Ready for Your Next Gig?
We book independent contractors onto concerts, corporate general sessions, theater, festivals, and touring productions — and we’re opening new markets, which means more calls on the board. Take the ones that work for you.
Why Contractors Work With Us
We’re expanding into new markets, which means more calls in more rooms. What isn’t changing is how we run one. We shoot straight with our crew — about what a call is, what it pays, and what it’s going to ask of you. Productions move, trucks run late, plans change. When something goes sideways, you’ll hear it from us and we’ll fix it.
- Take it or pass. Calls come to you with the date and start time already set. Answer YES or NO. Passing costs you nothing.
- Five-hour minimum on every call. Load-out wraps in two? You are paid for five. We booked your day — that is on us, not you.
- Overtime after ten hours on a single call.
- STOP means stop. From anyone, at any level, no explanation required. We run to Event Safety Alliance standards.
Skills We Hire
We book by skill, call by call. Tell us what you can actually run — not what you’ve watched someone else run — and we’ll put you where you belong. Most of our contractors carry two or three of these. Rates are set by position; we’ll walk you through them when we talk.
Audio
Front of house, monitor world, RF, and playback.
- Verifiable experience required
- Certifications preferred
Video
Switching, playback, cameras, projection, and LED.
- Verifiable experience required
- Certifications preferred
Lighting
Consoles, conventionals, moving fixtures, and followspot.
- Verifiable experience required
- Certifications preferred
Rigging & Logistics
Overhead rigging, motors, and truck-to-stage movement.
- Verifiable experience required
- Certification required
Staging & GAV
Decking, set carpentry, and general AV.
- Entry level welcome
- We train on site
What Our Team Says About Us
Reach Out
Reach out and we’ll take it from there. One short form, then a live conversation — about twenty minutes, phone or video. We’ll talk through what you’ve run, what you want to run, and how we operate. If it’s a fit both ways, we’ll get you onboarded and onto the call list.
Office hours are 10 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Friday. We’re on site the rest of the time.
Questions?
Fill out the form above with three windows that work for you. We’ll find a time that fits and touch base for about twenty minutes. If we’re a fit, we’ll send you to our onboarding site. Once we have the required information, you’re on the call list and offers start arriving.
Concerts, corporate general sessions, theater, festivals, touring productions, and government events. Arenas, ballrooms, convention halls, theaters, and the occasional open field. Load-in, show call, set changes, load-out, strike. If it rolls off a truck and has to be standing, focused, and quiet by call time, that’s us.
Not for stagehand and loader calls — that’s where most of our contractors start and we’ll train you on site. Skilled positions need verifiable experience: A-1 and A-2, L-1 and L-2, V-1 and V-2, high and down rigging, forklift. Certifications help. Be honest about what you’ve run; putting yourself on a call you can’t cover is a worse day for you than passing on it was.
Know what you’ve actually run and say so plainly — the crew figures it out on site faster than we do. Have your general availability in mind. Bring all your questions; on-site is the worst place to be undecided. This is a contract, not an audition.
All work is on call. We communicate the date and start time; you answer YES or NO. Every call carries a five-hour minimum, and overtime starts after ten hours on a single call — hours don’t stack across separate calls in the same day. We don’t publish end times, because a call runs until the work is done. Accept one and plan to stay to the end. Showing up late or leaving early forfeits the minimum and drops you to actual hours worked, and erodes trust if it isn’t communicated ahead of time.
No. Everyone who works a ShadowMonkey call is an independent contractor, and you’ll submit a W-9 during onboarding. Most venues we work require workers’ compensation coverage, so you need it in force whenever you’re on one of our calls — if you carry your own, send us the certificate. If you don’t, we’ll cover you under our policy and deduct the cost from your payments; the rate is spelled out in the contractor agreement. Beyond that, you set your own schedule and you’re free to contract with anyone else, including our competitors. We’d rather you build experience widely and keep saying yes to us because the calls are good.
Still curious?
If there’s something else on your mind, reach out. We’d rather answer it now than have you wondering on a call.