Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

This news deserves its own post: Speed The Plow Recoups!

Score one in the win column . . .

Broadway Revival of Speed-the-Plow recoups!

As you can expect, this one feels even sweeter than other shows of mine that have recouped, because of what we have been through lately (and if you don't know what I'm talking about then come out of the cave, the weather is fine).  

All of us on the Producing team owe an incredible debt of gratitude to Neil Pepe and everyone on the Speed team who seamlessly transitioned us from our departed "star" to our understudy (Jordan Lage) to Norbert to Bill, while maintaining the production's quality and even increasing it.  

And a big thank you to the audiences that keep coming to see great actors in a great play.  3 weeks left!

Why parking is like Producing.

While I was in Florida over the weekend, I went to see the stage-to-screen adaptation of Frost/Nixon.  (BTW, score another one in the win column for stage properties going 2d on us.)

The parking lot for the AMC was pretty packed, but I was lucky enough to snag a  decent spot for my rental on my first spin around.

Not so lucky was the couple that I watched drive around for about ten minutes, obviously looking for the "perfect" spot.  I could just imagine the conversation going on inside the car:

WIFE:  There's one.
HUSBAND:  We can find one closer.
WIFE:  Look!  They are leaving!
HUSBAND:  Where? 
WIFE:  Sorry. False alarm.  I swear I saw their reverse light go on.
HUSBAND:  Is that one?
WIFE:  No.  Handicapped spot.  Why not take the one we saw by the Chili's?
HUSBAND:  We'll find one closer.
WIFE:  The movie is at 8.
HUSBAND:  We have time.  You don't need popcorn.  There!
WIFE:  No.  Just park. It'll be good for you to walk.
HUSBAND:  We're not leaving this car until we find the perfect spot, got it?

We've all done it. 

The truth is . . . you can drive around for hours looking for the perfect spot, just like you can wait for years, trying to find the perfect project. 

And when you do that, you not only waste time, but you'll eventually run out of gas.

Are you holding off producing something because you're looking for the perfect project?  Ask yourself . . . what is the worst thing that could happen if you produced a project that was 75% perfect?  50% perfect? 

Really.  Ask yourself.  What is the absolute worst thing that could happen?  We're not brain surgeons.  No one is going to live or die by what we do. 

So park the car.  Walk the extra fifty feet.  And wave at the soon-to-be ex-husband and wife who are going to miss the beginning of the movie.

At the Broadway League Conference: Day 2/Is mobile marketing the future?

Day 2 of the conference brought us a lesson from mobile marketer Jared Reitzin of mobileStorm, who had these startling stats to share with us about that electronic device that's in your pocket right now.

• 84% of people in the US have a cell phone
• 95% of those phones have text messaging capabilities
• 82% of people aged 18-49 use text messaging, take pictures or access the internet through their cell phone
• 33% of people change their email address within the course of 1 year, as opposed to only 5% of people who change their cell phone number.

And the big one that shows the size of this tsunami-like wave that's hitting our marketing shores?

• In June of '07, 7.2 billion SMS messages were sent in the US.
• In June of '08 . . . that number increased to 75 billion.

Think texting has traction or what? 

Think about this . . . If people are doing all this with their phones now, just imagine what they will be doing in 1 year . . . 5 years . . . 10 years?

You can't imagine?  Well, you should.

The best in business aren't thinking about what's happening today.  Frankly, that's for your managers.  The best in business, the leaders, the CEOs, and yes, the Producers, are thinking about what's going to happen next, so they can surf what I call "The Tomorrow-Tsunami" all the way to shore, while their competitors are being drowned by the undertow.

We recently rolled out a text program as a subsidiary of BroadwaySpace.  Honestly?  We're like a clumsy adolescent in a dark room, tripping over ourselves trying to find our way around.  But that's ok.  The hope is that we're in the space early enough that by the time the lights come on, we'll be all 'growed' up.  If you want watch and see if we make it to manhood, sign up today.

And if you've got a sense of something coming on the horizon, don't sleep in.  Get up, get on your board and start paddling.

At the Broadway League Conference: Day 1/The Emotion of Broadway

Too often, as Producers, we focus on the flaws of marketing Broadway.  (Frankly, too often, as People, we focus on the flaws of everything!)

So this story from Sandy Block, Chief Creative Officer of Super Power Serino Coyne on the first day of the Broadway League conference, was a rare positive look at our assets, instead of our liabilities.

Once upon a time, while Sandy was teaching a marketing class at NYU, a student asked why, with the challenges of Broadway's limited distribution channels, its high prices, the strangling costs of the NY Times, we even bothered trying to advertise The Fabulous Invalid.

Sandy stopped the class and, like all smart marketers do, did some testing and took a survey.

He asked the class to raise their hands if they remembered the first movie they ever saw.

A few hands were raised.

Then he asked the class to raise their hands if they remembered the first Broadway show they ever saw.

ALL of the hands went up.

There's a highly emotional experience connected with Broadway; a passion that can be turned into profit . . . and that was the subject of today's session speech by Alan Zorfas of BrandIformatics, a company that measures the emotion connected to industries and companies.

So thanks to Sandy and companies like BI, we know that Broadway is highly emotional.

Now the real question is, how can we capitalize on that?

Let's all take Sandy's poll:

Can you remember your first movie and your first show without spending too much time thinking about it?

Tell us below.

- - - - -

Speaking of Broadway being emotional, click here to hear Patti Lupone get all emo on a unofficial photographer during her final performance of Gypsy. 

If she got this mad at the photographer, imagine what she said when she found out the whole show was recorded by someone else . . . and put on YouTube!

Favorite Quotes Volume XVI: An entrepreneur speaks about raising money.

My latest fav read as I wait (and wait) for the (over crowded) 1 train during rush hour is Entrepreneur magazine. 

While Broadway and Off-Broadway theater Producers have a lot to learn from each other about the business of producing, we can learn even more about business in general from businessmen and women in other industries (too often we forget that we even are a business).

The truth is, every time we start a new show, we are opening a new "start-up" company, and many of our issues cross industry lines . . . including raising money.

In a recent issue of Entrepreneur, franchisee Jay Palmer of Floyd's 99 barbershop, talked about his recent financing woes and his inability to get a loan.  So, he was forced to do what Producers do every day . . . appeal to a private investor. 

We found a personal investor and brought him into the shop. We gave him a shave and a haircut, [showing] him that the concept is great and the experience is unbelievable--great music, great vibe, great atmosphere. I wasn't even there [when he visited the store].  After all that, he was happy to write a check for $150,000. He had some financial figures, but [it came down to] seeing a stream of people coming in and out the door, knowing our customers and our employees are happy, and realizing this is a good business.

Jay's story once again proves that the most important P in the marketing mix is Product.

Numbers are essential.  But even the best financial plan or best recoupment schedule means bupkis unless the product is fantastic (you need fans to be fantastic) .  Think about it . . . it would be great if you could recoup your show in 3.5 weeks at 35%, and that certainly decreases the risk. But if your show is Bobbi Boland, then what good does that killer financial plan get you?

So what's to learn from Jay the entrepreneur? 

Create a great show.  Then get it up on its feet, in the most fully realized way possible (the money I raised for The Awesome 80s Prom was the easiest I ever raised - because the workshop WAS the show.)

Because if you build it, they will write the check.

- - - -

More fun from entrepreneur:  check out their list of best and worst marketing ideas ever. 

Fishing in Times Square.

When I first moved to NYC, the only people selling stuff on the street were hookers and dealers.  And not the ones from Sweet Charity. 

It's quite a different story these days.  Take a look at some of the street teams we snapped pictures of over the last few weeks.  So many shows were street walking:  Chicago, Shrek, White Xmas, Altar Boyz, Spamalot, 39 Steps and 142 comedy clubs (not to mention the caricaturists, photographers, people like Duane, and more). 

Why the change?  Simple.  When Times Square became a destination in the 90s, instead of a destination to avoid, the marketers descended upon it . . . because the pond was suddenly stocked.

Let me explain.

When I was a kid and used to fish . . . ok, scratch that . . . when I was a kid and used to make someone else put the worm on the hook and someone else take the fish off the hook and I would just hold the pole . . . we always knew when our local lake had been "stocked", or when lots of fish had been literally dropped into the water for the catchin' (a bit sick, I realize).  We used to look for the place along the lake where they had put in the fish, hoping the fish stayed in that area.  We stick our pole in the water and pull out fish after fish.

Times Square is now stocked with tourists, now that it's a much healthier  environment for our fish to live, breathe and buy tickets for shows.

Thankfully, you don't have to put a worm on a hook to make that happen.  You just have to have a killer street team that knows how to sell.

 

Top Five Biggest Broadway Grossers of '08. Are we like the movies?

As promised, here's the follow up to yesterday's post re: the top 10 grossing domestic films of 2008.

Since the film industry produces so much more product than we do, I thought it best to compare the top 10 grossing films domestically with the top 5 grossing shows (interesting to note that there isn't an off-Broadway in film - pretty much everything gets lumped together - that's a subject for another post).

Before I name the Top 5 Grossers . . . can you guess what they are? 

Go on.  Give a shot.

When you've got them in your head, scroll down.

scroll . . .

scroll . . .

scroll . . .

Almost there . . .

scroll . . .

scroll . . .

scroll . . .

Here we go . . .

1.  Wicked                                    $75,641,794
2.  The Lion King                         $61,014,194
3.  Jersey Boys                            $58,871,925
4.  The Little Mermaid                  $49,184,168
5.  Mamma Mia                            $47,580,493

Well?  Think we have the same trends as the film industry? 

I'm not so sure if the trends are as strong, but there is certainly something there.  3 out of 5 are the same big budget "fantasies" that the film audiences love.  And the other two are jukebox musicals. 

And all based on pre-exisiting material - either a book, a movie, or a songbook.  

Curious about the 2nd set of 5?  Here's where we start to mix it up a bit:

6.  Mary Poppins                           $42,743,618
7.  The Phantom Of The Opera    $39,044,221
8.  South Pacific                            $35,817,950* (partial year)
9.  In The Heights                          $34,001,301* (partial year)
10.  Spamalot                                $32,386,699

Or do we?  Once again . . . all are based on pre-existing material, except for one.

Now which shows do you think will make the Top 5 next year? 

Special thanks to Beverley D. Mac Keen and New World Stages for the research and for allowing me to borrow their cool spreadsheets.

Want a monster in the movie biz? You need a monster.

Variety just released their report on the the 250 top grossing films in the US in 2008.  Take a look at the top 10, and see if you notice some of the same trend that I did.

1.  The Dark Knight
2.  Iron Man
3.  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
4.  Hancock
5.  Wall-E
6.  Kung Fu Panda
7.  Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
8.  Twilight
9.  Quantum of Solace
10.  Horton Hears a Who

Every single of one of these films, the biggest domestic blockbusters of 2008, is a fantasy. 

And in every single one, the main character 1) is male and 2) possesses super-human abilities or isn't even even human! 

The regular people films, like Juno, don't start to appear on the list until the next ten. 

Interesting, no?

So if you want to make a lot of money in the movies, produce a super-hero type fantasy with a male lead, right?

Well, yes . . . and no. Remember, these are gross sales, not net profit after expenses.

Sure, Dark Knight took in $531 million domestically.  But it cost $185 million.  That's a profit of $346 mill, or 187% domestically.

Juno, our darling #18 on the list, took in $112 million domestically at an initial budget of only 6.5 million.  That's a profit of 105.5 million or 1623%.

One made a lot of cash.  One made a lot of profit.

Looking just at the Broadway productions, which would you rather have running on Broadway right now . . . Shrek or In The Heights?

Tomorrow we'll look at the biggest grossing Broadway shows of 2008.  We'll see if there are any of the same trends.

Overheard at Angus: Volume II

There I am, enjoying my burger when I hear this from two folks discussing the biz at the bar:

Broadway Guy #1:  What are you working on these days?

Broadway Guy #2:  What am I working on?  What am I NOT working on!?! 

Broadway Guy #1:  You've got a bunch of things going on?  Even in this economy?

Broadway Guy #2:  Oh sure, to succeed in this business you have to work on several things at once.  Especially in this economy.

Broadway Guy #1:  I hear you.  Wasn't it Cy Coleman that used to say that working in the biz was like gardening . . . you have to plant a lot of seeds because you never know when they're going to sprout.

Broadway Guy #2:  Yeah, I've heard that. But I think working in this business is more like juggling.  You gotta have a lot of balls in the air. 

Broadway Guy #1:  Yeah.  And the person with the most balls wins.

Only at Angus, kids, only at Angus.

Speaking of balls, I've got a discount to Blithe Spirit for you (that segue made no sense, by the way, so don't even try to figure it out).  Blithe is in a big Broadway house, but the best seats are on the floor so I'm telling everyone to get your tickets with this deal asap, before the good ones are gone.  You want to be as close as you can get.  Angela Lansbury has four . . . count 'em, four Tony Awards.  Blithe is a chance to see one of our most magnificent actresses live on stage.  These opportunities don't come around often.  (Are you all starting to understand why I signed on Produce this one?)

Do you know who won five Tony Awards?  Comment below!

And email me if you want the Producer discount to Blithe.

Plowing on after Piven.

Yes, it's true. 

We started the official process of pursuing action against Mr. Piven in regards to his "pulling chute" (my expression for an early departure) from Speed.

You can read all about it here.

And that is all that I'm allowed to say about that. 

P.S.  Yes, that is me falling from a plane!

P.P.S.  Macy is kicking A over at the Barrymore, so if you want to see an actor born with Mamet coming out of his mouth, get there soon.  Only 5 weeks left.