The Producer's Perspective: In case you missed it, yesterday I blogged about how so many people I run into think that Broadway is a pass/fail business. And in their defense, why would they think anything else, since we only announce when we recoup!
So a show screams from the rooftops when it makes money, or goes radio silent, embarrassingly sulking off into a dark corner somewhere if it doesn’t.
4 comments:
Yikes, 89% is so close. I wouldn't mind having 89% of my money back. Better than nothing. It's weird how we really do think of Broadway as a pass or fail place. It is in a way because if your show only runs for a few months and the show next door has been running for 40 years you seem like a pretty big failure, but I guess there are different levels of failing. The level of failing is the recoupment rate from the run of the show. This just goes to show that people should go to more of the weird small productions in order to support the new-age creativity.
The author does seem to be proud of her 89% despite her claims otherwise, and rightfully, it was an impressive number to achieve. This article was fun to read though because she was right I always thought of Broadway as a pass/ fail where either you make your money plus some more, or you don't. It makes a lot more sense as a stock market though, you are taking a risk, you could lose all your money or a small amount or make a profit, large or small. It is unlikely you would break exactly even but no matter what you are taking a risk. Broadway is not on its own trying to get investors though. Each show is like a start-up company and from what I understand most start-ups struggle quite a lot with finding investors.
I think it's pretty crazy that Macbeth recouped 89% of its operating costs. I'd also like to point out though that as essentially a 1 man show (even when that one man is Alan Cumming), a lot of the show's expenses were probably lower than many other productions, particularly when multiplied over the course of a 14-week run. I do applaud Ken Davenport for publishing the percentage that was recouped, particularly as encouragement for others to see investing as not quite so scary.
Post a Comment