My friend and I decided to go see a mutual friend in a play he was performing in at the time. We got to the theater, got our seats, started reading the program waiting for the show to start. I quickly went through the artistic credits and dramatis personae, then browsed the bios of the actors and designers, and finally came to the back page where they had the ‘Thank You’ section.
While reading this section of the program I had a pleasant surprise. I knew two more people involved and they were being thank for the ‘violence’ of the show. Now at first I thought that was kind of odd. Not that they had worked on the show but that they were being thanked instead of credited. But there are many reasons that one could be thanked instead of credited – i.e. they were consulted, asked to come in for one minor move, loaned them weapons or other stage violence props. Plenty of reasons why two active fight directors would
This was not the case.
As I watched the play I kept an eye out for the violence in the show. There wasn’t an epic battle royale but there was enough to have needed a fight director/choreographer. The play used knives, guns, and had three separate moments that were clearly choreographed by someone.
Still wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt I emailed one of the people I knew who had been thanked. Sure enough, he had choreographed those moments, but had been brought in last minute and was, in his words, “out of the loop.” He didn’t even know that they were using guns! A point that was obvious when the actors pointed the guns directly at the audience several times during the play. Major stage combat no-no.
Even though it was a small storefront production this behavior is unacceptable. It shows a lack of respect for the artists that have been brought in to help your show. Thanks are appreciated but this is not our hobby. This is our craft and we should be respected as craftsman.
Small storefront productions aren’t the only ones guilty of disrespecting fight directors and choreographers.
In the summer of 2008, I like all Batman fans and fans latest film Batman Begins, eagerly awaited the release of The Dark Knight. There was much to look forward to in the film – Heath Ledger’s dynamic performance, the use of Chicago as a palette for the Cape Crusader’s Gotham City, the fact that it was a Batman film. But unlike most adoring fans I had one more tidbit to look forward to – I knew the Fight Director!
As Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon’s final words of his dual eulogy for Harvey Dent and The Batman came to a close and the credits started to roll, I remained in my seat (unlike most theater goers) to see all the names involved in this remarkable film. I looked and looked for the one name I really wanted to see.
I found him listed generically under the stuntmen. I thought that was odd. Was I mistaken? Did he not have a larger role in creating the fights? Turns out the mistake was the studio’s as he did in fact arrange the fights in the movie. I would find out later that after a screening of The Dark Knight and seeing his named credited as such he immediately got his agent on the phone to voice his anger. As he should.
Now maybe that was an honest mistake. (Although I went to my DVD of The Dark Knight to see if it had been fixed. It was not.) But mistake or not it is wrong.
Give fight directors their credit where credit is due. They make your shows/movies better. They want to make them better. They have a unique set of skills that have been acquired spending hours training and honing the craft of stage combat. They do this so that they can come into a rehearsal prepared, ready to use those skills to create a moments of incredible danger while keeping the actors completely safe.
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