URGENT! Followspot h**l?

Question

I was asked to do follow spot for a drag show and was under the impression I'd be trained in advance what they wanted me to do. The performance is today and apparently they're just going to give me a basic run through and go, and it's a pretty big gig. IF I ever ran follow spot, it was way back in high school, and I don't know what to do.

It's like one of those nightmares where you're on stage and you didn't memorize your lines... help!

Answer 1

Hopefully the show will be "called" - there will be someone on comms telling you over the headset who you're supposed to be picking up, what size your spot should be (head and shoulders, half-body, full-body) and in what colour.  If that's the case, just listen hard and concentrate.  In terms of the actual operation, the trick is to find a position which is comfortable for you (you will end up with a crick in your neck, as you should be standing side-on to the stage and so turning your head to see the stage) and rather than shifting the position of the followspot in relation to you, move your whole upper body so that your body position in relation to the spot is always the same.  Pick-ups are the trickiest part; if you have time to rig some sights it will help - two pieces of wire gaffer taped to the side of the spotlight; the front one should just stick up vertically, and the back one should be a circle.  Bend them so that when you're looking through the circle the vertical is lined up in the centre of it, and what you're looking at through the circle is in the centre of the followspot beam.  You'll need to fiddle with it until you get it right, but once it's right it will help you tremendously.