Why the shift from “Stage Manager” to FLTTA “Assistant Director”?

The term Stage Manager was originally coined because the advent of television began in New York. Live television hired actual Broadway theatre or stage actors and crew on productions. A Stage Manager was most likely brought over from the theatre. It is a wonderful heritage, but times and the business have changed, requiring an accurate defining title to the position.
Because reality programs are under the FLTTA contract, most Assistant Directors that are hired to work on those programs are forced into the “Stage Manager” credit category.
The role of a Stage Manager and an Assistant Director are much more similar than different. They both involve leading the physical production, communicating the director’s instructions to the crew, keeping the production on time, schedule, and budget, getting the talent ready and getting them to the set. It involves planning ahead and everything necessary to carry out the creative vision of the project.

Most FLTTA Stage Managers direct the talent (even more so than assistant directors on film, sitcom, or episodic shoots) on sets. FLTTA Directors and Associate Directors are typically in a television truck, not on the actual stage, site, or venue. In most instances they have very little contact with the talent, if any, leaving most of the actual one-on-one direction to the currently termed, Stage Manager.
A FLTTA Stage Manager’s duties are more directorial, whereas a film Assistant Director’s duties are more akin to the producer’s duties. Therefore, the titles don’t really coincide with the actual duties.
In the film world, the only association with the term “Stage Manager” is the person who is the operational contact to the stage or studio on the production lot. They basically have the keys to the stage and are hired by the lot. They have nothing to do with the actual production or film.
Some studios and production companies’ policies will not pay a Stage Manager’s loan-out company, but have no issue paying out an Assistant Director’s loan-out.

In other countries the term “director” is associated with the job that a FLTTA Stage Manager performs in the United States. Floor Director, Stage Director, and Assistant Director are the norms in other countries. Even more reason that our title should have the term Director in it.
Stage Managers do not just manage stages. More and more, the venues and locations are diverse, and with the advent of reality that is even more apparent.

As our industry changes, it is critical that we change along with it, just as SAG-AFTRA did. Twenty years ago, there were distinct differences between film and video production, dictated primarily by the fact that you had film in film cameras and videotape in video cameras. Now it is all digital.
The internet website imdb.com does not recognize “Stage Manager” as a significant credit. It has been relegated to the bottom (28 positions down) under “other crew” credits, well below the Director credit and the 4th position Assistant Director credit.

We would take the title “Assistant Director” but still be under the FLTTA contract, much like film has different contracts – the blended, commercial, and theatrical. We would not impose on their contract, just the title would change. We would be a FLTTA Assistant Director.