Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

Got a craving for Stew?

I saw Passing Strange on Wednesday night.

If you like Stew, and you want to see him in concert, then you will love this show.

You should also see this show if you think only commercial stuff that appeals to the masses gets produced on Broadway. 

Because it's not true.

Non-commercial stuff gets produced all the time (and thank God we have "Patron of the Arts" Producers like the ones above the title on Passing Strange that are in a position to push our manila envelope).

The non-commercial stuff usually just doesn't run or recoup.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as you and your investors know why you're doing what you're doing. 

Establish expectations early.  Then if you exceed them and actually return money, it'll be like finding a $20 bill in you pocket after doing the laundry.

There are zillions of reasons to produce shows that are exceptionally high risk and "non-commercial":  commitment to the arts, possible Tony Awards, and so on.

My favorite reason for doing something that may not be the next Mamma-Mia is to develop and foster relationships with creatives, something I urge all young Producers to do.

Produce the plays of the passionate people around you.  Your peers are the playwrights of tomorrow, even if their plays of today may not be taking home Pulitzers.  But what about the one they haven't even thought of yet? 

And here's a wonderful fact about human nature:  reciprocity works.  Do something for someone today, and they'll be inclined to do something for you tomorrow, especially if you took a risk when no one else would . . . and lost.

My favorite example of this concept is the birth of one of the youngest producing houses on Broadway in the last few decades:  The Araca Group.

One of Araca's first plays was called Skyscraper.  Cost them $30k and they lost it. 

However, It was also the first play by David Auburn.

When David Auburn was at the Fringe Festival being wowed by a small musical, guess who he called first, before the show was even over!

"David called me at intermission and said, 'You must come and see this show,'" Michael Rego recalled.  So they did.  Within months, they had secured the rights to Urinetown . . .
                - New York Times

Careers begin, like life, with relationships.  It's no coincidence that the Altar Boyz creative team consists of a guy I shared a room with in summer stock, a guy I shared a show with at the former Ford Center, and two guys I shared a tour with in 2000.

I got lucky. My first one paid off.  The people behind Passing Strange most likely won't be so lucky.

But that's ok.  They know the why they're doing it.  And since one of the lead Producers is the owner of the theater, they have a little more control over one of Broadway's biggest weekly expenses: rent.

Read the full story about the birth of Araca here.

Click below to see my favorite example of producing a show for a relationship in the last decade here. 

But before you do . . . guess what the show was.

Click here as you think.

Click here for the results

BREAKING NEWS:  I wrote this blog last night, before Isherwood's rave in the Times this morning.  It will be interesting to see if this review has an effect on the show's financial and commercial viability.  Anyone want to take any bets?

 

John Grisham is rich and famous.

But that's not why he started writing.

John Grisham wrote his first novel with no dreams of making $9 million a year, or of selling 235 million copies of his books worldwide, or of having six baseball fields on his property.

John Grisham wrote his first novel why?  So he could say he wrote a novel.  That's all.  He just wanted to be able to point to a stack of white paper on his desk and say, "Look!  I wrote a novel."  He ran across a subject that he felt needed to be written, so he wrote it, even though he had never written before.

He wrote it by getting up at 5 AM every morning for three years, while he was working 60 - 80 hours a week as a state representative. 

When he first started writing, Grisham says, he had "these little rituals that were silly and brutal but very important.  The alarm clock would go off at 5, and I'd jump in the shower. My office was 5 minutes away. And I had to be at my desk, at my office, with the first cup of coffee, a legal pad and write the first word at 5:30, five days a week."  His goal: to write a page every day. (CNN.com)

Anybody can write a page a day. If you sit down and write a page a day, do you know what you'll have 365 days later? You'll have a novel!" (Kennesaw.edu)

When he finished that novel, two things happened:

1.  He was rejected by 15 publishers.

2.  He started writing The Firm the very next day.  The movie rights sold before he even found a publisher, and he was on his way.

And now, after all of the success, he still squeezes out a novel a year.

Doing something, anything, to "be famous" or to "be rich" is fine, but it's not art.  There are a zillion ways to "be famous" or "be rich", and they're a lot easier than what we do.

Write, act, produce, design because you have to do it, and for no other reason.  If you're diligent and harder on yourself than any boss could ever be, all the other stuff will come. 

And when it does, you'll still want to keep doing it, just like John.  Even if you have 12 baseball fields on your property.

If it doesn't come?  Well, who cares.  Something tells me John Grisham would still be getting up at 5 AM every morning to write, even if he never sold a single copy of his stack of white paper.

The only difference is by now he'd be able to say, "Look!  I wrote 21 novels."

Anyone out there know what John Grisham and Hal Prince have in common?  Free $25 iTunes gift card to the first "commenter" that comes up with what I'm looking for. 

And hey, no "gheating".  I know you guys so well.

Come on, everybody does it . . .

. . . And you know you do too.

When you're all alone, and no one is watching . . . you google you.

And no matter what your parents may have told you, googling yourself is a good thing.

This sort of behavior, also referred to as "ego-surfing," used to be reserved exclusively for the obsessive actor, who got cheap thrills from seeing their name pop up multiple times.

However, in the age of the online consumer review, when blogs are bling and user generated content is king, it's essential that you google yourself.  And your show, your theatre company, your product, or anything and everything that your audience or customers may talk about online. 

It's the cheapest focus group you can find.

When you find bad things, and you will, try and look at them objectively.  Yes, take into account the source, the language, etc. but see if there's anything to learn from the worst of the worst.  And if you see several people saying the same thing . . . take heed.  Maybe you can make an adjustment that can prevent future online outbursts.

Same with the good stuff!  Don't just pat yourself on the back.  Examine exactly what people enjoy. Notice a trend?  Exploit it!  Advertise it, incorporate into copy, etc.  There's as much to learn from the good as from the bad.

And don't stop there.

You know what's great about the web?  It's a two way super-highway. 

If someone wrote about your show and didn't have a good time (seats were uncomfortable, show wasn't what they thought it was going to be), reach out to them.  Apologize.  Offer to somehow make it right.  Get them tickets to another show.  People who purge themselves online usually don't stop there.  They do it with friends, family and so on.  You can try and stop the vile word of mouth by just saying you're sorry, and seeing if there's something you can do.  Just hearing from you may shock them speechless. 

And if someone said something nice?  Thank them!  Positive affirmation is the best way to keep people doing what you want them to do.  Drop them a personal note.  You'd be amazed at the kudos you'll get for dropping a fan of your show an email that comes "directly from the producer."  Cost to you?  30 seconds.  And now they have another reason to talk about your show.

I like to do a few things when I find a good post or blog about one of my shows.  I send an email as mentioned above, then I ask for their address so I can send them a gift (an autographed program, a sample cd, etc.).  Not only have I given them some great positive reinforcement to continue doing their "good work" . . . but I've also gotten their actual address in case I want to market my next show to them

Think about someone talking about you online like a call to your customer service department.  Don't be like a company that outsources its customer service to a foreign country.  Surprise your customer.  Pick up the phone, listen, and talk back . . . in English.

KEN'S TIP O' THE DAY:  Google introduced an incredible service a few years ago that leaves the googling to them.  Rather than have to remember to search for yourself or your show every day, you can set up a google alert on whatever keyword you want.  Google will email you whenever that word appears on the web.   I have one for all of my shows and some of my competitors.  You should too. 

Set them up here.

I google so much I'm afraid I'll go blind.

The other day, I was doing some research of popular plays so I opened up Firefox and typed in "Best Plays."

Makes sense, right?

Well, here are the results.  Only 6 of the 10 results on page 1 were about dramatic plays.  The rest were about the best sports plays. 

Remember, just because something makes perfect sense in your world, doesn't mean it makes sense in everyone else's.

Another pricing post. Don't "cry" - this one is only $54!

I couldn't help but continue with my pricing motif when I saw the Cry Baby marquis this weekend advertising "All Tickets for Previews Only $54!"  (The show is set in 1954. Get it?  1954.  $54.)

The hopeful Producers of Hairspray II are betting that this reduced price (about the same as what the price would have been at the TKTS booth) will pull in more of an audience during the ever important early weeks, when a show's expenses are high and grosses are low.

But will it work? 

By slashing their prices across the board, they have eliminated the consumer's option for choice, which breaks my Kardinal Kenism:

There is always someone who wants to fly first class.

First class may seem out of reach for most of us, and a full price ticket might seem too expensive for an unproven show in previews for most of us as well, but data shows there is always someone who will buy it, no matter what the price is.  They just want "the best."  Dance of the Vampire, Moose Murders, Carrie . . . all of the biggest flops in history had full price ticket buyers during previews.  Stupid ones, but still.  My opinion?  Just take the money.

The other problem with across the board pricing strategy is that your TKTS price is proportionally adjusted.  So, the Producers of Cry Baby aren't only losing income from the potential $115 ticket buyer who is now paying $54, but they're also losing money from the people who would have paid $57.50 at the booth (50% of $115) who are now going to pay $27 (and remember - at the TKTS booth, you don't see the actual prices display . . . only 25%, 35% or 50% off, so the customer thinks they are all the same).

The Producers of Baby are smart people.  They understand the above theory.  But obviously they believe two things:

• They believe they are going to sell approximately 2x the number of tickets from this promotion than they would have sold using traditional pricing.  Even if they sell the same, they will have double the butts in the seats.  And more bodies = more word of mouth.
• The public discount will allow them to spend less on advertising so they can avoid certain email blasts, direct mail, etc. which reduces their overall expenses.

Time and Variety will tell how this theory works, but if I were playing my favorite game, I would have made a different call.

I would have priced it more traditionally, based on my first class rule above, and because I don't believe that the price is that remarkable of a call to action.

Then I would price the entire house for just the first preview at $19.54. 

That's a price worth talking about.  And it would have gotten the most people in to the see the show early, so they would hopefully stop talking about price.

And start talking about the show.

My favorite game is "I'm The Producer!" Wanna play?

Back when I watched football more regularly, they had a feature called You Make The Call!  They showed a play from an actual game and then you got to play referee, deciding things like if Joe Montana's pass was intentional grounding or not (can you tell how long it's been since I've watched football regularly?). 

After a commercial, they'd reveal what the correct call was.

(Note to the all those NFL executives reading this blog - bring this feature back.  The surge of interest in reality television and interactive entertainment makes it a natural for today's audiences.)

I like to play this game with Producing!  Ready?  Here's the "play" . . .

There has been a tremendous amount of excitement and buzz around the latest revival of The Scottish Play at BAM.  Of course, talks to moving Mac-You-Know-What to Broadway have been heard all over Joe Allen's.

This production seems to have the two things that are necessary for a revival: a star and a new interpretation.  And this one has a bonus - a "you must see this performance" review from Ben Brantley!

So, here's where the game begins:

You're the Producer.  You get a call from Mr. Schoenfeld of the Shuberts who says, "Kid, I put my grudge with that bald British guy from Star Trek behind me.  I'm giving you the theater with my name on it.  But I need to know if you want it right now or I'm going to give it to the touring company of Dora The Explorer, ok?  That little Dora and her monkey make me laugh.  Plus that show grosses more in merchandise per week than Journey's End grossed during its entire run.  The catch is that Dora wants the theater for a year, so you have to guarantee me a year.  Do you want it, or does my theater turn into Crocodile Lake?"

Gulp.  What do you do?

The first thing you do is ask Mr. Schoenfeld for some time to make a decision.  Business is not your final Calculus exam.  Business is an open book test.  You need some time to take a look at research.  If anyone ever tells me that I have to make a decision right there on the spot, I walk away.  Period. 

Mr. Schoenfeld gives you fifteen minutes. 

Better, but no time to make a budget.   And considering he does have another offer, you can't begrudge him wanting to move quickly.

So what would your plan be?  Take the theater and just see what happens? 

Oh no, you're too smart for that.  Let's look at the last twenty years of commercial theater productions of Shakespeare.

Show                        Year        Star                            Performances

Julius Caesar             2005       Denzel Washington      112

Macbeth                    2000        Kelsey Grammer         21

A Midsummer's . . .    1996        None                          78

The Tempest              1995       Patrick Stewart            95

Hamlet                       1995       Ralph Fiennes             110

Merchant of Venice     1989        Dustin Hoffman           103

Macbeth                     1988        Christopher Plummer    85

(Not as many as you thought for 20 years, right?  I was surprised too.)

Ok, what have we learned? (Besides the obvious fact that formatting tables in blogging software blows?)

• Commercial Shakespeare productions have slowed in the last decade.
• If you're gonna do Shakespeare, have a star.
• Macbeth is a popular title to revive.
• Average length of run is 86.29 performances or 10.79 weeks (8 shows/week)

And there's your answer.  While certainly the length of the runs of the majority of these shows were based on the star's availability (and the lack of it), there is no data to suggest that you could sustain a long run of a commercial Shakespearean production (if you had more time, you'd analyze all of the grosses of these productions, especially the trends at the end of the runs).

You'd call Mr. S. back, and tell him that you can't take it for a year.  You'd show him the data (numbers are the best negotiators) and tell him your plan is for a 12 week limited run with a hope of an extension, but that's it.  He'd be overwhelmed by your market savvy and give you the theater.  Then you'd call your GM and figure out how to recoup in 6-8 weeks.

Did we win the game?  Did we make the right call?

Unfortunately, there's no referee with a rule book to tell us if we're right.  But there is recoupment, and you just gave yourselves a lot better odds at getting there by doing even the quickest bit of research.

If you hadn't done your homework you might have done a standard play budget that recouped in 6 months to a year and you'd be wishing you were at the bottom of Crocodile Lake when your investors came looking for you.

Play this game often.  Every time you hear buzz about a show, think about how you'd get it to the next level. Where you'd produce it.  If you'd produce it.  Then keep a list of these notes.

The fun is checking back in on those shows a year later to see how you did.

This just in . . . theater tickets are cheap. :-)

I wanted to remind everyone that starting this Monday, February 25th and through Sunday, March 9th, The Off-Broadway Brainstormers are sponsoring the 3rd "20at20" campaign. 

During 20at20, you can see over 20 of the best Off-Broadway shows (including my three) for only $20.

The only catch is that the tickets are only available 20 minutes before curtain.

I bet some of you might be surprised to hear that I'm the chairman of this committee after my "theater tickets are expensive" post.

20at20 is a perfect example of the type of program that demonstrates that there are lower entry points for seeing theater that make it accessible to all, despite our "rep" for high prices. 

But frankly, Off-Broadway shows can't survive on $20 tickets.  So why else would we do it? 

The challenge and ultimate success of programs like this is not selling the $20 tickets.  That should be easy.

The challenge and goal is to take the thousands of $20 ticket buyers over the next two weeks, and convert them to higher price ticket buyers throughout the rest of the year that will increase the overall growth of our industry.

20at20 is the Off-Broadway version of a pharmaceutical company giving a doctor samples of a new cholesterol drug, or a soft-drink company giving away beverages on the street, or Gillette sending me a Mach 3 razor (with only 1 blade) for free.

It's what Captain Andy does in Show Boat.  He gives away just a "sample" of his show on the street and that watches the audience file in.  Not too much and not too little.

How do you sample?

Oh, and take these 2 weeks to see an Off-Broadway show, even if it's not one of mine.  Visit www.20at20.com to get the full list of shows and additional information on the program.

And while you're there, sign up to get email updates on the program and other offers . . . and to see just how we try to convert you to a higher price ticket throughout the year.  ;-)

P.S.  I've been shaving with a Gillette razor ever since that box with the Mach 3 arrived at my door 7 years ago.

Guess where I am?

Which hotel do you think I was in when I took this picture of the guest services aka concierge counter?

Ok, it's not a hotel.

So which casino do you think I was in?

Sorry, wrong again.

I wasn't at a hotel or a casino.

I was at a movie theater. 

Once again, we got beat.

Wouldn't it be great if theaters had concierges?  (I would actually argue that the theater-going crowd is probably more likely to expect and utilize such services.) 

A theater concierge could get a limo for you, a dinner reservation, or . . . wait for it . . . build up enough trust with the client in order to recommend and sell tickets to other shows in the same complex or theater chain!  :-)

They could do everything that a traditional concierge could do, and through commissions, tips, etc., could probably pay for itself with little or no financial strain on the venue.  At the same time, the venue would create a trusting relationship with their audience that would turn into loyalty and additional business (and a great mailing list).  At the very least it would create a remarkable experience that would get talked about.

Then again, maybe they wouldn't do anything except let people know where the bathrooms are.  But that's enough for me. Hotels, casinos, and other luxury service providers are there to take care of their customers not just when they need them, but IF they need them.  And we should be too.

It's this type of value that keeps people coming back and paying the big bucks. 

Let's not get beat by the movies again, Ok?  They only charge $11.75.  That's when we really start to look bad. 

This just in . . . theater tickets are expensive.

Ok, you knew that already.

But here's something you may not have known . . . They've always been expensive.

Hal Prince once gave a speech where he confirmed my theory that people have been complaining about theater prices since The Black Crook opened.

Yet one of the most common complaints I still hear at meetings regarding the problems of Broadway and the theater in general is that tickets are too expensive and if we could only fix that, the theater would be restored to its past glory! 

Sorry, not gonna happen.

As Hal insinuated, it's time we acknowledge that theater tickets are expensive and get over it, because it's not gonna change. 

Theater tickets are a high priced commodity.  They are a luxury good.  But are they too expensive?

Let's compare Broadway theater tickets to other live entertainment options:

• A recent scan of the web found me a pair of Bon Jovi tickets for a top price of $129.50 in Wisconsin (something tells me people in Milwaukee may earn less than people in New York City so $129.50 might feel like a heck of a lot more to them).
• The Yankees offer a bunch of different ticket options, including SEVEN price levels at $100 or higher (up to $400). 
• Top price for Ka in Las Vegas?  $169.50.
• Disney World?  $71.

Our ticket prices are not out of line.  They are even cheap by some comparisons (something tells me those $400 Yankees tickets will go faster than premiums to A Catered Affair).  And most Producers (as they should) have a small allocation of much lower priced seats to offer those who can't afford the high priced options (lotteries, rush, etc.)

People will pay the $125, $250 or sometimes even $500 for the right ticket to the right show, which demonstrates that people are not price resistant. 

They are value resistant. 

We need to stop worrying about how to decrease prices and start worrying about how to increase value. 

Your customers will pay top dollar plus for an experience that they believe is worth it.  Your job is to make the value of your ticket seem even higher than the price your customer is paying so it seems like they got a bargain.

Oh and to all the people that say we need to cut the price of the ticket to save the American theater, I point to all of the shows that have discounted tickets down to the $20s and $30s to "save their show" only to still see them close (there is no value in a crappy show).

And, vice-versa, every time I've raised prices on a Broadway or Off-Broadway show, attendance never drops.

The day of the $1,000 theater ticket will be here some day, and as depressing as that sounds, don't worry.  It'll still be less than what a lot of people pay for tickets to the Super Bowl or The Kentucky Derby.

Favorite Quotes: Volume IV

"Ambition wins over genius 99 percent of the time.  Sooner or later, the other guy is going to have to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, get laid, or take a vacation, and that's when I catch him."
                                - Jay Leno

Jay doesn't think he's that smart.  Ironic, because I think it takes a genius to say what he did and to do what he has done.

Does what he say work?  Well, when both he and Letterman went back to work without writers, he came out on top.  In fact, when the ratings came out, NBC Late Nite Programming Chief Rick Ludwin said, "The audience made the decision of which of the two hosts they wanted to watch . . . They made the decision 13 years ago."

Boo-ya!

I get called a workaholic a lot.  I hate that word, because I don't think it's work when you love what you do.  But hey, if Jay is a workaholic, then by all means folks, slur away, because that's some nice company and maybe Jay can take me for a ride in one of his 180 cars at the workaholic convention.

Want to read more about Leno's work ethic and how much he loves what he does . . . so much in fact that he acknowledges that it was ok that he trumped Letterman and got paid less?  Click here.