My Theatre Company Research, Phone Calls and Budget Work with General Tour Research

Friday 23rd October (Early Research - My Theatre Company)

In this lesson we began to look at what it would be like to produce and own our own theatre companies. I decided to research theatre companies, what makes them successful and the types of theatre companies already in the industry. 

A Commercial Theatre Company is the type of company that produces 'hit productions' on a regular basis. They are supported by loyal investors known as 'angels' to help them choose the current and upcoming productions that will produce the most money both for the them, the investor and the theatre they are touring to. They also try to use well-known actors to play the lead roles, having a star in the cast will often help with publicity and therefore increase income. They rarely own their own theatres and therefore they lease from one of the commercial theatre landlords for between six weeks and three months, maybe more depending on the success of the production. 

Subsidised Theatre Companies use government money and make no profit, they use donated funds to keep their company going. The Arts Council issue project loans to allow them to produce specific shows or expand the company. They have to keep their expenditure as low as possible, but make their theatre accessible, by having low ticket prices and carrying out community work and educational programmes to assist with costings. Because of the governments involvement they must regularly report back with what they are doing with the money they have been given and give reasons for doing so, this money not only pays for the productions, but day to day life too. 

I also wanted to look at the various type of theatre, and how each one differs from another, so that when picking where to tour my production I could be efficient as possible in choosing. 

A Receiving House is a venue that produces no original work, they usually only host commercial company work but I found that they are 'open for regotiations'. Most of the West End theatres are receiving houses, owned by entertainment businesses or sometimes commercial theatre company producers so that they can show their own work for less money, but getting the theatre is the difficult and costly part. Recieveing theatres that are not on the West End, are owned by a small company of people that change and re-hire different staff depending on the production being shown. 

Producing Houses, also known as Building based Theatres are often found to be involved in co-production deals with other theatres. This means they all she the costs and profit that the show they all produce makes. It is usually the risky shows or newer productions that are shown in these deals. 

For my company, I would like to involve Shakespeare as much as I can, I feel it is important to educate younger students on it as it is seen as boring and difficult to read or produce in modern society. I have an idea to tour shortened versions of Shakespeare plays to high schools, with workshops. I have a great interest in Theatre In Education and feel that Shakespeare is usually only explored through English literature and /or language at a secondary school level. Because I will be touring to school I will hopefully work with between 15 and 30 students at a time, meaning I will need at least 10 members in my company. 

Friday 13th November (Company Budget Work And Ideas)

In this lesson we began to look at the budget form we will be filling out for our own theoretical theatre companies. In pairs we looked at making a budget plan- 

• Estimate income on audience
• Divide ticket sales between ages/prices/how many shows
• Cost to make and sell programs
• Sponsorship
• Money from businesses in return for logos/adverts in programs, posters and leaflets

To help in creating a realistic budget form with good expenditure and income, we created some Budget Making Rules- 

1. Over estimate expenditure to give better profit
2. Don't over spend on less important items
3. Buy necessities first
4. Have contingency of at least 10%
5. Negotiate
6. Get Sponsorship
7. Be innovative about creating extra income
8. Call in favours 
9. Seek out publicity deals

At this stage my proposal to the schools will be a full 30-45 minute performance, class workshops and Q&A (about the play, company, industry etc.)

Some possible costs for me will be costumes, makeup, scripts, props, set, travel and any handouts/leaflets. 

Friday 20th November (Phone Calls)

In this lesson we were calling up any theatres we would like to tour at, however because I have a Theatre In Education company I had to ring schools to discuss performances and workshops, their prices and what they would want from my company. We also needed to contact any other types of companies for other things such as costumes or any tech equipment for hire. We had to come up with an opening sentence or two to help us with the phone calls, this was mine- 

"Hi there, my name is Emily, I'm a performing arts student at Worthing College and as part of my performing arts business course I am creating a theatre company and research how I would go about putting on a performance, do you have a few minutes to answer some questions?"

I then went on to ask some of the following questions- 

• do you have theatre in education companies visit your school regularly? 
• would your English or drama department be interested in Shakespeare?
• how much would you be willing to pay for (variation of performances, workshops and Q&A's)?
• if not Shakespeare, what would your school be interested in? 

I was quite successful in my phone calls. I contacted Worthing High School and Durrington High School and both said they would be interested. I was not told anything about prices by either schools because money would be involved at a later stage in organisation, however Worthing High School said that they rarely have TIE groups visit and that they really enjoy having them in, but suggested we approach with more options, such as other types of literature, just in case. Durrington were slightly less interested but this was my first call and I may have seemed a bit nervous or unprofessional. 

From this I learnt that being professional even on the phone is important and clarity is vital, when talking to Durrington I felt i was being quite vague but didn't know what to say, whereas with Worthing High I found I knew what to say and how to make the general conversation better and flow more naturally.

http://www.iasoundandlight.co.uk/followspots.htm
Above is a link to IA Sound and Lighting, they sell different types of lighting and sound equipment, which I would use for my companies production. To hire a lED 100 follow spot for a week would cost £45.
Drax Lighing- http://www.draxlighting.com/cgi-bin/shop.pl?
type=fullhire&item=Robert%20Juliat%20Buxie%20followspot&section=Lighting+Hire&subsection=Follow+Spots Also have a follow spot for hire, costing £80 for the week. The Robert Juiliat Buxie Followspot comes with the stand and appropriate cables.
Another site I found, Innovation Production, offers different types of followspot, the one I would be interested in, Canto 1200 costs £75 for a week to hire. http://www.innovation-productions.com/acatalog/Followspot_Hire.html

In comparrison, IA Sound and Lighting is cheaper ot hire, however Innovation Production have a better quality product and I would therefore choose that. I called this company to ask about how i would go about hiring their lighting equipment. I was very succesful, I was told that I can order what I like online through their website and pay using card. I was told that their team members would come to my location (depending on where that is) and install the equipment for me.