Jps Case Study

John Paul SharpINTE 5160: Managing ILT Programs

Talent Solutions for Independent Theatre Production CompaniesMarch 24th, 2012

Table of Contents

Background 3

Professional Profiles 4 Tammy Franklin of Curtain Productions 4 Lacy Sarco of Copious Love Productions 4

Problem 5

Proposed Solutions 5 A Co-operational Production 6 A Volunteer Appreciation Program 8 Combining the Two Ideas 9

Summary 10

References 12

Appendix 13

John Paul Sharp “Talent Solutions for Independent Theatre Companies”

Table of Contents Page 2 of 20

BackgroundThe most common problem independent theatre production companies (ITPCs) face is making a sustainable level of profit to maintain their activities. Evidence of how a negative economy can harm funding and cut business for local theatre is confirmed in a 2008 article in the Denver Post:

“We won’t know the full impact of the economic meltdown on area theaters for a year, but most will face reactionary declines in everything from corporate and individual donations to season subscriptions to program advertisements.”1

This isn’t just a problem in Denver and it hasn’t gone away either. In past years, many theatre production companies in Seattle struggled to keep their doors open. Even larger, seemingly successful companies have seen better days, like the Intiman Theatre, which cancelled their 2011 season abruptly due to overwhelming debt and a lack of new funding resources.2 Last year, the National Endowment for the Arts chairman Rocco referred back to statistics discovered in their 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts when sparking a discussion about supply and demand for live performance art:

“(The SPPA) reports a five percentage point decrease in arts audiences in this country. This is juxtaposed against a 23% increase in not-for-profit arts organizations, and a rate of growth for not-for-profit performing arts organizations, specifically, that was 60% greater than that for the total U.S. population.”3

While the purpose of this case study is not geared towards solving this issue, which is too mountainous to address in this format, presenting the overall obstacle ITPCs face helps to justify the issue of not being able to pay the talent who participate in productions. In interviews with two ITPCs, Curtain Productions in Denver and Copious Love Productions in Seattle, their major concerns were with managing quality of talent and maintaining working relationships with talented professionals.



Professional ProfilesI chose two ITPCs that I had 1) either worked with in the past or 2) currently work with today. Because there truly are so many new and relatively unknown ITPCs out there, I wanted to interview companies that I believed were successful in terms of their work ethic and public participation. While there was a small chance the information I could glean would be tarnished from our familiarity, I actually believe that the opposite is true. Because running and managing an ITPC can be a deeply difficult and personal process for many people, trust is an issue in communication about project management experiences and so a little familiarity doesn’t hurt in our conversing.

Both companies were given the original Case Study Proposal and presented with 8 similar questions related to project management in the theatre arts. Go to the Appendix to read the complete interviews. Both companies present similarities in their sense of detail, planning and work ethic.

Tammy Franklin of Curtain ProductionsCurtain Productions began in August of 2006 as an educational theatre company offering just 2 shows: one for younger students and one for middle-high schoolers. In 2008, they expanded into a professional company and did well with their first 3 shows and decided to then commit to a show a month for two years. It was very effective as they increased their visibility and public participation. Now they intend to scope down their productions and continue to build on their initial audience base.

Their shows are all family friendly and they produce a lot of musicals in addition to standard theatre plays. While most of their productions are licensed classics, occasionally, they will produce original works and musical fundraisers.

Lacy Sarco of Copious Love ProductionsCopious Love Productions is a fresh, new company started by three close friends in their early 20s: Lacy Sarco as Executive Producer, Chelsea Madsen as Artistic Director, and Tony Gavilanes as Business & Technical Manager. Since July of 2011, they have produced two full-length theatre plays and are currently producing a fundraising event in March and their first ever original musical in



June of 2012. They are an affiliated partner of Shunpike, an organization that supports office and fiscal related support to artists.

All of their work is completely original and executed from concept to finished product through the high-level cooperation of these three individuals. In my own experience working with them, I have seen how well they are able to bring in public participation and they are clearly one of the more ambitious new ITPCs to come about in the Seattle theatre market in the last year.

ProblemWhile Franklin’s main struggle is about earning enough money to afford to pay talent (e.g., actors, directors, stage managers, musicians and technical crew), Sarco’s main concern right now is scheduling all of this talent and managing unpredictable people who are able to put the quality of their productions at great risk. Both companies value loyalty and desire to keep quality talent and pay actors and other professionals, but cannot foresee doing so in the immediate future. Alternatively presented, this case study will address the following issues:

1. Talent goes unpaid for productions due to financial limitations.2. Talent is hard to manage and communicate with. 3. Quality talent is preferred, but difficult to keep.

Proposed SolutionsIn all reasonable seriousness, I imagine most professionals out there simply accept these problems as part of doing business and that is perfectly acceptable. For ITPCs interested in taking a proactive direction to potential solutions, I propose two separate ideas that can be used individually or in combination with one another.

1. A Co-operational Production2. A Volunteer Appreciation Program

How can an ITPC recruit quality talent and continue to grow with them, while showing some type of appreciation under limited financial resources? One idea is to budget time and planning to create multiple incentives for volunteers that



give them a greater sense of ownership over their experience with an ITPC and a greater sense of community within the organization. According to The Community Toolbox, an online resource for community development, incentives 1) increase morale, 2) recruit and retain good help, 3) increase productivity, and 4) decrease real, or perceived, favoritism within an organization.4

A Co-operational ProductionAt its most fundamental core, giving ownership to actors and other talent in an individual production is the most straightforward way to engage volunteers. By giving them a small percentage of netted profits, volunteers would ideally be incentivized to make the production as successful as possible.

For example, if a show had a cast of 8 performers, 1 sound/lights guy, 1 hair stylist, 1 makeup artist, 1 costumer, and an executive producer, creative director, and business director, the netted profits from a show could be divvied out equally at 6.67%. If the show were able to make $500 in profit for its run, each individual would get $33.35. It’s not a great deal of money, but it’s substantial enough that an individual would feel recognized for having worked hard. Additionally, if the higher-level roles of creative director and executive producer wished, they could use their portion to pay for a cast party or simply return it back into the company. The company could also give other roles the ability to donate their portion back, but I would not recommend doing so as it might likely create an awkwardness detracting volunteers from a proud sense of ownership. Likewise, if an individual in one of the higher-level roles thinks using the $33.35 to treat him or herself is a prudent way to stay revitalized, all the better. A larger percentage could be saved to go straight back to the company. The point isn’t to follow this example directly, but to get a sense of how to include everyone in the process as virtually equal owners of the production’s success. Implementing a co-operational model into a production would take extra time and planning, but it doesn’t necessarily need to take money from the budget before profits.

Producing a production with this model of ownership would work best in situations where one person could perform multiple roles. For example, finding scripts that maximize roles from minimal casts, so that 4 actors can function in a cast for 8 can double the amount of ownership one individual volunteer has (i.e.,



an actor gets 13.33% share of the profits totaling $66.70.) Equally as ideal, an actor could also function as the hair stylist or creative director, etc. Any time a volunteer’s unique strengths can match multiple roles is an opportunity to expand their ownership and increase incentives. Giving actors opportunities to learn more about different functions of theatre not only further develops their skills as professionals but it also allows them to grow with an ITPC.

Divvying out profits is a great start, but also including everyone in all the informational meetings like one would conduct for a board of directors will further empower and engage talent to do their best. In other words, it’s not enough to doll out percentages of profits. An ITPC needs to be as transparent in the production to all shareholders as reasonably possible. Also, consult the opinions and thoughts of all shareholders for the production and try to find ways to integrate their perspectives into the process. By recognizing that everyone on a project has unique skills to bring to the table, volunteers will feel like they are making a contribution and an impact on the community.

Through taking the time to create this type of recognition to actors, the ITPC has a unique opportunity to promote themselves as a community-oriented organization that goes above and beyond to meet the needs of the public. In the aspect of promoting the organization, this can become a valuable talking point for the directors and the talent. Because the co-operational incentives are made possible only after profits, this system allows for the ITPC to be self-sustaining or, at the very least, deliverable.

Additionally, ITPCs can look out for any well-matching paid opportunities outside a production’s regular run. For example, if a production runs in October and there is a local performance festival running in September that pays acts to perform on stage, it would be beneficial for an executive producer to apply for the opportunity as a way to not just create an incentive for volunteer talent (i.e., additional paying work), but to also promote the entire company on a larger scale than what is possible alone. Though extremely helpful, it’s not necessary that these types of opportunities pay talent money if the experience alone is highly valuable (e.g., doing pub crawls to promote a show where volunteers get to perform and network, working together for an unrelated charity, etc.). In other words, get your volunteers together applying bonding time to a productive



experience that will benefit them personally and/or professionally and involve the local community whenever possible.

A Volunteer Appreciation ProgramThe most common form of volunteer appreciation for ITPCs is a cast party. This is a party event, usually held after closing night of a production run at a venue external from previous theatre activities (e.g., a bar, restaurant, home, etc.). Food and drinks are usually supplied by the company as a gesture, but not always. While this type of appreciation is certainly good enough, it is not always an effective incentive for volunteers because not everyone feels comfortable in drinking and party environments or late-evening events.

An alternative to a cast party is to hold monthly and/or seasonal events where all volunteers from different productions are invited. These events can be as simple as meeting at the park to play games and/or relax with some homemade food and drinks provided. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to get people together and mingling during the daytime and/or in unconventional environments that are inexpensive and family friendly. Another great example would be to form a group for an outdoor walk to benefit cancer research as a way to get volunteers working for a cause together outside of the production. This could allow an opportunity for individuals to reflect on the meaning of their experience with an ITPC in a positive, life-affirming way.

Depending on how large an ITPC’s volunteer base is, an annual awards ceremony with handmade certificates or trophies with prizes could be an excellent way to recognize volunteers for their efforts in a public arena. By seeking the support of businesses and patrons, the entire local community can get involved in providing exciting prizes, gift certificates and other material incentives. At the same time, by inviting volunteers, businesses and ticket holders to an awards event, many volunteers also get the extra type of recognition they deserve. An awards ceremony can also act as a fundraising event, if planned and promoted responsibly so as volunteer recognition and community involvement are the main highlights.



A great potential obstacle to the above described events would be getting full attendance and participation from volunteers. One way to solve this is by informing volunteers about regular company events through a monthly electronic newsletter. Some volunteers could write articles about their experiences working on a previous production. A monthly letter from the executive producer posing a question for feedback from the volunteers would also increase their interest and engagement level. Make events stickier in their minds by engaging volunteers with polls about their opinions on what they’re interested in doing together as a group.

When an event is successful in terms of ease of preparation, execution, and a great audience turnout, ITPCs can repeat that event annually as part of a roster of events. After several years, an ITPC could easily have several annual events additionally to the productions themselves that foster volunteer/donor recognition and community involvement. This type of exposure is crucial to the success of ITPCs who are competing in an industry that’s saturated with supply.

Combining these Two IdeasA final way to approach these ideas is to combine them into something like a co-operational theatre production company (CTPC). Instead of divvying out shares to actors and talent, a CTPC would sell shares to ticket-holders much in the same way one would a season pass, except a share is a one-time transaction refundable at any time.

For example, a CTPC could sell one share of their company for $100.00. The shareholder would now be called an owner for the season. A newsletter could go out to all the owners with monthly updates about how the company is doing with articles written by both owners and volunteers. All owners with a share could get free admission to fundraising events and a sizable discount on tickets and, perhaps, a couple of free tickets to a special Owners only event. Volunteer appreciation and awards could still be an integral component within the co-operational model.

Basically, actors and other currently unpaid talent could be budgeted from additional funds through the new co-op program. If twenty people paid $100.00 for one share, an additional $2000.00 becomes available as backup financial



resources for production budgets. This should allow for more breathing room in paying actors a percentage of netted profits.

While shares are refundable as an exit strategy for owners, they should be aware that taking ownership in a company does have risks and a worst case scenario is that the share could lose value due to accidental mismanagement of financial reserves or the company itself could fold. However, with the right price tag, an owner could be shown that the value for the $100.00 is not just the accompanying membership incentives, but the quality in the experiences and the sense of community involvement the CTPC provides to them through its events. Depending on the CTPC’s situation and status as an organization, owner shares could also be translated as tax deductible donations, but it’s best to check what local law legislates in terms of verbiage for fundraising.

SummaryWhen the supply of theatre production companies outweighs the population demand by a great amount, independent theatre production companies (ITPCs) have all the more competition for audiences and great talent. When ITPCs struggle to survive financially and actors and related talent go unpaid, there are bound to be issues in recruiting and keeping quality people involved in productions. It’s hard to ask someone to give their best work without material incentives, especially during times of national economic hardship when many people are struggling to find work and other stables sources of income.

To proactively address these issues, ITPCs can give ownership to their talent by divvying out a percentage of a production’s netted profits, scaling down productions for smaller groups that can function in multiple roles, and becoming more transparent to volunteers by involving them in discussions and decisions important to productions and the company in general. Finding additional work and volunteer opportunities for talent outside of the normal production run is a way to give back to actors and talent both monetarily and through the value of new experiences.

Secondly, ITPCs can start a volunteer appreciation program that publicly recognizes talent from all productions and connects them to the local community



in life-affirming ways. Promoting volunteer-events through a highly interactive monthly newsletter can help to increase volunteer participation. If planned and executed well, a volunteer appreciation program can set an ITPC apart from others and give the company an edge for quality talent to consider and the community to patronize.

Finally, ITPCs could combine both of the ideas presented into a co-operative theatre production company (CTPC) where shares are sold to owners who can be audience ticket-holders, talent or anyone who wants to invest. The money raised from these shares must be fully refundable at any time, but can act as a buffer for the company to maintain their budget and also pay the actors a percentage of netted profits.

The main idea is proactively recognizing, engaging, connecting and fostering volunteers with one another and the local community to increase the likelihood of the company’s sustainability through the inadvertent positive exposure created through partnerships, fundraising and word-of-mouth. In today’s economy, it’s not enough to just supply live performances. ITPCs must establish themselves within the community as an involved performing arts leadership organization.



References1Moore, J. Theatres need to seek the upside of downturn. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_10860139 (November, 2008).

2Tu, Janet I. Intiman Theatre cancels remainder of season citing continuing money woes. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014793900_intiman17m.html (April, 2011).

3Landesman, R. #SupplyDemand. http://www.arts.gov/artworks/?p=5402 (January, 2011).

4Nagy, Jenette. Providing Incentives for Staff and Volunteers. http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1289.aspx (March, 2012).



http://www.denverpost.com/ci_10860139




http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014793900_intiman17m.html




http://www.arts.gov/artworks/?p=5402

http://www.arts.gov/artworks/?p=5402

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1289.aspx




Appendix

InterviewsThe following table outlines the nine specific sets of questions I asked both companies, as well as their individual responses compared side-by-side. This is the information from which I identified a specific problem to explore.

Question Franklin Sarco

Over the years, have you developed any repeatable processes or procedures

when starting a new production (i.e., what do you do the same every

time)? Please describe these practices.

Absolutely! We have found that consistency only helps. There are many procedures regarding accepting tuition payments, scheduling (times and dates for tech weeks), contracts from adult actors, costume measurement sheets, etc.

Since our organization, Copious Love Productions, started we have got the whole creation of a script and duties of the production doled out. Chelsea, Tony and I (Lacy) conceptualize the basis of the play and create characters, and then we

(Sarco cont.) figure out the timeline of the script. The three of us also do scene readings and change anything that seems strange or forced. Also while Chelsea begins the script I figure out the timeline of the production, scene deadlines, auditions dates and production plan. Tony also begins the social media and press hype and begins the work on the show poster and media for the production. During the run of the production I book the rental rooms for auditions and rehearsals, Chelsea and I plan the production schedule and Tony is responsible for media and press releases. When the production opens I take on the Stage Manager role, Tony is the Technical Manager and Chelsea is in charge of getting the actors ready. All of our roles have become repeatable by realizing where all of our individual strengths lie and how efficiently we work together in these roles. At that point Chelsea starts the initial draft and I edit the scenes as they come.




How do you view yourself, if at all, as a project

manager?

Producing theatre is about managing projects. From show to show, keeping directors on schedule, making sure all items are on track (costumes, programs, etc). It is all one step at a time, piece by piece (as the song goes)

I think I take on a project manager position because I am responsible for the meetings and deadlines of productions. At this point I know what needs to get done and how to get these tasks done in an efficient manner. However, Chelsea

(Sarco cont.) and Tony also act as project managers in their own roles. They are responsible for getting certain tasks done and managing them individually. Each person has developed processes for what they are responsible for and are mindful about the efficiency of their work.




What percentage of the time spent executing a

show is planned ahead of time? What percentage

would you say is 'off-the-cuff' or on-the-fly?

All staff must be in place ahead of time (directors, music directors, actors, etc), so that end is definitely in advance. A general "plan" for marketing (is the show going out to the public only, or are we targeting a specific audience) is in place. We used to work farther in advance when there weren't as many shows... now it is too busy to do too much ahead of time. For on-the-fly, this means to me that a director would perhaps go into blocking with no plan or a costumer would start fitting people with no plan, so... rarely. Most everyone is going to have a plan or direction in place before working.

We pride ourselves on planning most everything ahead of time. Being involved in theatre we realize that not everything goes as planned but we are constantly making prop lists, set lists, task lists, schedules, deadlines, etc. All three of us are naturally very organized people and it helps us keep everything on track when things are planned ahead of time. However, in our second show “Sweet&Decent/Dark&Twisty” we encouraged our actors to improvise while on stage. It was a very fun show where we invited the audience to join in on a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. There

(Sarco cont.) were cocktail waitresses serving the audience during the show and most of the actors were already onstage “partying” as the audience entered. Even though the show had a reliance on improvisation we rehearsed with the actors by doing character development the result was organized chaos.




What would you say are the most troublesome aspects of producing a

show? How have you come to plan for those problems ahead of time? Are there

any problems you face that you feel are unavoidable or

not worth planning for? Are there any

problems you've dealt with in producing a show that

you feel you've been able to overcome? How?

MONEY! Always number one. Also managing staff. We have hired a permanent accompanist, which has been helpful. We have started to look at financing projects ahead of time & how much "weight" we can hold in each season (for example, not doing 5 huge shows in a season, it must be balanced for our finances). Actors leaving and coming... that is just going to happen and it does seem to be unavoidable. We really don't have any way of planning for that and have to "go with the flow." We try to cast people we have at least had in one show in leads. We have a system in place for most everything, but we have done 52 productions.

The hardest part of producing a show so far has been scheduling. It is very difficult to get a bunch of people, who all have different schedules, together to rehearse. The production schedule has been the most nerve wracking process thus far. However, we now have documentation for scheduling and a process that works well, it is still time consuming but it is easier now then when we first started. We plan for this ahead of time by making a very rigid schedule first and foremost after casting and expecting people to stick with it. That being said we did run into an issue once with an actor that felt they didn’t need to tell us if they were not going to come to rehearsal and wouldn’t

(Sarco cont.) even answer calls or texts when they were over an hour late. As the issues with this specific actor was less then two weeks before the show opened there was nothing we could do and we just had to suck it up and deal with it. Unfortunately you can not plan for utter lack of consideration.




What do you feel are the most successful (or easiest)

aspects in producing shows? Has planning

helped with this or is it just success that's come with

learning from experiences?

Our educational division is blessed. If we build it, they will come. At this point, there really is no more working to get the kids; our classes fill. It has come from working hard and our reputation has gotten us to this point. On the professional side, we are blessed to have solid staff. Planning to utilize the people we know and trust and are riding the boat along with us, surrounding ourselves with people who have the same goals.

The audition process became a lot easier from our first show to our second show. We learned very quickly the most successful way to post auditions and how to really get our name out there. We were slightly worried because for our second show we had to cast eleven actors where in our first show we only had three actors to cast. However we had an amazing turn out for our second show and we had several great options to choose from.

(Sarco cont.) Now going into auditions for our third show we are confident that they will be one of the easier aspects of the production. We also learned what all three of our roles in auditions are and that each of us need to be present in both auditions and call backs to contribute in the decision making process. Planning and experience has helped with the success of this. Planning in the fact that now we know what, where and when to post the information and learning that from our past experiences.




Do you have a specific budget for a whole season

or for individual shows? How much does

budget planning come into play when producing a

show? What resources do you need that you find are the most scarce and how

have you attempted to meet those needs?

We used to. Now, the only people who are really concerned with budget are Eric and I: he spends on sets, I spend on costumes. We are the office so we know what we are spending on royalties, etc. HUGE. Though it may not be "on paper" anymore, we are very cautious and approach each show with a "here is what is necessary to make this work" attitude and a tight checkbook. Consequently, we have done huge shows on very little money. People who will work for very little or free. We just keep looking! And we have angles for saving money on costumes from thrift stores to cheap fabric outlets.

Honestly for our first two shows we did not have a specific budget. We knew what we had available and what expenses we had and that we had to keep it cheap but we never budgeted for the expenses or earnings. However now in planning our third show we have a defined budget for every aspect of the upcoming show. I think we realize now how important a budget is when planning for the needs and outcomes of a production. The scarcest resources for our shows so far have been the larger set pieces. We can’t really buy big furniture pieces with our income nor do we have much storage for such

(Sarco cont.) pieces. So in meeting those needs we usually just end up emptying out our own houses and apartments for the furniture we require.




Curtain paid actors at one time and Copious Love has not paid their actors before. Do you plan to pay actors

in the future?

We started out wanting sincerely to pay people, and we'd still love to. We DID pay our actors for the first few shows (stipends of around $100 each) but our lease increased considerably and when we moved to the new building ALL expenses increased

As an upcoming independent theatre company we have not been able to pay our contributors nor do we have any immediate plans to do so. We would love to be able to have the resources to do that some time in the future.

(Franklin cont.) considerably, and we just couldn't do it. For actors, it seems that whether it is $100 or $6, it doesn't matter much. Sure, it is nice to be paid, but $100 covers gas. We have been lucky- they keep showing up to audition. Directors, right now, are people who are helping us build our vision and last season was the first time we paid no one. Right now, our expenses are too high to try to pay people. As attendance increases, we hope to get there again, but it will probably be a stipend situation as well, especially at first.

What outside sources of talent do you find you are required to pay, if any, and

is that included in a budget?

At this time, only our accompanist is being paid and yes, it is factored into what we consider for each show.

We have not been required to pay any sources of talent thus far. However as our next play (“Alice’s Anthem”)

(Sarco cont.) is a musical we think we may need to end up paying a choreographer if no one volunteers for that position. We have not looked into it yet so that isn’t an expense included in the budget so far.




In general, how much time, if any, do you spend

documenting your work? Do you make lists of what work needs to be done and

by who?

The director probably makes list after list (or should). I make lots of lists as the producer and costumer. Eric certainly has lists for tech. We have worked with all of our directors several times and trust them to do what needs to be done; I do keep an eye on the timelines so we stay close to being on time.

We spend a lot of time documenting our work and now we have a plethora of great documentation for each production. Our roles are all very well defined at this point and we have a plan of what needs to be done and by when. It is great that in producing our first season we now have a lot of good planning materials for Copious Love’s future productions



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Jps Case Study