Building a Set

How to build a set.  Or in the case of off Broadway, how to build a set for cheap.  At the Broadway level, there are companies that will design, build, and load-in your set all for a flat fee.  This could run you $10,000 for even the most basic of sets (to well over a million for something as complex as Spiderman) so for shows like us this isn’t really an option.  You have to build it yourself.

Never ever ever pay full retail price for a set piece.  Nine times out of ten someone is trying to throw away the very thing that you’re looking for.  Our set is more or less a studio apartment, which means we’ll need a stove, kitchen sink/cabinets, bed, dresser, bookshelf, and so-on and so-forth.  If we bought this stuff brand new, it would have cost us upwards of $4,000.  That’s a seventh of our budget.  Instead, we scoured craigslist for people trying to get rid of old furniture and saved a ton of money in the process.

When getting furniture for free, there are some logistical issues that you need to be aware of.  Where are you going to store it?  How are you going to transport it?  If you know someone with a truck and have access to a large warehouse, then you’re in great shape, but for those of you who don’t you’ll need to rent a UHaul and you’ll need to rent a storage space.  A UHaul will run about $150 for the day (you might as well budget $200 if you plan on feeding the people who’ll be doing the heavy lifting), and you can get storage space in Jersey City for $100 a month.  I choose to store my set in Jersey City for a few reasons.  One – it’s way cheaper than New York.  Two – I have very easy access to it via the Path Train.  And three – there are a lot of workshops in Jersey City that you can use to help build things and fine tune your set.

Something to keep in mind when building a set is the weight.  You want it as light as possible.  Anything heavy needs special attention which eats away time and money from your budget.  Also keep in mind that you’re going to have to throw all this stuff away (or find a place to store it) when you’re done.  So get creative.  Just to give you an idea, we got an old stove and realized it was too heavy.  So we ripped it apart (and I mean we literally dismantled the thing), and attached the face, top, and sides to a light wooden frame.  The result looks just like a stove, but weighs about a quarter of what it used to.

All in all our set cost about $1,500 to store and build.  An excellent price considering what it adds to the production.