If you already know how to do this stuff, 'cuz you've done it a gazillion times before, you might want to go back to The Grumpy Veteran's Shut-Up-'n'-Do-It Links. Just a suggestion. But for the rest of you....

Q: Why do we have to go through such a hassle? I mean, criminy, what a pain!

A: Because in the long run all our hard work and attention to detail will be worth it!

Okay, we're not the boss of you. There's no law that says you can't input your information in an entirely different order than what we have here. But you know what? It'll work best and easiest if you do it THIS way. Trust me.Things are related to one another in a certain order, so it makes sense to put things into the system in this particular order.

Are you ready? Gird your loins? Clap some talc on your hands and let's go!

STEP ONE:

Check to make sure the "stars" you wish to input aren't already there.

Hey, if they are, it'll save you that much time and effort! And if you don't like what another person has wrote, go ahead and change it! Each star's page has a "body revision" tag that will let any member in good standing edit the info.

If your stars aren't in the database already, it's time to move on to ...

STEP TWO:

Input the stars you wish to input.

Even though it sounds tedious, it's pretty straightforward. You basically have only two fields you need to worry about--the person's name and their bio, which is kind of like what you'd find in a program or a playbill. Since you can use HTML, you can add images if you like--usually a headshot for an actor, or a business portrait for a producer or whatnot.

Incidentally, when we say "stars" we don't mean just the actors. ANYONE involved in a production, from the headliner to the person sweeping the theater every night, should get recognition for their work. If they're involved in the theater, we want to hear about them!

If you plan on inputting a production (later on down the page!) it's helpful to have ALL your personnel inputted into the system as stars before you bother making your production. Just to make your timing easier. Otherwise you'll start cursing us.

All you're going to see right now is the actor's bare page when you're done. All the cool stuff--the links to media, productions, fan pages and all that rigamarole--get added AUTOMATICALLY by the database so long as things are done in this particular order. So there. Now it's on to ....

STEP THREE

Input your theater company!

Mandatory? No, of course not. But why not take credit for your own productions? If you're working this hard bringing stuff into the database, you might as well take credit for it! If your show is NOT part of a specific company--like, say, if it's on Broadway--we have generic "filler" companies you can write in.

Again, you won't see much when you're done here. But now's when the fun begins! Now's when you can start ....

STEP FOUR

Input your productions!

Yes! The meat 'n' potatoes of this whole business! And YOU thought this was going to be EASY! Well, it IS easy, just... well, sort of tedious. But if you have a stable of actors and personnel you work with every single production, you're now pretty much on easy street.

Each production will link to the actual show (already input, RIGHT?). You can write a little blurb about it if you so desire; sometimes directors like to make artistic statements or whatnot. The creator of the production page can then start to .....

STEP FIVE

Add the Cast List!

Each cast list record is a separate page that refers to the actor (complete with a headshot thumbnail) and the character they play. A "display ranking" number allows you to put them in the order you would like them to appear. You can add the dates they played that particular character if you like--that would be HELPFUL, but not MANDATORY. The actor's bio is generated automatically when you see the finished record--it steals it from the actor's "star" page.

STEP SIX

Add the Creative Team!

It works just like the cast list, don'tcha know. Minus the headshot.

And now the REAL fun begins....

STEP SEVEN

ADD EVERYTHING ELSE!

Audio, video, images, external links, Amazon products...So long as everything else is inputted for your production, you can link everything to whatever you wish. For example, you can link an audio file to a character, a production, an actor, and/or a song. Here's where you can go wild! Have fun!