Networking Paying Off

There is a director in DC who is a good friend of mine and I have watched over the last couple of years make strategic moves in networking. He always reaches out to Artistic Directors and makes a point email them, take them to dinner and meet them when they attend shows he’s involved in.

I think he is a very talented director but I have no doubt that he has gotten as far as he did by the networking he has done with all the Artistic Directors. He is my age and about to direct a main stage production for one of the hottest theatres in Washington DC.

Just another example of how good networking pays off.

Project Fringe 10 – Moving Forward

I have been amazed recently by this one man show that is playing in one of my theaters. I guess it is technically not a one man show since there are two people on stage but really one person is carrying the show. I have been stopping by to see full houses and am truly amazed by the potential of a one man show. The script and story have to be spot on and the production must be first class. But with a cast of one the gross potential is much high and makes the production way less risky.

You only have a cast of one to pay and possibly a hundred less costumes. I am not ready to announce it yet but in looking at doing a Fringe I discovered two things. First the quality of production was less than I thought and second the chance of recoupment was also less than I had planned. The Capital Fringe Festival in Washington DC charges a total of $825 to just get in the door when all is said and done. At Fringe the houses are relatively small so with a 100 percent attendance gross of a 50 seat house I would be looking of $2,250. That doesn’t leave a lot for actors, sets, costumes, directors, designers or marketing. Also remember that is 100 percent attendance. Try and think of Fringe like Broadway. There will be many shows playing at once. Sure a couple of them will be hits but that’s a couple out of many. And some of them could be flops.

Weighing all of those factors I have decided two things. I want a one man show for my first time and second I want to partner up with Producers who have done Fringe before.

Again because of no one signing anything yet and not even being excepted yet I will wait to announce what the show is and who the partners are but I have to say I am starting to get excited. More to come soon hopefully…

Winter Break

As you can tell I have been pretty busy lately and not posting as regular as I would like. For this reason I am deeming it “Winter Break.” I am going to take a break and return refreshed. I will return on DECEMBER 28, 2009.

Have a Happy Holiday!

Today I wanted to continue in Twitter and I came across a wonderful blog called problogger.net. In this blog post he talked about many ways your twitter account can work for you (or your blog) but I thought he made so many great points that I wanted to share a link to his blog.

"Learn that Every Tweet Counts
This is another thing that I speak about when it comes to blogging that also applies to Twitter. Every time you publish something on your Twitter account (or Blog) you can potentially improve or hurt your reputation, brand and profile. This is an important lesson to learn – particularly for Twitter where it’s so easy to post something out of anger, in a drunken moment or that could hurt your reputation in some way. Sure posting in this way can add ’spice’ to your Twittering – but it can also hurt your reputation."

To read the rest of the post click HERE

Twitter Week Part 2

Now that you have your account and can tweet there are a couple of simple things you should know to help you through the process.

First, this will seem very foreign at first and you will have trouble finding the right people to follow. It took me a well over a month to find the right mix of people to follow and I am constantly tweaking who I follow. I started following news organizations and found that to be too much. They tweet everything including much news I didn’t care about in an hour I would get over 20 tweets from some of them. That was just too much for me but maybe that’s just what you want. There is no right or wrong way to pick who to follow. I have a mix of friends, businesses, and celebrities.

The next thing you need to know is how to link in the Twitter world. You can put a # in front of a word or series of words and then anyone who sees that can click that word and it will show them everyone that used that same # and word combination. It would be like searching for a word.

The other is the @ sign. That will link you to other users. So if you wanted to talk about me you could say @JaredNeff and then someone could click on that and it would take them to me or people that write to me. Again the symbol makes that word that follows a link.

The last tip is with web links. Because you may only use 140 characters typing in a long ink will take up too much of your characters. So I recommend using a link shortening site like bit.ly. This site will shorten the link for you and let you know how many people click on it.

More tips to follow later in the week. Leave comments or your twitter tips in the comments section.

Twitter Week Begins

Over the last couple of months more than a few people have asked me about Twitter and how to use it, so I am going to dedicate, for the most part, this week to Twitter. Someone said to me recently that Twitter gets more hype than actual users. That may be true, but only time will tell. I think the same was said about Facebook in its first couple of years, and as a business person you would think being connected to your audience, whoever they are, will be important. Having another way of reaching them is also important.

First, you have to set up an actual account. It is easy and takes little to no time. Just go to Twitter.com and get started. They just ask for your name, a user name and email, and you are on your way. I always think being straightforward is the best approach. So you can follow me @JaredNeff and see a picture of me.

That goes to the next point. There a couple of design features that can make your Twitter page unique. The most important is your picture. This will be next to every comment you make. Because it is so small, make sure it easy to see. If you are small in the picture to begin with, you will be hard to see. I also recommend using the same photo for all your profiles, so if you have a good photo on Facebook, go ahead and use it. There are also background pictures and color changing options, but most people access their accounts from their phones and will just see your picture, so that is the most important.

Once you have your account set up you can start to follow people and have them follow you. I will get more into this tomorrow, but you have the basics, and tomorrow we will go into the details of tweeting.

Great Story

Ask My Frends - Inspiration for Design

Ask Your Friends Wednesdays is my favorite day because it reconnects me to my most talented friends. Today I pose the question to one of the most talented designers I have worked with. Not only is he a good designer but he is one of the most honest and caring people I know. We always have a blast when we hang out and I look forward to seeing where his designs take us. My question to Michael McClain was, “Where do you go for inspiration once you have been hired to design a show?”

"When Jared put forth this question, I thought it would come with an easy answer. However, that belief was quickly proven incorrect. Staring at the blank screen in front of me, the only text was the question provided. I attempted to write and rewrite my first paragraph. How do I find inspiration, what is my inspiration?

I imagine all designers, all artists, start with the same tools, the same resources. The written word. A key word you hear the director use over and over. Mountains of books on history, architecture, fashion and art. Random collections of images from magazines and Google searches. Music that relates to the piece. A day spent in the park. The magic is how one uses these tools, this collection of information to inspire a design.

Personally, I have a love of books, preferably with pictures. I tend to spread all my books and any additional library finds around me on the floor. Spines open to images I like, Post-It notes on countless pages to be photo copied. A mess of loose computer paper, which has been following me since my first read, intermixed. Most of my notes are one word scribbles, describing emotions, color, and texture. Some notes are questions I’ve asked myself; Things to research in more depth. Desires and concerns the director may have brought to the table. Doodles I’ve begun to play around with. Relatable music, hopefully a musical soundtrack, playing in the background adds to the creative nest. And then there is me sitting in the middle of all this talking to myself, the egg.

To avoid getting blocked by the pressure of turning this egg, my mind, into some magical, special, poetic master design…I talk to myself. By talking through different ideas out loud, I can then question and challenge whether or not they hold water. At times, working through the collection of chaos can clear a path to something tangible. I can start to see a pattern forming from this kaleidoscope of information. Perhaps I notice that I keep identifying with the color or shade of blue, or that there is a reoccurring use of a certain material. I then have to ask myself, why? Why are these elements speaking to me, and then how does it relate to the play? As I begin to isolate these clues, a world beings to develop. There is almost always an image that becomes the jumping off point. One source that is the catalyst for the rest of my imagination to build upon.

There’s nothing like the moment when things just start clicking and for the first time you have a solid foundation. After twelve years of designing I still recall almost every magic moment of a design. I can remember where I was, what it was that made a light bulb go off. There’s a rush of energy that charges through the body as you search for pen and paper to capture an idea. That moment of clarity is personal for the artist and his work. For better or worse, each design is with me and a part of my story as a designer.

Of course there are plenty of times when nothing seems to come to me. My mind is so blank I can hear the clock in the next room keeping time. That’s when it is time to put everything down and walk away. A forced design is never a good design. I’ll look for inspiration tomorrow.

Even now as I am looking for a solid way to wrap this up, I’m blank. Think I’ll leave this ending open. I’m going to take my advice and walk to the inter-coastal and watch the boats coming in and out of the docks as the sun sets for the day.

"

Repost; Safe is Risky

Today I was watching TED, and Seth Godin, a marketing genius, said, "Safe is risky." One of his books, The Purple Cow, discusses how to make businesses stand out, how to do something different. We need to do this in theatre, too. We need to come up with some outside of the box ideas to market our shows (and maybe even to use to create our shows).

One of my crazy ideas is to do a show with monkeys. Yes, you read that correctly, a show with monkeys. You are thinking

"WTF," right? Well, here is the idea. You take a straight play and train (or block) monkeys to walk around in costumes. Have people do the voice overs and watch a play performed. Now you are thinking, "How did he get here?" Well, I was thinking of some really untraditional casting. I thought, "How far could I go?" Then I went there. Monkeys.

Now you are starting to imagine plays being performed by monkeys. Yes, you are buying into the idea. Now for the title of the play . . . Inherit the Wind. Yes, I realize all the legal problems with doing this, but think of the potential. You get families that just want to see monkeys and some people who just want to see it for the sake of classical art.

I am sure there were a lot of people scared about the Muny in St. Louis using a real helicopter in Miss Saigon, but by doing that they did something risky and got a lot of attention, and I still talk about the performance of Miss Saigon I saw with a real helicopter.

The point is to think outside the box. Don’t be afraid to go too far. Your friends and colleagues can always bring you back in. But push yourself and see where you land.

Christmas Cards

It is that time of year. Christmas cards (or now more likely holiday cards) will be flying around soon and probably landing in your mailbox. I actually think the idea is wonderful and a great way to remind people that you appreciate them and their business.

The expense is maybe just too great, though. Looking at all the budgets that are tightening, I wonder if emailing a personal note of some kind my have just as much affect. I have about 125 people in my small department alone that I want to receive cards, but I think the money could be put to better use.

I am going to think about this and poll a couple of people and get back to you. But please write a comment about what you think of Christmas cards. Not from Grandma, but from the business perspective.

Filling A Gap

Yesterday there was a piece in the Washington Post about the Washington Ballet. It was on the homepage so I clicked to see what it was about. The Washington Ballet lost an expected 1 million dollars which is about 1/8th of their budget.

In a stroke of geniuses and maybe luck, they came up with a unique collaboration with Design Army and photographer Cade Martin. They ended up producing a commemorative book with shots of dancers throughout Washington DC. The paper and printing were donated and the book looks to generate around $100,000 in additional income for the company. I have to say, from what I see I am interested in buying this book. It looks beautiful and knowing the money is going to a good arts organization really makes the $55 seem not so high.

Congratulations to the Ballet and their partners in coming up with a great way to begin to fill the gap and hopefully get some more buzz about their company. You can read the article at the Washington Post and go check out the Ballet if you get a chance.

"And I'm Telling You"

Ask My Friends - Developing Development

The other night, at the Opening Night of As You Like It, I was speaking with a good friend about his job in development and talked about building relationships and preparing for "the ask." The area I am most interested in these days is Development. I know little about it and think I might be somewhat good at it. So today in the “Ask My Friends” segment we have Chris Sewell. Chris and I met just a couple of months ago when I was looking for another person to play basketball with us. Chris has become a close friend after the last couple of months. He completed his undergrad at Xavier University and is pursuing his master's at Johns Hopkins University. Chris has no theatre background but has worked in development for the last four years.

“Let’s face it, whether you work for a small, environmental nonprofit like myself or a large organization for the arts, the show can’t go on if there’s no funding to keep the doors open. Development, or fundraising, is a core element to any group’s work.

There’s a skill required to successfully ask people to open their wallets, and we’ve all watched in awe at some of our colleagues as they bring in check after check. To win donations, donors have to trust your judgment, believe in your production, and be willing to invest in your organization. Maybe then they’ll open their wallets. But there’s more to worry about. What about connections, organization, timing, and making the big ask??? All of this detail is important, but it all is a second priority. Successful development starts with relationships.

You might have recently wrapped up another six figure donation for one production, or maybe you’re about to ask a friend for $25 for the first time. No matter what, you depend on relationships to help answer the questions above. Are you asking a poor college student for a million dollars? Do you know the person well enough to anticipate his interest in an issue or show? Can you meet him for coffee to give him an inside scoop? Development is successful when you know the potential donor enough to bring value to the relationship. If nine times out of ten you call or meet for interesting, organic reasons, you might be able to work with him as a potential donor later.

Development is the art of building good relationships. Get to know the people interested in your work enough to make the smart ask, and development can be as easy as your next meeting over a cup of coffee.”

Twitter / $25 Gift Card

How much if at all do you use Twitter? Help out a promising grad student and take a very short survey. Also there is a chance to win a $25 Best Buy Gift Card.

Take the two minutes and click the link below and thanks in advance.

twitter survey