Articles by Encore

What Is a Hand Double?

I grew up in Chicago spending a lot of time backstage, where everyone knew the real secret of show business: the magic lives in the details. On set, one of the sneakiest detail jobs is the hand double, the person who steps in when the camera wants the story told through fingers, knuckles, nails,...

What Is a Seat Filler at an Awards Show?

I grew up in Chicago in the kind of family where “quietly taking your place” was basically a backstage sport. My relatives built sets, tuned instruments, and fixed what the audience was never supposed to notice. Seat fillers at awards shows live in that same invisible lane. If you have ever...

What Does a Stage Manager Do?

I grew up in Chicago in the sort of family where “backstage” was a normal childhood habitat. While other kids were trading baseball cards, I was learning the sacred geography of a theater: the wings, the booth, the spike marks, the tiny glow of work lights behind a set wall. And no matter what the...

What Is an Encore at a Concert?

I grew up in Chicago with family members who built sets and tuned instruments for a living, so I learned early that live performance has its own secret language. “Encore” is one of those words that sounds glamorous and spontaneous, but it is also a practical part of how concerts are paced,...

What Should You Wear to a Concert?

I grew up in Chicago, where “going to a show” meant two equally serious questions: Who’s headlining, and what’s the wind doing off the lake? Years later, whether I’m wedged into a sweaty club or up in the rafters of an arena, I still dress for the same truth: concerts are participatory theater. You...

What Is a Stage Door?

The first time I stage-doored as a kid in Chicago, I remember the sudden switch in energy: inside the theater, everyone is hushed and reverent, watching a world unfold. Outside, near a plain, hardworking door that looks like it leads to a supply closet, the night turns into something else entirely,...

What Are Dailies in Film and TV?

I grew up in Chicago spending a lot of time backstage, so I learned early that the show does not end when the audience goes home. In film and TV, that same after-hours energy lives in a ritual that is equal parts thrilling and terrifying: watching dailies . If you have ever wondered how a...

What Is a Clapperboard?

I still remember the first time I stood close enough to a film set to hear the snap of a clapperboard for real. It is a tiny sound with an outsized sense of ceremony. One beat, one clean crack, and suddenly everyone knows: this moment is officially “the take.” A clapperboard, often called a slate ,...

What Is a Hot Set?

I learned the phrase “hot set” the same way a lot of people do: by hearing it snapped across a room with the urgency of “heads up” and the precision of “do not touch.” In film and TV, it is less about attitude and more about respect. Respect for continuity, for the crew’s work, and for the...

What Is a Green Room in Theater?

The first time I was allowed into a real green room, I was a kid in Chicago trailing my mom through a regional theater where she was helping paint flats. I remember thinking it would be, well, green. Like a literal room dipped in mint paint. It was not. It was a slightly battered lounge with a sofa...

What Is a Matinee?

I grew up in Chicago backstage, the kind of kid who could tell time by the warm-up scales drifting from the pit and the stage manager’s calls echoing down a hallway. Matinees were their own little universe. The daylight outside still felt like part of the show, and the audience arrived with a...

What Is an Obstructed-View Seat?

I have a small pre-show ritual I never skip: I read the whole playbill, I clock the set designer, and I quietly note the sightlines. That last one is not me being precious. It is survival. Nothing deflates the buzz of a big night out like realizing your bargain ticket comes with a bonus feature: a...

Can You Transfer a Concert or Theater Ticket to Someone Else?

I have a little pre-show ritual: skim the playbill, silence my phone, and watch the audience drift in. Somewhere in that swirl is always the same mini drama, someone at the door saying, “My friend sent me the ticket but I cannot find it,” or “It is in their name, will they let me in?” Ticketing has...

What Happens to Your Ticket If a Star Is Out?

I have a little pre-show ritual. I read the whole playbill , I scan the design credits, and I always peek at the cast page before the house lights dim. Not because I am hunting drama. Because live performance is a living organism. People get sick. Bodies get tired. Art keeps moving. Then comes the...

What Is a Likeness Release for Background Actors?

I grew up backstage in Chicago, the kind of kid who could tell you which door led to the costume shop and which one led to the projection booth. Years later, on film and TV sets, I still get the same small thrill watching a scene come alive from the edges outward. Background actors are a huge part...

What Is a Presale for Concert and Theater Tickets?

I learned what a presale really was the way a lot of us do: squinting at my phone on a Tuesday morning, coffee cooling beside me, watching a little walking person inch across a virtual “queue” while my group chat debated whether “PLATINUM” meant fancy seats or a fancy way to make us cry. For the...

What Is a Residual in Film and TV?

I have a very specific memory of sitting in a Chicago projection booth as a kid, watching the same movie print get threaded through the same projector again and again. I loved the repetition. Someone in that film was getting seen again. Someone was getting paid again too, at least in certain...

What Is a Background Voucher?

The first time I worked background, I treated the voucher like a receipt you sign on autopilot while you are half out of costume and fully dreaming of your couch. Then I watched a veteran extra calmly check every box, ask one polite question, and walk away with a copy like it was a backstage pass....

What Is a Company Move on a Film Set?

I learned the phrase “company move” the same way most people do: by hearing it announced with the crisp finality of a stage manager calling places. One minute everyone is calmly doing their jobs, and the next, the whole production is suddenly in motion. If you are working background, it can feel...

First Team vs Second Team on a Film Set

The first time I heard “Second team in!” barked across a set, I was wedged behind a village cart on a period drama, trying not to wrinkle my costume while a hundred tiny adjustments happened all at once. The call sounded urgent. Secretive, even. In reality, it is one of the most practical bits of...