You better be ready to get answers like the one below. For the most part the responses I've gotten to this survey have been positive, but I just received a response that was not. So before I answer this posting, I just want to say that this reminded me of a very important fact in producing:
You're never going to please everyone. Somebody will not like the way you do things or your show for that matter. And if you invite people to give criticism, you need to be able to take it. And take it I did.
So here's my response, to this young man 26-35 who reads my blog once a week, has never been helped by it, and will not recommend it to his friends. Let's read what he has to say shall we?
"You promised daily updates in your blog, and haven't maintained your promise. Also, you sound like you're a new, moonlighting (albeit successful) producer, who needed to put his own money in to his project because he was unable to raise the money, but you write with a pedagogical tone and almost no humility. It's off-putting. It's not that we're not interested to hear from a newish producer's perspective, but we don't want you to talk like a seasoned vet - we don't trust you. Tell us about the day-to-day, lessons learned, not just theorized, the facts. You're a great resource for facts."
"You promised daily updates in your blog, and haven't maintained your promise."- Sir, you are right on the money with that one. Truth of the matter is some days I get these things called coverages, which means that I have to watch someone else's class in addition to the five I teach a day. I usually write this blog during my off periods, so when I have less of those off periods, sometimes I don't get to write every day. This is something I'll work on.
"Also, you sound like you're a new, moonlighting (albeit successful) producer, who needed to put his own money in to his project because he was unable to raise the money, but you write with a pedagogical tone and almost no humility."----Yep. Brand new as a matter of fact. ROOMS is my first commercial production and when you're starting out, sometimes you gotta pay to play. As for the pedagogical tone, well I am a teacher so I guess that's how I write. I'm not sure I agree with the humility side of things though. I'm pretty sure I don't claim to have all the answers and have mentioned on this blog the number of mistakes I've made and money I've lost, but maybe that wasn't the post you read that week. Again, sorry if I come across as having no humility or being pedantic. I certainly don't do it intentionally.
"It's off-putting. It's not that we're not interested to hear from a newish producer's perspective, but we don't want you to talk like a seasoned vet - we don't trust you."- Thanks for this. I was unaware that my tone was that of a seasoned vet. I will say that in the Indie Theatre community, I've been producing for 7 years now, so perhaps that could inform some of this "seasoned vet" feeling. Sorry you don't trust me, but who's the "we" you're referring to?
"Tell us about the day-to-day, lessons learned, not just theorized, the facts. You're a great resource for facts."-----Hmmm. Ok Day to day I feel like I already do pretty well, except for those days I skip, go here for a quick run down of lessons learned, and the facts? The facts are that this is a tough business, and there are plenty of folks out there making thier way as producers. I'm here to help, and so far folks seem to be happy with the help I give. I'm sorry you're unhappy, but I appreciate your candor. It lets me know what I need to work on. I hope that when you read this post next week, you'll have some more thoughts to share. As we all know there can be no progress if there's no resistance, so in the words of one of my favorite shows, Rain on.
Excelsior!
