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Yesterday was the most Super Tuesday ever. We announced the recoupment of all three of my shows: Altar Boyz, The Awesome 80s Prom and My First Time.
Read the article in the New York Times here, and the Playbill article here.
Ok, truth time. Altar Boyz and My First Time did both recoup at the end of 2007 and at the same time. However, The Awesome 80s Prom recouped a year or so ago.
Why did I wait to announce it?
Certainly I was itching to get it out there that I had returned the investment of my first show out of the box. But press releases can't be about ego. They have to be about press. The goal of each release is to get as many media members as possible to write about it, which increases the possibility that more people will read it, which increases the possibility that more people will buy tickets, and so on and so on.
I didn't release it last year because I knew no one would have written about it (a fact confirmed by one of the reporters who interviewed me about all three recouping). And even if someone did, it wouldn't have gotten a lot of attention from readers. It just wasn't exciting enough.
But put it back to back with two other releases announcing the recoupment of shows from the same producer, emailed to the media within seconds of each other? All of a sudden it feels more exciting, doesn't it?
Be objective about the news you have and don't talk unless you know people are listening. Eli Manning wouldn't throw a pass that he knew didn't have a prayer of being caught. He'd wait, scramble in the pocket (almost getting sacked), and then throw it when he knew there was at least a possibility of completion.
So wait until you have open receivers.
(I have to wonder if that is the first ever football/theater analogy in the history of the blogosphere. My step-dad would be very proud, even though he's from Massachusetts and probably still sitting in his Patriots jersey and sobbing.)
Oh, the other reason I announced three shows recouping at once? I wanted to stick it to these bitterinas who last year said that "Commercial Off-Broadway is Dead". Hopefully this will prove that it's not dead. It's just sick. And it has been for a long time.
So here's the question: if someone you loved was very ill and possibly dying, would you just keep giving them the same boring 'ol medicine year after year? No, you'd try everything: experimental drugs, holistic medicine, and even The Secret.
Off-Broadway isn't dead. It just needs new medicine.
And as a Producer, you are the pharmaceutical company.
