Manager’s Special
Soap Opera Digest: First, tell me about your band, Twist of Fate.
Adam Reist: It’s been a fun band because people have kind of rotated in and out of the band through the years, which is one of the reasons it was named Twist of Fate. It’s a twist of fate that we’re all playing in it. In early forms of the band, Morgan Englund (ex-Dylan) used to play with us. Rick Hearst (ex-Alan-Michael; Ric, GENERAL HOSPITAL) played with us for a long time. It’s been fun. I play a little bass as well, but I primarily sing and play acoustic guitar.Digest: What’s your music like?
Reist: It’s Caribbean rock ‘n’ roll. It’s fun, summertime, beer-drinking music that you listen to by the pool. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. It’s having-fun music. Jimmy Buffet and Bob Marley are big influences and also North Carolina beach music.Digest: So, how did you end up as a stage manager in New York? How did you land on GL?
Reist: When I was in college — I went to [the University of North Carolina] — I created a college soap opera named GENERAL COLLEGE. Initially, it was a little bit of a goof. When I was in school, there was a fledgling student television station that had all this great equipment and we had airtime on the local cable access channel. The problem was that the people who ran the equipment and were good doing so were also the on-air talent, so the shows kind of stunk. It was non-actors trying to be funny and [it wasn’t] very funny. At the same time, I knew a lot of friends who were in the drama school, particularly the undergraduate drama school, who didn’t really have that much of an outlet to perform. So, I figured why don’t we put the actors on television? And the perfect thing to do would be a soap opera. So, we did it and the show ended up taking off. It got picked up by a Charlotte cable company and the National College Television Network picked us up and showed us across the country. Fifteen, 16 years later, it’s still on the air with different producers, obviously. Ironically, some of my actors on the show went on, like Dan Cortese and Billy Crudup.Digest: That’s incredible.
Reist: Yeah, it was cool. Because it was getting national attention at the time, I went to a conference of college broadcasters. I was on a panel along with professionals from the business — a producer from AS THE WORLD TURNS and a producer from GUIDING LIGHT. I met them and they were like, “What are you doing after college?” I said, “You tell me.” They asked if I had thought about coming to New York, and I said, “Okay, I’m there.”Digest: So, you started working for GL after graduation?
Reist: I started temping for the show and then got a job as Executive Producer Robert Calhoun’s assistant. He had asked if I was interested in stage managing and I said that that sounded great. So, he kind of pushed me in that direction. For a long time, I was the production coordinator and a fill-in stage manager. I then started to pick up days and later became one of two full-time stage managers.
Digest: What’s a typical day like?
Reist: A typical day varies. The big thing about stage managing is that you are never allowed to be in a bad mood. You are never allowed to let the craziness of the day affect you, which means you always have to come in rested and relaxed and ready to go. If your insides are churning, you at least have to [make it appear] everything is okay. So, that’s always been the philosophy of the stage managing department. What we’ll do is that there will be two stage mangers who work a day; one will work the morning half, one will work the afternoon half. If it’s a big day, we’ll help the other one out. If it’s a lighter day, we’ll take advantage of it and get work done [in the office].Digest: What are your responsibilities?
Reist: The technical definition of a stage manager is that the stage manager is the sole liaison between the studio floor and the control room, which means when a producer or director is not on the floor, we are the highest-ranking person on the floor….We get the actors on the floor; we are also the ones who do the warning calls. Basically, when the director walks out on the floor, all they have to worry about is directing their scene. They don’t have to worry about where the actors are, the props are, what’s up with the set. Whatever they want, we help facilitate them getting it. Besides that, we are the ones who actually count the floor down “in five, four, three —” and start and end the scenes. We wear earphones so that during the scenes, the directors will communicate through us. The other big thing that I try to do is run the studio floor as smoothly as possible. Obviously, that means that everything and everyone needs to be there on time. On top of that, you also want to maintain an environment on the floor that is professional, yet relaxed at the same time, an environment that is most conducive to the actors to give their best performances, which means you want it to be a controlled set. You don’t want it to be too loud, so they can’t concentrate and do their job. On the other hand, you don’t want it to be an uptight set either. Since acting is taking risks, you want them to feel that it is the safest place possible. One of the things that we’re constantly trying to do is read what the environment is on the floor. It’s an intangible thing to describe, but basically, you read what the environment is and act accordingly to keep it as uniform as possible. For instance, if things are starting to get tense or something isn’t working and people are starting to get stressed out, I may joke around more. It may look like I’m almost being irreverent to what is going on, but I am making a joke to lighten it up. I am trying to keep someone from blowing. And if I can use comedy to lighten everyone up and keep them happy, that will diffuse a lot of situations. Then there are times, like before a vacation, when everyone is already off the wall. At that point, I need to be a little more strict and serious and ride the floor more and keep everybody focused…. Once you learn the mechanics, it’s the little, subtle things. Since each group of actors has different processes, I’ll run a different floor depending on who the actor on the floor is. Some actors or some directors like it completely dead quiet…. Other actors will come out and you can tell they are a little nervous, so you will try to lighten it up.Digest: Does the subject matter of the scene affect what you do?
Reist: Absolutely. Regardless of who the actor is, if someone is finding out that their parent just died, that is a very somber moment, so the floor should be somber. The environment in which the actors are acting should match the scene they are playing. [With] love scenes, lots of times I will joke around to break the ice if the actors are feeling uncomfortable in the situation. Once again, it depends on the actors.Digest: What is your relationship with the extras like?
Reist: We are pretty much the liaison between them and the show. They don’t have much interaction with anyone else on an official capacity, so I get to know them. They will consistently say how much fun GUIDING LIGHT is, that they’ve worked on a lot of shows and GUIDING LIGHT is a great group. I feel like I am biased to say, “Yeah, I agree with you,” but I do. It’s a really fun group of people. It’s like a big family.Digest: How much changes when an executive producer changes?
Reist: An executive producer will definitely change the tone a bit. It depends on who the executive producer is and what their philosophy is. Some EPs are very similar, so the change is not as big. One of the things the stage managers try very hard to do is, because we work with the actors directly and because there is a different director each day, we try very hard to keep a uniformity as well. I try to run the same floor, regardless of who the executives are.Digest: If someone wants to be a stage manager, what should they do?
Reist: For an above-the-line job, the best place to go is to intern on a show and then to get a job in the production office.Digest: Can you explain what an above-the-line job is?
Reist: Above-the-line positions are the actors, the writers, the directors, the producers, casting — anything that has to do with the actual specific story you are telling. Below-the-line are all the technical positions. The production office is pretty much the starting point for above-the-line jobs. The irony about that office is that you end up doing a lot of [grunt] work. There are times during the day when you’re like, “Man, I’m just photocopying stuff. I’m worth a lot more than that.” But what you don’t realize is that you are learning how the show runs. You are dealing with everybody. Whatever field you end up going into, you know what everyone else does. From the production office, you can then spoke out and become a writer or become a director or producer. Most of the people on the show now came out of the production office.Digest: Like David Kreizman, head writer.
Reist: In fact, David sat at my desk after me. We joked around about that desk being good luck [laughs].Check out Reist’s Web site, www.twistoffatemusic.com.
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