Do you want to know a secret? I wasn't always an actor. In fact, I've only been in this haunt world for about two and a half years. To some of you, this might not mean much, but to my dear readers from Ravenwood Manor, I can assume some jaws are dropping. In the beginning, I was a mere walk-on volunteer that wasn't even in the paperwork and records of Ravenwood. Hell, the first day I showed up, Blake, the owner of Ravenwood and my boss, asked me who I was and walked off before I could even answer. I was a blip on the radar, but that was my start.
Working in the trenches of behind the scenes jobs taught me a lot about the world I would soon become obsessed with. People may assume that the actors and the ones that are center stage are the most important part of the haunt, but the people behind the curtain helping the show run...those are the true heroes of any haunt. (No offense, my lovely actor friends.)
My first job at Ravenwood Manor was as a volunteer makeup artist. (Why? I still don't know. I'm not very good at makeup, but I can definitely coat people in blood and dirt. So...I guess you can say I was sort of qualified?) I showed up the third to last week of that haunt season, was basically tossed into a random makeup station, and told to "just make zombies."At the time, I just thought you could do whatever you wanted to the actor as long as they looked scary and generally fit the scene they were going to. Boy, was I wrong. Sure, nobody was upset with any of my work (most nights), but looking back, I'm personally mortified and ashamed that I has such a "do whatever you want" attitude.
Makeup artists have such an important role in the haunt industry, but typically there are multiple tiers of makeup artists. A haunt will usually have a Head Makeup Artist. This is the person in charge of creating their makeup team, ordering supplies, approving looks, going into the scenes before the show and making sure the lighting and makeup work well together, and beating actors with a stick if they try to bully their makeup artist into painting them as a clown when they know damn well that their role is a zombie that night. This person works hand-in-hand with the Stage Manager and Costume Department. Of course, below the Head Makeup Artist, you have the team, usually with each member specializing in different things (prosthetics, airbrushing, "5-minute zombies," glam horror, etc.), but these specialization can differ from haunt to haunt.
My second job behind the scenes, which happened to be one of my favorite jobs, was a Runner. A Runner is the person who's responsible for taking care of the actors while they are in scene. A Runner will typically have a bag filled with medicine, water, snacks, and mints and will walk through the haunt all night to pass them out in between groups. Runners can also act as re-cue if there is no ator available to work that spot (which was the actual first thing they had me do as a Runner). Runners will sometimes have a walkie talkie to relay any problems or concerns to the owners and Stage Manager as they arise. The Runner is the link to actors and their employers. They are such an important cog in the machine and it is sometimes overlooked through the season.The coolest thing about being a Runner is that you get to learn every nook and cranny of the haunt because your job is to literally be everywhere and know where every single actor is hiding without being seen. This means you will get a lot of cardio in while you duck through actor stations and run from oncoming groups as if THEY were the monsters. Not to mention the killer arm workout you will get from carrying bags of water all night. (I actually met Cain, my Stage Manager, when I was a Runner, but that's a story for another time.)
My third and final behind the scenes job was as a Makeup Room Coordinator. Now, before I even begin, let me warn you that this position (and I can only speak for how it was run at Ravenwood) was by far the trickiest, most stressful, and most confusing job I ever had in my entire life. This position never existed at Ravenwood before I arrived, so it was basically the Wild West of haunt for us. The definition of a Makeup Room Coordinator can mean many different things and can put you in charge of many more different things. For me, I compared what I did to being Cain and Blake's personal assistant (and basically their bitch) all season and then some.
Pre-season, I took notes of everything that needed to be done because everyone would just ramble about the things they needed, but would rarely write them down. I went to every crew gathering to prepare for auditions, workshops, and script writing sessions and made sure everyone had what they needed and knew what was going on. During auditions, I passed out and organized the audition forms while taking pictures and letting people know when it was their turn to be judged. During season, it was my job to know who every actor was, when they were scheduled to work, who their character was on any given night, if they were a volunteer or paid employee, if they were checked in and out every day, to message them if they were late or just decided not to go to work that day, keep track of all demerits and strikes against said actors, and to mark down if anyone was hiding in the makeup room during showtimes (because that's not what Ravenwood is paying you to do). Every night, I would have to email the... (I think I'll start referring to all my bosses as "The Powers That Be")...I would email The Powers That Be a list of everything broken, all the demerits and strikes, everything that needed to be replaced and ordered, and any other important information to keep the haunt going. Then, before I left for the evening, I had to clean the entire makeup room...yay. I would also help Cain with casting some nights (which was honestly one of the most fun parts of the job, because it helped me learn all the characters and what each role was designed to do). On top of all of that, it was also my job to get the actors into makeup, costume, and hair before the show began each night. I would run around the makeup room calling out names, dragging people to the makeup chairs, kicking and screaming, and answering any questions so that Cain wouldn't have to stop what he was doing to let someone know that, "yes, you will definitely get a bathroom break at some point tonight." The Stage Manager and The Powers That Be had a million other things to do, so it was the least I could do to lift some of the burdens off of them.
Despite how much work that last job was, it was probably the MOST fulfilling job I've ever had at Ravenwood Manor. It was a very thankless job, but in the back of my mind, I knew it was helping my haunt and my home. In the past year, since I was no longer a Makeup Room Coordinator, The Powers That Be divided that job into eight different positions for eight different people to run as well as giving some of the responsibility to those given the Mark of Cain (AKA: THE TRAINING TEAM!). So, I guess the year I was doing it, I was a tad overworked, but without that one stressful, hectic, "shoot me in the face" kind of year, I wouldn't have been exposed to all the inner workings of what it really took to run a successful haunt. Trust me, it takes a lot more than filling a building full of people in masks and telling them to say, "boo" (which a real haunter would never say). Without any of these jobs behind the scenes, I feel like what I do now and what I aspire to be in future would be too one dimensional for a complicated little devil like me.
I just want anyone who works behind the scenes to know that you ARE appreciated . The show truly wouldn't go on without you. Of course, there will be times when you feel used and forgotten. What else would you expect when you spend most nights in the dark while everyone else is out performing and winning all the glory? Just keep in mind that you are in such a special position to see what it takes to make magic happen. You get to see the wizard hiding behind the big, green curtain. Hell, you help make the magic happen. You are in the perfect position to learn as much as you can about the haunt world and really make a difference in the future of haunt. I would never trade the time and moments I had behind the scenes. I would even drop all the acting I've started doing if Ravenwood needed me back in the dark, cold (and sometimes scorching hot) makeup room.
To anyone interested in working behind the scenes, haunts always need help. Be that support and that little soldier for your haunt. Help in any way possible. Help is always appreciated and wanted. No job is too small or too big for anyone. The Powers That Be will not give you more than you can handle. Your haunt is your home. Help do what's best for it and it will do what's best for you.
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who's been keeping up with Southern Spooks. It means a lot to me that y'all are interested in haunt as much as me. I've gotten many messages saying it was difficult to start a conversation in the comments and that it was hard to stay updated. I've also been asked to share more, but not in blog form. So, as a special Christmas treat, I would like to announce that Southern Spooks is now on Facebook and Twitter. I will be posting pictures and posts to keep everyone up to date, engaged, and entertained in between blog posts. Again, thank you for your love and support. It means the world to me.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Southernspooks
-Jaz☾
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