Welcome to Show Masters!
We work tirelessly to make your decision to partner with Show Masters a decision you’re glad you made.
We are here to serve. We work hard to earn your business, but don’t take our word for it.
About Show Masters
First and foremost, we are excited to work with you for your crewing needs. Our goal is to make our clients successful by being successful with our part. We achieve this with attention to detail, communication, organization, quality control, follow-through, and commitment.
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We provide stagehands, riggers, crew management, show management, and the full scope of technicians. Our rates are self-contained – there are no additional administrative percentages or fees. We feel the last thing we want to make our clients do is more math. We have worker’s compensation and general liability insurance.
We take care of all payroll costs and processes, including employee tax withholding, state and federal unemployment, ACA compliance, etc. We maintain record of work hours onsite and get client signature after each call to enable your authorized onsite representative to review and approve what we have recorded. Thusly, the goal is to never surprise on the invoice.
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We treat our people well and have a reputation as a company to work for. Our staff works hard to fulfill our clients’ needs, and a management structure that’s built on the foundation of accountability and incentive. Our staff runs this company as if each one of them owns it, and that sense of ownership drives our success and gives purpose and value to our challenges and opportunities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you provide crews for events in my city / state?
Most likely, yes. Please see our Where We Do It page to learn more about the markets we serve.
Do you rent out equipment?
While some of the specialists we offer, such as jib camera operators, graphics technicians, and teleprompter operators, may be accompanied by equipment as part of their package, we do not otherwise offer equipment rentals. We are pleased, however, to refer you to trusted equipment rental providers local to the event’s market.
What kinds of events can you crew for me?
Although our specialty is in corporate events, we crew for a wide range of event types, utilizing the same high standards we apply to all of our business.
Do you crew live concerts?
Yes, we provide stage and production crew for both music festivals and concert venues. Contact us about your staffing needs.
Who is responsible for worker’s compensation and liability insurance?
Our entire crew is covered under Show Masters’ worker’s compensation and liability insurance policies. These and other employment costs are built into our pricing, so there are never additional payroll or administrative fees that you have to figure into your costs.
What are your rates and guidelines?
We have a rate schedule for every market we serve, and detailed field and billing guidelines so there are no surprises. Please contact us or fill out the form below for a free consultation.
How do you define ‘stagehands’ and ‘technicians’?
This is an important question that demands a detailed answer.
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Some crewing companies have found loopholes in the IRS worker’s classification guidelines to circumvent employer taxes and ACA compliance.
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One of these tactics is to call everyone “technicians”. This clouds distinction between those that are truly systems specialists and the stagehands that work under the technicians’ guidance. As a result, expectations are not clear as to what technical caliber of individual one is getting.
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We classify our people correctly, and we prevent false expectations by defining these two categories as follows:
STAGEHANDS
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Skilled in the fundamentals of stagecraft, but are not meant to be utilized to patch, program, determine signal / power flow, or fine-tune a system to ready it for show.
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Unpack / pack, place the gear, run cable, build screens, hang lights, set up pipe & drape, stack speakers / projectors, assemble scenic elements, conventional light focus, etc., all under the direction of a technician, whether yours or ours.
TECHNICIANS
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Skilled in their department involving systems, operation, troubleshooting, content creation, show management, patching, signal / power flow and fixture addressing determination, and / or programming.
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Technicians are the ones who direct the stagehands to get the systems up, and they are the ones who make the systems work and get them show-ready.
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When you know what you are ordering, you get what you are asking for, and you get what you need.
Who manages your crews?
We have a Crew Lead for every shift. As another loophole in IRS worker classification, some crewing providers do not provide crew management so they can pay their stagehands as independent contractors. This unfortunately leaves the entire burden of managing the crew and recording hours in their clients’ hands. For more on how we approach crew management onsite, please see our How We Do It page.
We’re Ready For Your Next Event. Are You?
Show Masters is standing by to crew your upcoming live event, even on short notice. Just fill out this form, and our team will arrange a free consultation. We look forward to working with you!
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