PRODUCER’S PERSPECTIVE Ken Davenport, Broadway Producer, Off-Broadway, Theater

What I learned from a Mall or Four ways to keep your audience at your theater.

If you run a theater anywhere in the world, your goal should not only be to get your audience to your theater, it should also be to keep your audience at your theater.

The longer they hang around, the more they think of it as a place of respite and entertainment, and the many more tickets they will purchase.  Expand the brand and they will buy.

I call it "Mall theory:"  creating a destination where people want to hang out . . . and eventually they'll spend money, because you'll be able to reinforce your message more often, and educate your consumers on all that you have to offer. For you Sondheim lovers, I also call it, "Spreading pitch on the stairs," so your audiences get stuck.  (Name the show!)

While a theater or a theater complex will never have the traffic of the Mall of America, there are a number of very small and inexpensive perks that a theater can provide to keep consumers coming back, and maybe, sticking around.  Here are Four Ways To Keep Your Audiences At Your Theater.

1.  Free Wifi

With more and more devices that need Wifi (like the iPad) for their full functionality, a free Wifi spot is like an oasis in the desert.  I'll plop myself for hours in a comfortable spot just to have that access, and I'm sure your audience will, too.  Add Free Wifi to all your common areas, and put signs for it everywhere.  You'll have people stopping by sooner than you think (there's no coincidence that Starbucks just traded out their pay Wifi service for free service for all).  Once your WiFi-ers are online, make them sign up for your mailing list in order to access the web.

2.  Live Music

People love live music and it doesn't take much to get an up-and-coming singer/songwriter to play a few tunes in your lobby or wherever people may congregate.  Or better . . . use your theater itself (which is probably dark during the day) for free lunchtime concerts for local artists.  I know a bunch of folks who'd do it for tips or for the credit (it's the coffee house or subway tunnel approach).  

3.  Food/Drinks

Speaking of coffee, do you offer free coffee at non-peak times?  I'm not saying you have to have the best Columbian beans brewing for every passerby, but some basic free coffee is an incredible pull.  There is a Cub Scout group on I-95 that uses this bait and catches a lot of fish.  They put a huge "STAY AWAKE!  FREE COFFEE AT NEXT REST STOP!" sign on the highway, and get thousands of people pulling over.  They do have free coffee . . . and a bunch of other bake sale items for sale.  I bought a rice krispie treat.  And I don't even drink coffee. Beyond coffee, strike a deal with a local deli or sandwich shop to get a few sandwiches on consignment.  How many times have you gone to the mall just for the food court, and ended up buying something while you're there?  We need food and drink in order to survive.  Unfortunately, the same isn't true for theater.  So, put what we need in your place, and you'll get more people coming by.  

4.  Lectures

People love to learn.  This is especially true of theater audiences (according to League statistics, 73% of the Broadway audience has college degrees, and 36% has graduate degrees).  So get some people to give free talks and lectures about a variety of subjects.  Have a Broadway Producer come and chat about what it's like to Produce on Broadway (I'd do it).  Have a local painter come and talk about how she gets her inspiration for her paintings.  Or have an investment banker come and talk about how to navigate the choppy market (the subjects don't have to be about the arts - they just have to be about the audience).  By providing these free mini continuing-ed courses, you'll be giving something of great value to your audience, which should engender a reciprocal give-back to you, in the form of a ticket purchase or a donation.

Audiences are like children.  You want them playing in your own backyard so you can keep an eye on them, make sure they aren't being influenced by others, and . . . tell them what to do.

How do you keep your audiences at your theater?
 

5 MORE Takeaways from the Get Your Show Off The Ground Seminar.

Last Saturday, another great group of super passionate producers, writers, artists and more woke up early and spent the day with me and the other entrepreneurial artists who signed up for my Get Your Show Off The Ground Seminar. 

We had a blast.

We heard about all sorts of projects at various stages of development.  We talked about finding and signing collaborators, how to wear multiple hats on multiple projects, and yes, you guessed it, we talked about how to raise all those important funds.  And everyone walked away with a to-do list that they were psyched to check off.  

While it's impossible to recreate the energy of the room in a blog, I thought I'd do what I did after the last seminar, and post five simple takeaways that resonated with the group, that will hopefully resonate with you.

• Creating experiential entertainment has never been more important than it is today.
• The nicer the theater you put your show in, the higher the expectations from your audience and the press, will be.
• Your agents and your lawyers work for you.  You do not work for them.
• Developing scripts can be like sick children.  And if your kid isn't getting better, don't stick with your one doctor.  Take him/her to the best doctor you can afford.
• Just because your show doesn't belong on Broadway, doesn't mean it doesn't belong.

There was a ton of other great stuff that came out of the seminar, and so much of it came from the participants themselves!  These seminars have turned into great collaborative think tanks of some of the most exciting and emerging theatrical minds I've seen.  Thanks for being so awesome, guys.

If you'd like to participate in one of my seminars, sign up today by clicking here. The next seminar will be on Saturday, November 13th. (The timing is ideal for all of you post-festival peeps curious about what to do AFTER the festival.)  FYI, I've modified the structure a bit to make the seminar more efficient, but that also means that there are only 12 spots available.  These spots will go fast, so register today.  

Click here for more info and we'll see you there!

Let the truth spark your original story.

Creating original works, whether they are screenplays, sonnets or shows, is incredibly difficult.  This is one of the reasons why 64% of the productions on Broadway over the last 30 years have been adaptations (Another reason?  People want them more than you think).  

Often I get what I think are great ideas for new productions.  Maybe I've imagined a setting or a storyline that I think would translate well to the stage.

But then what?  Either I have to put my fingers to the keyboard and crank the sucker out, or I have to commission a writer to take my idea and spin it into gold.

Once you get going, the writing comes easier.  An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and one at rest . . . well, you know the physics.

But how do you start a totally original idea that is entirely made up?

Start with something that isn't made up.

I always look for some specific kernel of truth to inspire me or my writers to start the story.  If I'm working on a show that takes place in a small town in New Jersey, I'll find a small town in New Jersey, take a Zip Car across the bridge and spend a day there, soaking up the specifics about that town.  If I'm working on a show that is about a duck hunter, you can bet I'm going to track down an actual duck hunter and hang out with him or her for a day or two.  If I'm doing a show about medieval times, you can bet I'm going to go back in time and . . . ok, maybe I'll read about the middle ages instead.

Some people call this research. I call it The Story Spark Plug.  

Just a little bit of truth . . . just a little bit of non-fiction . . . can beget the best original stories around.

Need an example?  

Sunday night Mark Boal won the Academy Award for Best ORIGINAL Screenplay for his movie, The Hurt Locker, which is about a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War.

Before writing the movie, Mark was a freelance journalist who was embedded with a bomb squad.  

Huh.  I wonder where he first heard the phrase, "the hurt locker."

Homework isn't just for kids.

When we were in school, most of us did our homework.

Why?

Because someone said we had to.  So we did it.  Pretty simple. 

Maybe you knew your homework would factor into your grade, which would factor into what college you went to, and so on . . . but basically, you did it because someone told you to do it, and gave you a day when it was due.

Every day I hear people talk about how they haven't finished writing a script, or how they haven't finished editing their film, or a stand-up routine, or a song, and so on.  

And I wonder . . . if that script, or film or stand-up routine was homework . . . would they have finished it?

I'd bet yes.

And when so much of success is just finishing what you're working on, or executing that great idea that you've been kicking around for years, there has got to be a way to create a systematic approach to help you do just that.

That's why I'm an advocating an Adult Homework System . . . or AHS.

Here's how it works:

• Find yourself a friend, a teacher, a shrink, or even a random person online.
• Describe what you want to accomplish (complete a script, a song, or whatever).
• Make that person give you your homework with a due date.
• Do it in the allotted time.
• Rinse and repeat.

Make sense?  

I'd bet you finish what you're working on a lot faster (and probably with even better results).  (There's probably an idea for a great social networking website here, where people sign up to be "teachers" or "students" and are randomly assigned to one another, and the teachers help the students' dreams come true.)

It's hard to motivate yourself.  That's why the educational system exists (and why it costs so much freakin' money).  

And there is nothing wrong with asking for a little help to keep you on track.

Because homework isn't just for kids.

It's for students.

And life is about learning every single day. 

It's raining customers...hallelujah.

We’re lucky.
 
We know there’s a market for what we do.  
 
We know there are thousands upon thousands of people that want to see the theater every single day.
 
It’s literally pouring audience members.
 
Your job as a Producer and Marketer is to collect as much of that rain as possible.  
 
Think of every marketing initiative you execute like putting out a pot whose purpose is to catch the rain as it comes falling down.  
 
The great P&Ms put out all different sizes and shapes of pots every day.  Some they pay for (big media buys), others they make on their own (press and publicity).
 
The day you don’t is the day your own personal drought will set in.  

5 Takeaways from the Get Your Show Off The Ground Seminar.

This past Saturday, a bunch of super-passionate peeps of all different types, from producers to writers to producer/writers, etc., joined me for my Get Your Show Off The Ground Seminar.

We had a great time, and I have to thank all of my participants for their creativity, ingenuity and their desire to do what we all do.  There were some great (and I mean really great) projects that came from the minds of these folks.  And I think we did a great job incubating them all.

We talked about finding investors, getting rights, the pros and cons of festivals, the benefits of a lawyer, determining your hourly value, and much much more.  

To give you a sample, here are five quickie-takeaways from the seminar:

1. You are what you say you are.
2. People don't invest in projects, they invest in people.
3. Birth your baby.
4. Diversify your producing programming.
5. Never wait.

If you missed out on this seminar, don't worry, I have just scheduled my next seminar for Saturday, June 19th.  That date may seem far off, but it's coming sooner than you think, and because of how quickly my last seminar sold out, I strongly urge you to reserve now (I picked a June date specifically for those of you planning Fringe or NYMF style productions this summer/fall.  Your shows should be heating up at that time.)  

For more details on the seminar and to book your spot today, visit my Seminar page here.  (There are also some testimonials from some of this past week's participants, so you can learn what they thought directly from them!)

Thanks again to everyone that participated this past Saturday!  I expect great things from all of you, so go get 'em.

For the rest of you out there looking to get your show off the ground, I'll see you at the next seminar!

Get Your Show Off The Ground
Saturday, June 19th
10 AM - 6 PM

Book today by visiting here.

What do great Chefs and great Producers have in common?

Successful chefs and successful Producers have one thing in common.  

In the old days, I'd say that they both wore big hats.

Nowadays, it's as simple as this:

They both have to have great taste.  

There are all different kinds of chefs in the world.  Some chefs cook to their own taste, ignoring those that they're serving.  They may not be very "successful," but they may be fulfilled nonetheless.  

Some chefs cook only the way their diners enjoy, at times serving dishes that they wouldn't eat themselves in order to guarantee their survival and their "success."  

As a Producer, you have to decide what type of chef you're going to be.  Do you want to force-feed people a menu that suits only your own taste buds?  Do you want to serve the lowest-common denominator dishes, but serve a ton of it?

Or do you want to be one of the masters, who can find the balance between the two?  

Do you want to be the kind that both satisfies and challenges both yours and your customers' taste buds?

If you can pull that off, you can wear whatever kind of hat you want.

Advice from an Expert: Vol. XVI. My Mom.

I spoke to a recent college grad the other day who was debating the question that we're all faced with as we start our professional lives:  "What do I want to do with my life?"

I remember asking myself the same question when I was a few years out of school, because I was bouncing around from job to job and just didn't feel like I found my niche.  I acted, I stage managed, I worked for an agent . . . nothing seemed to fit.

So, I did what recent college grads do.  I called Mommy.

I told Momma Davenport that I was thinking of quitting my job because it didn't feel right.  Then I started feeling guilty for having tried so many things, and asked her when she thought I'd figure out what I wanted to do?

Mom said, "Hey, think of it this way.  With every job you have, you may not be figuring out what you want to do, but at least you're figuring out what you don't want to do."

She was right.  And to use an analogy that my instructor for my Princeton Review SAT course would be proud of . . .

Life is like the SATs.  If you don't the answer right away, eliminate the wrong ones, and the choice will be easier.

-----

The 2nd Annual Producers Perspective Social is TONIGHT, and it's SOLD OUT!

Free drink!  Door prizes include show tickets, merch, a 6-month subscription to PerformerTrack Webware, and a Kindle!

Click here for details.(please note, due to overwhelming demand the Social will now at be Hurley's Saloon)  

10 Things this Producer is thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 

I love holidays.  Family, food, and big box office numbers.  Mmm, mmm, good.

In addition to being thankful for the flock of tourists coming to town from now through New Year's, here is a list of my ten other theatrical thankfuls this year.

1.  The Producers of Avenue Q had the courage to try an unprecedented downsize with their move Off-Broadway.  By doing so they kept over 50 people employed and just may have opened up a whole new 'avenue' of distribution for Broadway shows of a certain size.

2.  I got the rights to a book called Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage.  It'll be the female version of Defending The Caveman.  Give me 12 months max, and it'll be up.

3. I moved into a new office, and already it feels like we're ready for something bigger.  Offices are like aquariums . . . always get the bigger one, because when you get it home, you're going to want it.

4. The Independent Theater Bloggers Association (The ITBA) was formed and now has 40+ members!  The bod chose a group of award winners for the 2008-2009 season, and at the same time just may have unofficially declared the start of the new media revolution in the theatrical industry.

5.  My Dad had a subdural hematoma, had emergency brain surgery, and is now better than ever (ok, that's not theatrical, but if anything deserved a standing ovation on this list, it would be this one).

6.  Thanks in part to new management and in part to NPH, the Tony Awards ratings were up 20% in key demos!

7.  My investors, as well as a whole slew of theatrical investors, stayed in the theatrical waters this past year, despite the choppy economy.  They understand that investing in the theater is like investing in the market.   Diversify, stay in the game, and the one that we're all waiting for will come.

8.  Michael Riedel at the NY Post mentioned the BroadwaySpace.com "50 Most Powerful People on Broadway" article in his column not once, but twice.  I'm thankful that I only commissioned the article and didn't write it, because I heard there were some really happy people and some really peeved people.

9.  Leslie Arden signed on to write music and lyrics for Somewhere In Time.  After several years of searching for the right person, I found her.  I felt like Richard Collier himself.  The first reading will take place in the summer of 2010, if not sooner. 

10.  Finally, I'm thankful for my readers.  Not only have you multipled over the last 12 months, but the comments and discussions that are emerging on the blog are exactly why I started writing in the first place.  We're increasing the volume of the conversation about making Broadway, Off-Broadway and theater in general work, both artistically and financially.  And when we do that, we all benefit.

And now I'll sign off this entry with the same Kenism I used last year:

Enjoy your T-day. Just remember . . .

Eat a turkey.  Don't produce one.

What we can learn from Gmail.

For years after its initial release (remember when you had to be invited?), Gmail was in "beta", or the software equivalent of "previews".  Only recently did Google strip the beta moniker from its logo on Gmail, Calendar and a lot of its other products.

Could a consumer have told the difference over the last 5 years?  Not likely.  Beta was just Google's way of protecting itself, yes, but also its way of saying, "We are committed to changes on a daily basis until we make our product  better, and then we'll figure out even more stuff to change until we can better it still."

Not a bad way to think about any product, don't you think?

I heard a Web Marketing Guru speak about how to design a website, and he said that websites are never final; great websites are in a state of perpetual beta. 

He was right, of course. By studying analytics, conversion rates, etc. we should be making constant changes to our designs to make even the smallest of improvements (increasing an surfer's time on the site, whether they sign up for email lists, etc.).  A small improvement a day adds up to a monstrous improvement in a year.  Your website will be a conversion machine!

But why not apply perpetual beta to other things as well?

Your advertising campaign should be in perpetual beta. You should constantly be looking at your results, making adjusting, surveying, modifying, and beta-ring your campaign.   

What else?

Well, shows, as opposed to movies and books, are in perpetual beta.  Films get shot, edited and released, and are never tinkered with again.  Books are written, edited and published, and are pretty final.  But plays and musicals change a bit each night with each audience and new actors, etc.  And that's what makes them exciting.  You can always find a way to improve.

What about non-show stuff? 

Well, if you're a yoga-ite, then you're in perpetual beta; always stretching, extending, reaching for more.

And you know what else?  Without getting too self-helpy . . . our lives are in perpetual beta.

It takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work to take long intense looks at ourselves, our products, our campaigns, and push ourselves to make improvements . . . and then start over again.  It ain't easy

But being in a state of perpetual beta is what leads us to professional and personal success.