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Tuesday, September 17, 2024
The great big Broadway squeeze
www.broadwaynews.com: When you water it all down, there are really only two sides to any business equation: money in, money out.
In passion- and purpose-filled arts and entertainment industries like Broadway, it’s sometimes hard to make space and confront the financial realities that the money-in-money-out forces bring.
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As the author mentions, I believe the more interesting aspect (and also requiring more creative solutions) of the theater industry is the ‘money out’ component, especially considering how the creative work directly affects the technical and logistical details. Particularly, at present moment I think the variability of design across shows makes it difficult to predict or create a system of stock goods or methods that will reliably reduce costs in an industry that is also constantly trying to innovate in design. As it relates to labor, regardless of solution, it is essential that those who create the shows are supported to a significant degree such that they are also motivated to innovate and collaborate in order to efficiently and effectively create technical effects for the stage. Lastly, I think a major revenue stream to consider is looking more into capturing of performances (similar to the filming of Hamilton) to expand audiences and create more draw for theater. What is exciting is the live performance, and if we cannot use media and video to demonstrate this excitement, the live component of theater becomes harder to sell, especially for newcomers to theater. This may be one creative solution to expanding the ‘money in’ component of our business.
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