I agree problems all start with A&D, but once the problems are discovered (obviously many could be avoided, but there’s only so many ways to build boo holes/show areas), things need to be done to protect to protect the actors in place. Not just this ho-hum attitude saying you’d rather actors get hit so the line moves unimpeded. That just reeks of elitist BS.
The solution is building ops holes with boo-holes within the scenes. There’s absolutely ways to accommodate both. The problem is that the function of house ops is established separately from house design. The two aspects aren’t in synch. Show directors don’t even have managerial control over house ops. Essentially, it’s two groups with two purposes that contrast.
Except that's not what I said, at all. I said that over in Hollywood, our ops are too passive and are literally doing nothing when performers get harassed. That's not great, but I'd rather the passive situation where performers deal with it themselves (not sure how Orlando deals with that) than the drill sergeant ops ruining the maze for performers AND guests.
And this is where the opposite purposes come from.
House ops is for the guests more so than the performers. Before house ops were so ubiquitous, the expectation were for the performers to keep an eye out for guests needing help—to the extent where we could bring them out of the house through our boo-hole if they were too scared to continue or had an issue (which I had to do a couple of times in Screamhouse). Problem is, when you’re in costume, it’s extremely difficult to convince someone you’re trying to help. Ops does that now. Scareactors get to focus solely on scaring.
The reason why ops don’t engage with violent guests, though, is because they have no recourse for escape. They don’t have a boo-hole to retreat into. They will follow particularly egregious guests (in Orlando), but they also know scareactors can report violent guests themselves. Me and the ops girl in my room in Catacombs actually figured out a system to decide who would report guests, and typically it was easier for me to it. If she followed them, the target shifted to her.
Hollywood still has a vibe that doesn’t require rushing people through like cattle. I think they still kinda pulse, and there are areas that allow guests to almost stop and gawk. So ops is passive, waiting for guest issues. Orlando has to push people through, or guests end up waiting even longer than they already are.
