One Producer in the City

How to tell someone they have an ugly baby

As a producer you will often be asked to look at people's shows and you will also be asked for your opinion. So the question comes up that if this is someone's baby and it is not very good at all, how do you address it?

The way I see it, you have two options:

1. Don't say anything. Point and say things like "Those actors had such good energy" or "How did they memorize all those lines?" This will keep you from hurting any feelings, conversely it will also keep you from improving anything.

2. Tell them. Some of my greatest mentors took a look at the things I was writing or producing and told me honestly when something didn't work, and it helped me more than I could ever imagine. It's never easy to hear criticism, but it is the only way your work can grow.

Take a wild guess which option I'm in favor of.

Ok so, let's say you go with option 2. Let's talk about some ways to keep things civil:

1. Start with the positive- Even if it's as simple as the fact that the show had a plot you could follow, there should always be something that you can start with that is complimentary.

2. Ask open-ended questions- This can be a great way of seeing where the writer was trying to go with the piece and it keeps you away from making assumptions about the work.

3. Ask the creator what they thought didn't work- Good writers are great at reflecting on their work. Encourage it and the writer may give you all the notes you were about to give. Then all you have to do is expand on the notes.

4. Ask for clarification- In the same way that a great director will ask an actor to back up the reason for an acting choice, a good producer asks a writer about a writing choice. This also again keeps things from being accusatory and makes everything more conversational.

5. Use something good to fix something bad- This is one of my personal favorites. If I notice that a particular moment in the show is really fantastic and another moment is really awful, I might say something along the lines of, "Scene three should have the kind of intensity and mystery that you gave us in scene two because I was on the edge of my seat the whole time" This keep the mood positive and also addresses the problem.

6. Ask the writer how they want to receive the criticism- I always sit down with someone and ask them point blank how they want the conversation to go. Some want you to be blunt, some want you to only address certain non-sensitive subjects. There's nothing wrong with checking in and finding out what style of criticism is most comfortable.

So there you have it. You may dread having to tell someone about that baby, but just remember that if you don't, someone else will....

And after they do, they may walk away with a show like this. 

Excelsior!

Using the platform

As producers and indeed as creators of art the point of entry to have a platform is so low, it often surprises me why some people choose not to have one. I'm sure that some cringe at the discipline of writing regularly or maintaining an online presence, but I often find that having a platform opens so many doors.

Here's the thing I love most about having a platform though:

You can always step off of it and invite someone else to step on.

One of my favorite things to do is find ways to help spread the word about people and projects that are doing remarkable things. So when I got the latest email from the very talented Ms. Nicki Miller, who used her own platform to promote another group, I thought that I would share with all of you what she shared. Below is info from a company that is looking for support for what they do and I'm giving the platform over to them for today.

I encourage each of you reading this, if you have a platform to share it because it opens up so many doors and can help so many people and really that's the type of thing that makes the water rise.

Excelsior!

Dear ones,

This theatre company is really great. I am doing aerial choreography for their new play, "The Orpheus Variations" which will be performed this fall.  Please take a moment to join the company's mailing list, because for this week only, a very generous board member will donate $1 towards the upcoming productions for each new name added to the list before May 2nd. Our goal is $1,000/1,000 new people on the list. More info below, much warmth and thanks!!

Warmly,

Nicki Miller

www.nickimiller.wordpress.com

Dear Friends,

As you probably know, The Deconstructive Theatre Project has grown a lot during the past two years that I've served on the Board of Directors. We've produced successful readings, workshops and fundraisers, always continually expanding our family. It's been great meeting and working with many of you and I expect to see the rest of you at an event soon.

Can you help us quickly right now?

One of our main goals in 2010 is to grow the DTP online community and we need your help. Forward this message to your friends and ask them to join us. For every new email address we collect over the next week, I'm donating $1 to DTP. Just send this message along to your friends and you'll help us raise money and increase awareness.   

Email Address:

Need another reason to forward this? We're holding auditions for our upcoming project,
The Orpheus Variations. Forward this to your actor friends and help them get an audition.   

Remember, I'm only doing the $1 email pledge for one week, so please forward this along today.

Thanks for your support,

Ryan J. Davis
Board of Directors
The Deconstructive Theatre Project

PS: Make sure you share this letter on Facebook & Twitter. It's posted on our blog here. 

 

   

 

Photo credit: Zach Hyman
Ryan J. Davis & Adam J. Thompson working together on "Lilies" in 2009

 

What if my friends don't like each other?

Take a look at the picture above.

Now imagine yourself in the middle of the bench.

That is a spot that you will often be in as a producer. It's an all too familiar spot and it goes back to something that many of us remember from school. Sometimes, no matter how much we like our friends and think our friends should get along because they're friends with us, there are major personality clashes and producers often serve as mediators.

I've been asked on occasion how I manage so often to work things out between two artists when it seems like they will never agree on anything. My answer is quite simple:

Observation

I take a second to look at how each person works. I may notice that one person is more direct and concrete in questions and answers while the other is much more esoteric and needs to explore before they find the answers. I then adapt my style to both of them and serve almost as a translator. Sometimes I'm the mediator, trying to break down what one said to the other and working to help the other see a different side of the story, and sometimes I'm the connector who identifies the similarities in both arguments and tries to answer them with a common thread between them.

In all of these cases though, there is a lot of work that someone has to do in order to keep things on track, so I thought I'd share with you some of my methods. Here we go:

1. Never believe the first thing you hear- Many times this leads to disaster. Someone calls you up and says that your collaborator is intentionally sabotaging the production and your immediate reaction may be to call them right away and ask what the heck is going on. This never turns out well. Instead take a second and gather all the information about what exactly happened. Have the person telling you the story give their account as they see it and then hold on to that info for your discussion later.

2. Never parrot- The most destructive lines you can utter are "____________ told me that you were stealing money from the box office" Instantly this communicates that you have already made a decision and are not ready to hear the other person's side. Always start with a question and move into the topic at hand. Ex. "________ have you noticed anything strange regarding the box office lately?" if the person is in fact doing something wrong it will take them a while to answer and you can discover the problem, but nine times out of ten, there is info missing and this question gives that person a chance to deliver that info without accusations.

3. Let them vent- If you are dealing with two or three folks who are not very happy with each other, give them the opportunity to let it out. Sometimes in venting, they come to their own conclusions and realize the mistake they've made or come to a point of clarity. While they vent LISTEN intently. In the venting are clues to where the problems are.

4. Make suggestions with them in mind- Once someone has communicated a frustration, think through what might be a potential solution and present it as something that will help them. For example"________ I completely understand where you are coming from and it seems that perhaps the easiest thing to do is to try it this way. If ___________ is still upset, we can revisit it and find out why"

5. Don't take sides- Always remember that you were probably not there when the argument took place. You may feel very strongly in favor of one person, but if you show that favoritism it will hurt the relationship in two ways. One, the person who you are defending will think that you are always going to back them up on everything and they may take advantage, and two, you communicate to the other person that their point of view isn't as important. The results can be a disaster.

Your friends will fight no matter what. It's how you handle it that will determine if they are still your friends. And you can switch the word friend with collaborator, business partner, student, whatever you like- The message is the same:

Respect for everyone will always bring you respect in return.

Excelsior!

A great place to shop for actors and producers

So last night I attended the launch concert of NewMusicalTheatre.com

There was a line curling around the block to get in and the place was absolutely packed. While watching these great singers tear up the stage with great songs, some making their debut that night, I was also looking at the crowd that was there. You had actors, college kids, established producers, young producers, and other composers all out there to support the launch of the site.

What I love about it is that the site is dedicated to supporting the artists and has developed a great system for gathering that support and if last night's reception was any indication of the future, then I think these guys are in good shape.

So if you're a new producer who is looking for the composers and book writers of tomorrow, you should stop on by

If you're a performer looking for great material it's also a great place for you to visit as well.

Congrats to the team that put this together. You certainly have my attention and I look forward to the future.

If you haven't clicked the link above yet, what are you waiting for?

Go shopping!

Excelsior!

How well can you spell?

So one of the PLAE alumni, just sent me the info on this really cool event, and truth be told reading it takes me back to when I almost won the spelling bee in grade school. The word that brought me down?

Tortoise

I will NEVER misspell that word again.

See below for an incredibly inventive fundraiser and check it out!

Also, don't forget that tonight is the community forum at the Ohio. Big night for everyone it seems.

Excelsior!

Spell For Nepal

To register as a participant in the Bee, click on the ‘donate’ button below. Upon receipt of payment, you will receive a confirmation email with all of the specifics for the day of the competition. Please bear in mind that there are only 40 participant slots available. Participants can pay on the day of the Bee but are strongly encouraged to do so beforehand as registration is on a first-come, first served basis and there is no guarantee that there will be open slots available on the day of the event.

To make a general donation and/or learn more about Holley’s trip to Nepal, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected] or 646.881.4291.

Thank you for your support, see you on April 29th!

Playing catch with your customer

When I was younger I was bad at playing catch.

I mean really bad.

As a result, I would end up running all over the field trying to grab the ball, while the thrower waited. Little did I know that there would be a metaphor lurking in this story, but it just turned up so here we go:

As a producer marketing your project, you have the ball and you throw it to your customer. The ball is your project, service, advertisement etc. Your customer used to really suck at catching the ball, because they had no way of reaching back out to you other than some long phone chain or a letter or meeting with you in person.

Things have changed and now the customer is really good at catching the message and returning the ball. With the advent of real-time technology my customer can tell me what's wrong with my product or service the second they receive it and now it's up to me to be ready to catch that message and do something with it. If I miss the toss, well now I'm the one scrambling while my customer waits for me to find the ball and throw it back. While I'm running after the ball, they can go and play catch with someone else.

So in the marketing of my product, I have to ask a very important question about how well I play catch with my customer: Do I respond to their tweets, email messages, facebook postings etc?

If so, how fast?

Whether we like it or not, our customers are getting much better at playing catch. The question now is:

What do we do when they throw the ball back?

Excelsior!

Give us the trailer, not the whole movie

By now I'm sure many of you have seen this hilarious video, but it also makes commentary on an all too familiar issue in the world of networking:

Telling us everything.

You probably have a great idea, a great story, or a great business proposal but when you are in a room with hundreds of people, it's not the best of choices to tell those people EVERYTHING about it.  If you do it that way, you may only get to tell that whole story to two people when you could reach 30 or more.

The best way is to consider each project conversation as a movie trailer. A well executed trailer provides the audience with a teaser and some cool images that make us want to go and see the movie. When discussing your latest project, you want to do the same. Mention the cool things, but don't give too much away and engender the type of curiosity that makes people want to follow up.

Remember, all that you really want to do during the conversation is present something of interest and get a chance to talk about it in more detail later. 

If you spend your whole evening telling the other person everything about your project, there's no real need for them to follow up.

So get out there and start showing some trailers and who knows you may find a partner who lands you a box office smashing weekend.

Excelsior!

Let's have a moment for all of those who miss out....

Take a look at the picture above. Notice that we cannot see who is on the other side of that handshake.

The reason?

That is how it often is when meeting someone for the first time.

One of my favorite plays is Measure for Measure because the Duke decides to disguise himself to see what people are up to in his kingdom to get the real story. I think this is genius and am often quite entertained by this idea.

This past weekend, I decided to randomly introduce myself to some people and see how many actually followed up. One in particular was a performer who was saying that it was so difficult to find work in this market, yet when I introduced myself as a producer in a position to hire, failed to follow up. This got me thinking about a lot of things:

How many times has someone randomly come up to you and started a conversation and how many times have you decided not to follow up? Beyond that, what opportunities might you have missed out on?

At New York Entrepreneur week last week, many of the folks on the panel mentioned that they never turn down a meeting because they never know what that meeting may yield. Why is it so different for some in our business?

And here's the real kicker...

Have you ignored someone recently?

If the answer is yes, you may have just lost your next business partner...

Something to think about.

Excelsior!

If you are not part of the solution.....

I don't even need to finish that sentence because we all know how it goes.

I have stated before that I have been involved with plenty of organizations that complain but never do anything about what they complain about. I have also stated how little patience I have for said individuals.

So it is always exciting to see people in our industry who are working hard to help solve the problems we have. For that reason I applaud the efforts of LIT and NYIT in their message below. I encourage everyone to take a look at this info and if you can make it, to get over there. See below:

Excelsior!

Community Forum on the Ohio Theatre

Sponsored by The League of Independent Theatre and the Innovative Theatre Awards

Members of the community are invited to attend and are strongly encouraged to share their ideas at a community forum being held on:

Monday, April 26th

at 6:30pm

at the Ohio Theatre located at 66 Wooster Street

A list of speakers and more details will be posted at www.sohothinktank. org as they become available. The event will be streamed live at www.nyitawards. com/live beginning at 6:30pm on April 26th.

Academy Award winning actress, Olympia Dukakis encourages community participation saying, "It is so important to protect the cultural capital of New York City. Institutions like the Ohio Theatre which, for 3 decades has served this community and has been the home for many artists, needs the support of the city and the community. We must work together to preserve the remaining spaces and help develop new ones."

After two years of negotiation, two lease extensions, and a 29-year history as an indispensable pillar of the downtown theatre scene, the Ohio Theatre must close the doors at its Wooster Street space forever on August 31, 2010. 

The community forum is a follow up to the Public Forum on Small to Midsized Theatres that was hosted by Manhattan Community Boards 1-5 at the Players Club in February 2009. 

We will reunite local elected officials and members of the independent theatre community in an open forum to discuss solutions to the real estate crises affecting small theaters and the progress and momentum that has been made over the past year – specifically with regard to the tax abatement proposal currently before the Community Boards. In addition, there will be a discussion as to what steps can be taken to secure the remaining venues within the sector and help locate a new home for the Ohio Theatre.

Please join us and bring your ideas!

Work with one of the best organizations I know

I have spoken before on this blog about Fractured Atlas and I have also blogged for them in the past.

Well, they announced yesterday that they are hiring for a new position. All of the info is here.

In the 7 years that I have known about Fractured Atlas, they have kept a strong and close-knit staff with very little attrition and they have only grown over the years. If you are passionate about marketing and want to work for an organization that encourages innovation, you really can't find a much better position. I hope that at least a few of the linchpins who read this blog regularly will consider applying. Be a part of something great today. Also notice I said work "with" and not "for" There's a reason for that ;)

Excelsior!