Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

What? No "Will It Recoup" this year? Is this a trend?

Hey, don't blame me.

I wanted to play Will It Recoup.  After all, we've done it for three years in a row, and I have just as much fun as you do trying my luck at "Fantasy Broadway".

If you're new to the blog and don't know what Will It Recoup is, here's the short story.  Every Spring for the past three years I've posted a list of the limited run commercial plays opening and asked you to guess which ones you thought would recoup, and the person who got the most right answers would win some sort of a prize.

Well, imagine the shock on my face when I took a good look at the schedule this Spring, only to find . . . a lack of limited run plays to choose from!

We've usually had 9 or 10 shows to make the competition interesting, but this year, we ain't got nothing of the sort.  Seriously, let's look at the batting order this Spring for plays:

The Road to Mecca - Non Profit
Wit - Non Profit
Venus in Fur - Fall holdover and also Non Profit
Shatner's World - Not sure what this is exactly, but it's only running for a few weeks so I couldn't count it anyway.
Death of a Salesman - There's one!
The Best Man - There's two!
Magic/Bird - Open-Ended
Peter and the Starcatcher - Open-Ended
One Man, Two Guvnors -  Open-Ended
A Streetcar Named Desire - There's three!
The Columnist - Non Profit
Don't Dress for Dinner - Non Profit

Three.  Just three.

What does this mean?  Is this a trend?

Are the Non Profits picking up the bulk of the Play Producing duties these days (especially for revivals)?  Are Producers getting riskier with more open-ended attempts (there are three on this list alone, and none of them have super star power going for them)?  Is this a fluke?

Whatever it is, it sure is putting a damper on our Will It Recoup fun this Spring.  Big ol' :-(  But since this is the first time we've seen anything like this in 4 years, it is something to watch, although I'd say it's too early to call it a bona fide trend.

If you're disappointed about Will It Recoup ,don't worry.  I'll try and think of something else we can speculate on.

Hey - how about we take a survey on who is most likely to be the Tony host this year?  Hugh Jackman?  Darren Criss?  Nick Jonas?  NPH?  Debra Messing?  

 

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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How a crane reminded me about a call to action.

How many of you have played The Crane game?  You know, that crazy coin-operated carny-like game where you spend megabucks trying to win stupid stuffed animals worth about seventy-five cents just to show "your skill"?  

Ok, as you can see, I have a hate-hate relationship with The Crane . . . because I have never beat that little b*tch, and I've known too many people that could populate a small New England town with the number of stuffed animals they've won.

I bumped into The Crane on a recent stop at my favorite Friendly's Restaurant (yummmm), and while I lost about $7 trying to win a purple dinosaur, at least I did learn something.

If you've been in marketing for any length of time, you know that a call to action (ex. Buy Now, Download Today, Get Tickets) is a mandatory part of any copy.  But sometimes it's such a simple thing I've seen it forgotten.

Well, leave it to The Crane to remind us all that if you don't tell your customers what to do, there's a good chance they won't do it.  Being passive aggressive doesn't work in relationships and it doesn't work in marketing.  

"Play till you win."  That's what The Crane was telling me to do.  Don't just play.  Play till I win.  

Simple, straightforward, and damn it, I listened.  

The theater is filled with smart and clever people that come up with intelligent copy and tactics that could probably win a lot of awards.

And while I love clever, you can't forget the two most important steps in any marketing initiative are:

1.  Ask yourself what you want your customers to do.

2.  Tell your customer to do it.  

Oh, and one more tip . . . trying to tip over the entire machine so that the purple dinosaur just falls into the win box gets Friendly's managers really, really irritated.

 

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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Who won Will It Recoup? Contest and Kindle Winner Announced!

Seems like just yesterday we were all freezing our spotlights off and picking the shows we thought would make money in this year's Will It Recoup!  (If you aren't familiar with our game, click here for the original post). 

While the accounting statements may not be finalized yet, I think it's pretty safe to say that there were three shows out of the ten in the field that recouped:

That Championship Season
Ghetto Klown
The Mother with the Hat

So first, a big congrats to Broadway for the 30% success rate.  Not so bad, in this era of rising costs, wouldn't you say?

And a second congrats to reader Nick Coltone who scored a 100% in this year's contest!  Nick, you gotta start investing and producing shows because you've got an eye for the ones that work.  Just imagine what you could have done if you had some real skin in the game. :-)

Nick, drop me an email, and we'll drop you a Kindle in the mail.

And the rest of you, there's always next year.  Or maybe even this fall.  We're thinking about rolling out a fall version of Will It Recoup. What do you think?

But before we do that, back to the 30% success rate, which is pretty consistent with what the industry says is the average number of shows that recoup per year.

That's actually pretty decent in a high risk industry in my opinion.

But that's not what gets me excited.

If 30% is the average, then doesn't it make sense that with education, research and market analysis, an individual should be able to do better than that?  Doesn't that mean that you should be able to pick winners 40% of the time?  50%?  Or even more?  

I'd bet yes.  

 

(Got a comment?  I love 'em, so comment below!  Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!) 

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FUN STUFF 

- 79 Days to Godspell!  Read the day-by-day account of producing Godspell on Broadway here.

- Win 2 tickets to Hair on Broadway, and tell us what you think about nudity in theater. Click here!

 

What did you think will recoup?

Our 3rd Annual Will It Recoup contest closed up a few weeks ago, and it will be a few months before we find out who won the Kindle.  

But in the meantime, I thought it would be fun (for some) to find out what the majority of you think will recoup this year by looking at which shows got the most "It Will Recoup" votes.

Ready?

Here is what you, The Producer Perspective pundits, think:

That Championship Season 
57.7% It WILL recoup
42.3% It will NOT recoup                 

Arcadia
27.7% It WILL
72.3% It will NOT 

Ghetto Klown
32.1% It WILL
67.9% It will NOT

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
69.5% It WILL
30.5% It will NOT

The Motherf**ker with the Hat
51.4% It WILL
48.6% It will NOT
 
High
13.7% It WILL
86.3% It will NOT

Jersualem
33.8% It WILL
66.2% It will NOT

Born Yesterday
23.9% It WILL
76.1% It will NOT 

The House of Blue Leaves
59.3% It WILL
40.7% It will NOT 

Fat Pig
31% It WILL
69% It will NOT 

There are four shows out of the ten on this list that more than 50% of you think are you going to recoup.

The odds say that this majority is going to be wrong, and only 2, maybe 3, will end up in the black at the end of their limited runs.

But let this be the year that we beat the odds.   I know I'm pulling for every single one.  

- - - - - 

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It's everyone's favorite game - "Will It Recoup?" Win a Kindle!

Welcome to the third annual Fantasy Broadway game . . . Will It Recoup?!?  The only Virtual Broadway Investment game in town!

For those long-time readers, you know the drill.

For new readers, here's how Fantasy Broadway aka Will It Recoup works:

This Spring season, there are a whopping 10 straight play limited runs set to open on Broadway (one more from last year's field of 9).  

You're going to pick which ones (if any, and odds say at least 2), are going to recoup!

Simple right?  Well, we'll see about that.  Because if it were that easy, everyone would be putting up 2 million bucks, right?

The shows in the running for recoupment this season are:

That Championship Season
Arcadia
Ghetto Klown
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
The Motherf**ker with the Hat
High
Jersualem
Born Yesterday
The House of Blue Leaves
Fat Pig

Quite a line-up, right?  

It's gonna be a fun one.  So don't sit on the sidelines.  Cuz you don't have to invest a penny to play!

The winner of Will It Recoup will get a Kindle!  Woo-hoo!  Read scripts on vacation without having to check an extra bag!

Here are the rules:

- In order to validate your entry, all entrants must be email subscribers to the blog.  If you are not an email subscriber, please subscribe by putting your email in the blue box to the left of this entry.  The email you subscribe with must match the email you enter at the end of your entry.  (People have lost prizes because of failing to make sure their emails match, so please take care with this one).  If you are already an email subscriber, you don't have to do anything!

- Only one entry per reader and per household.  

- Recoupment must occur during the Broadway run to count as a recouped show (in other words, subsidiary income doesn't count).

- Entries will only be accepted until 2/20 at 11:59 PM so enter today!  

For additional info on the game, including some tips on how to win, check out the original description here.  

CLICK HERE!  PLAY TODAY!  WIN A KINDLE!

And good luck to all of you . . . and extra good luck to all of the shows opening this season!  Let's hope they all recoup!

 

Shall we play a game? The 'Be A Broadway Star' Board Game, that is!

I've always loved board games.

I've always loved Broadway.

So . . . using the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup theory (putting two things together that are fantastic on their own with the hopes of creating something even more fantastic), I created a Broadway Board Game called . . . wait for it . . . Be A Broadway Star!

Yep, forget X-Box and iPhone apps, we took it old school.  

Inspired by the classic games of everybody's youth--Life, Monopoly, Encore, Charades, and more--I'm proud to announce that today we are officially releasing a brand new board game where you play the role of a Broadway Star-to-Be! 

Fun, right?  Well, wait until you play!

Just like the life of a real wannabe Broadway actor, you'll roll the dice and go through acting school, buy pictures and resumes, try and get an agent, and of course, audition, audition, and audition some more!  

You'll even get "make or break" moments that challenge your best Broadway skills!

The player that gets to the Broadway Hall of Fame first, and has the most fans, wins!

It's interactive, it's Broadway and from what our focus group players said, it's a heck of a lot of fun!!!

And it goes without saying that we think it's a must for anyone on your holiday list this year that has ever even uttered the word Broadway.  

Buy it online at BeABroadwayStar.com.

The game will be in stores soon, but as with everything I do, I wanted my blog readers to be the first to get it . . . especially since there are only a limited number of games available.  As you can imagine, developing and building a game is quite a process, so we ordered a very small quantity for this first batch. Because the holiday season is approaching, we do expect to sell out fast.  So snatch 'em up.

(Oh, and after you get it, we'll be having a contest to see who can come up with the best "drinking game" version . . . so start thinking).

Special thanks to Travis Ferguson, Melissa Heller, Blair Ingenthron, Rick Menard, and my entire DTE team for putting in the extra effort to make this happen.  You should have seen their faces the day I came into the office and said, "I wanna make a Broadway Board Game!"  Thanks for helping to make another Davenport dream come true, guys and dolls.

Click here for more info, including how to play . . . Be A Broadway Star!