Fringe in Full Swing

So my Capital Fringe Festival show, The Diary of a Dancer, is in rehearsal in NYC. Down here in DC I am starting the marketing. I started a Facebook group and Mary has her own Facebook page. You should add her by clicking here. There will be some fun updates I am sure.

Postcards just arrived! Thanks to my talented fellow Fringe producer, Anne Kohn. I wrote about her theatre company a while back, No Rules Theatre Company and now they are doing a Fringe show too.

The biggest challenge we face is our 1st show has a crappy timeslot (Saturday July, 11th at 11am). I am hoping we can sell out that first show maybe by giving something away??? Anyone have any ideas on how to make the first and earliest show sell out? Give me a shout or leave a comment.

Fringe Project 10 - And So It Begins…

The Diary of a Dancer will be my Fringe Show! I am soooo excited to be working on this show. Author Wade Dooley contacted me months ago to put his show in for the running for my Project Fringe show. The show I will produce at the Capital Fringe Festival this summer. His show was a wonderful musical about a retirement community that had many great characters and some fun music but ultimately was just too big for me to budget at Fringe.

Then he came back with the idea of using the main character from that musical and creating a one-man show. I was instantly intrigued and loved all the work he has put into the show.

Then there was the whole application process for Fringe. You have to apply and wait to see if you even get accepted. We have been accepted and I have put the first payment in $250 (including the application fee) and I have to make the rest of the payment a week from Friday.

I am going to start a three part fundraising project for this show. My goal is to raise $1,000 to cover the fees involved in Fringe and to help pay the rest of the costs involved in producing a show. The total budget today is $4,430. Scary right? Stay tuned for how you can help!

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…

Rights?

The one time I saw my class at CTI get into an uproar was when we were all going around and discussing our current projects and one of the producers in my class didn’t have the rights to a show he had been working on for years and put money into.

Another time, I remember Arena Stage announced The Women of Brewster Place and then pulled it from the season because Gloria Naylor had not signed off on her rights from the book. She later did, and it appeared the following season, but you see where I am going with this.

I had just started to pursue a show for Project Fringe 10 when the authors asked about getting the rights from the book. I felt a little dumb for not asking first off. I thought it was public domain, but it turns out it is not. They now are hiring a lawyer to help them through this matter. This is so important because they have already had other people interested in licensing the show. So this is something that could yield a profit for the authors. Needless to say, I am hoping and praying the rights come through.

If you are working on a show or getting ready to, always make sure the authors and or company have the appropriate rights. It is so important.

Project Fringe 10 - Part 4 7.17.09

We are really making progress with Project Fringe. I have a partner in producing this show. His name is Clayton Smith. I have worked with Clayton briefly in producing a reading of one of his plays. Clayton is a bright young grad student in Chicago. He has written for this blog, and it is #2 in the top-ranked pages of the blog. Clayton will be heavily involved in the creative aspects of script formation. He will also play a key role in fundraising and marketing.

Speaking of the creative part, I am down to three ideas, though only two of them are fully formed. I want to get a director involved to help choose the piece. There is a local, young director who has assisted on a lot around town and directed a lot of readings and smaller productions. Next season will mark his directing debut of a main stage at a regional theatre in D.C. I won’t reveal his name yet, but he seems interested, and I will let you know once we move forward.

So a partner is attached, and a director and script are getting closer. Now to work on a marketing plan and budget with my partner Clayton. Stay tuned to see who will be playing the “director” in this adventure and what script will make the final cut.

Project Fringe 10 – Part 1 – 6.26.09

A good friend of mine is really sick today. So I just want to post it and let him and his family know I thinking about him. My friend's name is David and he was rushed to the hospital Friday night and they found out it was H1N1. I would appreciate all the thoughts and prayers you can give him as he has been in ICU all weekend. Thanks. . . its a good thing these are written in advance.

Okay, I announced earlier this week that I was going to dive into producing a Fringe Show. I got a lot of great ideas and a lot of people interested. I was actually surprised at the number of responses I received from all over the US, and some from people I didn’t even know. It was a huge boost.

Now to move forward. I am going to go over the ideas (few actually had a finished show) and move forward from there. There is a lot to consider when moving forward. First off, if you know anything about me, then you know I want to produce musicals more than plays. I am open to plays, but my passion lies in musical theatre; therefore, I am hoping to find a really good musical. Secondly, I want something that is going to be good. (Great Story and Great Music) I mean really good. I don’t want to put up a show that I am not proud of. The third thing I am looking at is people. Who will I want to work with over the next year to develop this show? They say producing is like marriage. You are together for a long time, so make sure it is someone you can really live with. I want the show to have a life beyond the festival, so the relationship could be for more than a year. Broadway producers of musicals that were written and closed 20 years ago still have to deal with the writers when it comes to subsidiary rights, so I will take picking the writers very seriously.

I am going to try and lay out all the ideas and writers and come up with the best options. Once I narrow down the choices, I will post my top three and move from there. Stay tuned to see what happens with Project Fringe.