February 27, 1998
Associate Director/Stage Manager C.J. Rapp Pittman will be the recipient of the Directors Guild of America's 1998 Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award, DGA President Jack Shea and Awards Committee Chairperson Howard Storm announced today. The Schaffner Award, given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of service to the industry and to the DGA, will be presented to Rapp Pittman at the 50th anniversary DGA Awards on March 7, 1998.
Rapp Pittman began her career with NBC News and Sports in New York, working on space shots during the Apollo Program, political conventions and the early Super Bowls. After moving to Los Angeles, she switched from news to take a job as a Production Associate on Laugh In. This switch to the entertainment side of television proved to be a good match, and Rapp Pittman went on to work as a Booth PA on variety shows such as The Flip Wilson Show, The Bobby Darin Show, The Barbara Mandrell Show and Donnie and Marie. After becoming the first videotape Booth PA to be inducted into the Script Supervisors Union, she worked on shows such as Alice and The Diana Rigg Show. She became an Associate Director in 1978, while working on a mulititude of children's shows (including Land of the Lost) for Sid and Marty Krofft.
She soon took time out from children’s shows to begin a labor of love, shooting nine Shakespeare plays for cable TV, alternating as Associate Director and Stage Manager on a huge Globe Theatre reproduction stage. A few years after that she switched over to Stage Manage sitcoms, including six years as First Stage Manager on The Facts of Life, as well as numerous other shows including The Ann Jillian Show, Sunday Dinner, The Powers That Be, The Bonnie Hunt Show and Malcolm and Eddie. She has also worked on daytime serials, game shows, infomercials, talk shows and sports.
Rapp Pittman was elected to the DGA's AD/SM/PA Council in 1982, served as its Chair from 1993 to 1995, and remains a Council member to this day. She was a member of the Guild's National Board from 1995 to 1997 and has sat on many Guild Negotiating Committees, the DGACA Advisory Committee and the Education Committee. She continues to serve as a mentor and advisor to Guild members learning the craft of Stage Managing and Associate Directing.