Reservation Policy for RTF Production Projects

Last Revised: 2024-Aug-05

Who Can Reserve:

Our resources are available for RTF students currently enrolled in upper-division courses, as well as RTF MFA graduate production courses working on an approved academic project for their current production class. Faculty use may also be approved if it does not directly interfere with class activity or peformance. All reservations are treated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Resource Allocation:

CMA classrooms, when not in use by class activities, should be used for reservations including but not limited to casting, conferencing (both in-person and virtual,) crew meetings, screenings, and other general purposes as defined by University policy.

CMB studios, when not in use by class activities, should be used for reservations including but not limited to rehearsing, blocking, set construction, lighting, and shooting. All patrons using studios must abide by our Studio policy.

Studio usage is for production-related applications only. Casting and crew meetings are limited to available non-studio resources.

Post-Productions suites are designated for both undergraduate and graduate students. All patrons using these resources must abide by the University Acceptable Use policy. Some areas such as the CMA 5^th floor suites may be specifically assigned for class projects as requested. Other areas such as the CMB 4.112 suites are specifically reserved for graduate student work, or specific tasks (sound re-recording, color timing, etc.) as required by the coursework. All patrons using graduate suites must abide by our Editing suite policy.

Resource Reservation Procedure:

The new room management system, Appspace, is a cloud-based application which requires user licenses for reservation capabilities. The college has currently budgeted enough licenses for faculty, staff, and a limited amount for students. Therefore, reservation procedure should flow as follows:

To book casting reservations, please visit a student proctor desk on the 4^th floor of the CMA or the CMB. We have allocated 7 classrooms (CMA 3.116, CMA 3.120, CMA 3.124, CMA 5.130, CMA 6.146, CMA 6.170, & CMA 6.174) for weekend use, and limited evening use. The proctor will verify the student’s class enrollment via 12^th class day rosters, and will use their Appspace credentials to reserve the casting dates/times on behalf of the requestor. Students requesting reservations need to provide reservation details, including, but not limited to, a valid email address for reservation confirmation.

To book production reservations, please communicate your needs directly with your teaching assistant and/or professor. We have allocated 5 studios on the CMB 4^th floor (CMB 4.116, CMB 4.118, CMB 4.122, CMB 4.126, and CMB 4.128) to accommodate various stages of production coursework. All graduate TA assignees will be given licenses to Appspace, enabling them to procure studios for both their students as well as for themselves.

To book production reservations specifically for Studio 6B (6.112), please email the Studio Manager directly to obtain protocol on the process. CMB 6 studios are considered Moody spaces and are limited to special-use reservations. In some instances, explicit permission from the dean may be required.

To book post-production suite reservations, three scenarios exist:

1. Undergraduate students may visit a student proctor desk on the 4^th floor of the CMA or the CMB. We have an undergraduate podcasting room (CMA 4.140) and color correction suite (CMB 4.120) that may be reserved during lab operational hours. The proctor will verify the student’s class enrollment via 12^th class day rosters, and will use their Appspace credentials to reserve the casting dates/times. Students will only need to provide reservation details, and a valid email address for reservation confirmation.
2. Graduate students may reserve editing suites on their own behalf via Appspace. All graduate editing suites also require BACS access which should be granted on an enrollment basis by the Moody Assistant Director of Production.
3. Special cases such as groups and special requests may be requested for certain areas (i.e. Photojournalism using CMB 4.128) which apply to class assignments. In such scenarios, specific licenses may be issued directly to a subset of students for the duration of the semester.

Cancellation Policy:

In the event a reservation should be cancelled please email comm-production@austin.utexas.edu to request the deletion of the reservation. As a courtesy to our constituents in the college, a decent lead time is appreciated so we may free the space and allow others to use it. Failure to provide cancellation requests will be deemed as a “no-show” reservation. Outstanding “no-show” activity may result in loss of privileges to resources including but not limited to studios and equipment.

Contact Information:

The following individuals are the current liaisons for areas which pertain to these reservation policies:

Miguel Alvarez – RTF Faculty, Production Area Head
Keefe Boerner – Moody Staff, Assistant Director of Production
Jeremy Gruy – Moody Staff, Studio Manager
Khaled Jaber – Moody Staff, Assistant Director of IT Systems (Appspace Mgmt)
Susanne Kraft – Moody Staff, Sr. Production Staff (Post-Production Mgmt and Proctor Mgmt)
Cynthia McCreery – RTF Faculty, Department Chair