my house upside down to give them three free locations, that I got my neighbor Larry to vacate his studio for a weekend to get them a fourth free location. I am only worth $3,000.00 and a 3% I'll probably never see.

"But Edward, how can you say you'll never see that 3%?"

Simple: I just don't believe I'll ever see a dime of it -- or, if I do, it will be such an incredibly small amount when compared to the time and effort I put into the film, that all the ridiculous financial stupidness I've displayed in the past will pale in comparison to the deep and soul-staining chagrin I will feel as I skulk into my credit union to deposit the tiny check that was the beacon with which I convinced Veronica that the utter disruption of her home for about a year was, eventually, going to be worth it.

It seems that, in the eyes of local companies, I am simply not worth what I believe my talent and experience should earn. And telling them what I believe I should be paid is not even going to get me a counter-offer, just a polite no-thank-you. This is deeply alarming.

The simple fact is, I cannot work for less than a living wage -- and these companies want me to work for less than minimum wage. People say it's the economy, but the economy was booming in 2006 and at PCPA I made less than I did six months later playing Fagin in Oliver! in Idaho. And, now that I think about it, Idaho got me an hotel room for almost my entire stay. So it's not the economy. It's me. It's whether or not I'm willing to work for shit pay.

I'm not willing to work for shit pay. And this is why I'm not working. It's the equivalent of what I hear from everyone who joins the union: the work dries up. Only in this case, I'm causing the work to evaporate by my refusal to work for free and not even have enough to cover my gas.

It would be lovely if one could do piece work in theatre -- paid for the complexity of the role, per completed performance. That would be very interesting. Totally impossible, given the rules and the blah blah blah of it all, but very interesting. The first thought that comes to mind is that theatres would go broke -- more broke -- with this plan. The second thought is that, if they set the piece pricing for smaller roles extremely low ... hell, if they set everyone's piece pricing extremely low, they might even be able to make money. This is probably why there's a union for actors.

Meanwhile, I must find truly gainful and artistically fulfilling employment in the arts. There are jobs out there in corporate America that might hire me, but frankly my non-theatrical résumé is extremely sparse and they do not know what to make of a theatrical résumé. In my opinion, bringing a theatrical résumé to a non-theatrical job interview is tantamount to arriving in costume. I see many talented actors I know who have sold out and have day jobs in cubicles. I would go mad. More mad.

So: every day, I write. Every night, I work on my secret project. Sometimes I blog, out of sheer self-indulgence -- though I must say it is extremely gratifying to read comments on my blogs. I wish Blogger would alert me that there are comments. I had no idea until I went and looked for comments. Maybe there's a way to set Blogger to tell me when there's a comment, but Blogger is confusing at best. In the meantime, it's after 1 am and I'm putting a lot of effort into something that doesn't pay me a dime.

Big fucking surprise there.