NEW TEEN PRODUCTION COMPANY

[shiningstarplayers]

Posted: 7/3/15 at 2:32pm

PLEASE SHARE, SHARE, SHARE AGAIN ON FB, TWITTER AND ALL THEATER LOVERS SO WE CAN REACH OUR GOAL AND PUT ON OUR PRMEIERE PRODUCTION!

 

Shining Star Players is a brand new teen production company helmed by a NJ Teen. We are so excited to announce our first premiere production for the Spring 2016. We have one obstacle, producing live musical theatre is very expensive, and we do not have the money to proceed in bringing musical theatre to Northern NJ. We need the help of the greater theater community for love and support and donations! To learn more about our organization and how to donate: http://www.gofundme.com/xw32avs

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/3/15 at 2:42pm

WHY would you choose a show whose needs were so specific you had to rent everything?  Why not choose a more simple and realistic show for your first choice?  Spending money just to "look professional" is silly. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/3/15 at 2:47pm

Will you do HEATHERS?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/3/15 at 4:26pm

I applaud your effort but I think a lot of people would have some reservations investing money into a project like this. Are you planning on directing the show? What qualifications do you have? Who is your creative team? Are they teenagers too? Does this budget include some kind of cushion should you run into any unexpected expenses? What's your advertising budget? How are you going to get the word out about your production? Is anyone getting paid? Do you have a non profit license? How does this company grow? What if you don't make enough of a profit to mount a second show? Will every production depend on crowd funding?

[broadwayboy972]

Posted: 7/3/15 at 4:42pm

You certainly are ambitious, but I suggest you guys start out small. Right now I'm producing a show that my friend is directing; we are both 18 years old and this is our summer project. I am in charge of venue booking, advertising, programs, as well as funding, among other things. Even producing this show was challenging- we are doing a small, four person play in a venue we were able to find for free. We were able to get funding through advertising/sponsorships for our program (by writing letters to businesses and being very professional about it) and were quite successful with it. I believe this is a good foundation for if we ever wanted to mount a large-scale musical in the future using profits from previous shows. A musical with a budget that high will be a big challenge, especially for teenagers- like others have said, it will be hard to get that amount of money.

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Posted: 7/3/15 at 6:44pm

I applaud your enthusiasm and know first hand how difficult it is to start up a new theater company and raise the funds necessary to do so. There are a bunch of things that I would take into consideration though when asking people for money, especially from people who are strangers on a theater message board. 

 

First, if this is something you have been trying to bring to fruition for 5 years already, you should have been proactive in raising the funds necessary through fundraisers and other ventures before going to a Go Fund Me page, IMO.

 

Now, you said this was something you wanted to do as a way to look good on college applications and help you get into the theater program of your choice. Is this a one off venture that will be abandoned once you go to college? Are people planning on continuing the company once you go to school? Do you plan to do one show every summer when in town, or have a full season of shows?  

 

First and foremost, have you applied for your 501(c)3 status? People are much more willing to donate (especially big donars) when it's for a Not for Profit group and they can write off said donation. Or are you planning on pocketing all the funds made through ticket sales, ad sales, etc.

 

 

The video you posted on your Go Fund Me page does nothing to make me want to donate to your cause. Make a video that is more personal. Show us who YOU are as well as the rest of your team. Explain your cause, your mission statement, why you are starting this theater company, and what makes you different from other theater companies in your area. It would also be a good idea to inform the potential backers what show they are donating to. Announce the musical you *plan* to produce as your inaugural production pending rights availability. Remember, it is illegal to announce what show you are going to do without the rights being approved and you have paid for said rights, but it shouldn't hurt to say what the title is that you hope to produce. You can't even announce an audition notice until the rights have been paid if you are using one of the big Musical rights holders (MTI, R&H, Tams Witmark.... I personally have never used Theatrical Rights Worldwide so I can't answer how they handle things). Maybe with their permission they may allow you to put down the downpayment before you can start advertising, but they will never send any material until the rights have been paid in full. 

 

Speaking of team... Do you have a team? or is this something you are starting all by yourself? It will be physically impossible to start up a theater company without a team of likeminded individuals there to help. You will need at least three people on a board of Directors in order to apply for 501(c)3 status.

 

Lets talk about this rehearsal space... what you say you need for a rehearsal space is extremely expensive for a start up theater company. You don't need some big fancy studio space. Go out into your community and find a church that might be willing to lend you a room for free of charge. Find a retirement community, a community center, your local school (where you would need a teacher supervisor the entire time most likely), you should be able to find a space for free when just starting out. It may not be the most ideal space, but that shouldn't matter. Try a bartering system: Offer to give a cabaret to residence of a Retirement home to use a space they have. Maybe open up a final run through to the tenants. Offer to pay a church $10 a day for a space that they can use as a donation to their church. $10 a day doesn't sound like much but it will add up for the usual 6-8 week rehearsal period it takes to rehearse a musical. Offer a place a % of your box office ticket sales in exchange for a space they have. That way you wouldn't have to pay for the space until the final numbers come in after the show closes. What you are expecting to pay for a rehearsal space for your first ever production is extremely expensive and not a smart business decision. 

 

Find a different performance venue. One with LESS seats. From what you are saying the rights will cost for 3 performances tells me that you are looking at a theater that has a huge amount of seats, or you are charging an insane amount for ticket sales. Find a Black Box theater, a theater with 199 seats or less ideally. This right there will lower the royalty cost. Lets face it, this is a new theater company... do you expect to sell out a giant auditorium when you haven't established a core audience yet? Building an audience takes time. With 3 performances you can't rely on word of mouth much. 

 

Do you have a musical director? Those are not cheap. Do you plan on using a live band, doing a piano only arrangement, or using backtracks? Remember not all shows have backtracks available and not every show has programs like orchEXTRA. In community theater it is easy to find actors who are willing to work for free, but most musicians do not work for free (unless you are using friends, maybe members of your schools band and orchestra). 

 

Be creative with your concept. "Poor Man's theater" is in right now. Shows that are Brechtian. You don't need big lavish sets and costumes when starting out. Be creative with your concept (pending the show you plan to do makes sense in a stripped down bare bones concept). 

 

Talk to other local theater's in your area or local High Schools and see if they would be willing to let you borrow from their costumes and props. Who knows, they may be willing to help.... It never hurts to ask. 

 

Sell LOTS of Ad space with local business'. Don't charge an insane amount for ad space but if you have extremely cheap ads you may be able to find a bunch of local business that are willing to spend $25-$75 for ad space in the program. The more ads you sell you can easily make enough money to cover the cost of printing (well at least Programs). Printing is very expensive, so it is wise to build a relationship with a local printing company that you will continue to use in the future exclusively for a discounted rate on posters, flyers, and programs. If you are using a national print company don't over buy posters and programs. It would be a shame to spend a bunch on posters and then you and the cast have a bunch of extra's lying around everywhere. If you buy them, PUT THEM UP. Staples would be extremely expensive, but make nice posters. Office Depot would be a cheaper bet, but if thats the case go to the local Office Depot and make posters through their copy service. Copying is a lot cheaper than Printing. For example if you order posters online from Office Depot they are going to be using a print service and may charge like $12+ per poster whereas going through the copy center in store it will be less than $1 per poster. VistaPrint will trick you with really cheap prices, but they will get you with insane shipping and handling prices. Also, recycle programs. Not everyone wants to take home a souvenir program, most will just get crumbled up and thrown in the back of their car or left under the seats in the house. 

 

Find other ways to fundraise. Bake Sales, Car Washes, Auctions, Car Washes, Gala's, Cabaret Series, collect soda cans to return for money (if you live in a state that does that, I'm not sure if NJ is one of those States). 

 

Do a better job at Budgeting and stay within Budget.  Based on what you are saying it will cost to produce your first production shows me that you may not be wise when it comes to budgeting. If it is going to cost you $9,500.00 to produce this musical, do you expect to make back in ticket sales what you put into the production? With theater companies some shows make their money back with  the budget they had and another show that season may put in more money than they make back. Do you think you could sell enough tickets to make back the $9,500.00 put into the show? A theater company can never rely solely on ticket sales to make money, so donations and sponsors come in handy. Ad Sales and concessions will help a little bit, but not much. Running a theater company is art AND commerce. It is very easy for a theater company to continue to bleed money and continually be in the red. More common than not actually, and most theater companies close up shop within the first 5 years. 

 

Since it is a brand new theater company, producing your inaugural production, you may be able to get your local newspaper, radio stations, and TV news stations to promote your show and do a write up about your theater company. Write up a press release and send it out to every publication in your area. Try your damn hardest to get a reviewer to review your show (even a bad review is still press and legitimizes your theater company). 

 

Lastly, are you doing a recognizable title? Or is this some obscure musical or one that is only popular with a niche crowd or theater people? As sad as it is, it is much easier to get butts in the seats when you are doing Annie, Grease, or Peter Pan and other musicals with name recognition than it is to get butts in seats to a Stephen Sondheim (save Into the Woods), Michael John LaChiusa, or Jeanine Tesori musical. The theater company I work for tries to do one "money making" show a year (that still fits in with our mission statement) so that we can take risks with the other shows we produce. I will also say that we did a full season of plays before we started adding musicals into our season line up. Musicals are extremely expensive to produce compared to plays, but musicals also have the greater chance at making your company money. 

 

Anyways, good luck and take everything I basically just gave you for free, use it, and try and be smart about moving forward. Starting a theater company is extremely hard and exhausting and you may find yourself wanting to give up, but keep pushing forward. If it is a success it can be extremely rewarding, but with what I have seen from looking at your Go Fund Me page, you are not quite ready. I wouldn't be willing to donate with what you have shown us so far and I don't know many people in the industry that would. Come back with a better game plan and prove you are serious about this and have what it takes and I'm sure people will be more willing to donate some money (however small that may be) if they can see you are serious about this and know what you are doing. I have no problem donating money to small theater companies just starting out, but I personally would only do so to one that shows promise, dedication, and a hungar to succeed. 

Updated On: 7/3/15 at 06:44 PM

[Soozie]

Posted: 7/3/15 at 7:54pm

My guess is that you won't love my feedback but I am going to give it because it involves a bit of anecdotes. I applaud your efforts to produce a show as a teen.....what some might call a "student run production." But I don't support the way you are going about it and asking people to donate. You are not a charity. For one thing, if you want to raise money, hold fundraisers and sell ads, and so on. But you are also starting out too big, in my opinion. There is NO need to put on a $9500 production. Here is where my anecdote comes in to give you some perspective (I would hope).

I have a daughter who has been immersed in musical theater since preschool and who is now 26 and working professionally in NYC. Back when she was 15 and again when she was 16 and in high school, she initiated her own productions too. She did this within her high school setting, though it had never been done by a student before in her school or community. She wrote original musical theater revues. She was the creator, casting agent, director, musical director, choreographer, producer, actor/singer/dancer, etc. She used the school's auditorium for the productions. She sold ads in the program. But the production cost little to nothing. It was highly successful both years and in fact, she donated all the ticket sales to charity.

Next step (i'm only talking about putting on productions, not her singing/acting career, for which she got a BFA and is now an Equity actor)......in college, she musically directed student run productions, college productions, and professional ones. By senior year, she wrote/composed her first original musical which she staged and starred in (didn't cost anything). That led to quickly getting a top theatrical literary agent, workshops of her original musical by well known entities, and soon after, professional productions of her original shows. She has won national awards for this and been commissioned to write musicals by well known theaters and been selected to a number of prestigious artistic residencies.

I'm skipping some stuff here but....my point is that her putting on productions began with those productions as a teen of original musical theater revues that segued into college productions she helped to run to original musicals to professional musicals of her work,commissions from well regarded theaters to create musicals, to being asked to write music for some well known entertainment companies and so on. She did NOT spend money to create her own productions. You don't have to either. She certainly didn't ask strangers to give her money to put on shows. Now, professional theaters are giving her money to do that.

Your post also reminds me of something else. My daughter is also a singer/songwriter and has a career in that area too (not musical theater genre). She is about to go into the recording studio to produce her next album. She is funding it herself. While she is way more established than you are, she said she cannot feel right and do one of those "fund me" campaigns and ask people to give money for her to create her next album. To help put a dent in her costs, she is selling her previously recorded music, as well as sheet music. In other words, she is giving people something if they wish to buy it and using the funds toward her project.

You could also do fundraisers. But you should start much smaller. She did when she was your age and is now being paid to do these things, starting at a pretty young age (graduated college at age 20). I think you are trying to start too high. Work your way up.

Updated On: 7/3/15 at 07:54 PM