Season plan accordingly!

I always advise that if you are looking for press impact, you need to plan your productions accordingly. Great advice, but… Not helpful. So I figured I would put together a neat calendar that gives a general landscape.

Just a note–schedules are always in flux and this is more of a general lay of the land than hard and fast booked schedules. And this is also for press impact, not ticket sales impact. So I am not even considering that audiences go to the Hamptons for the summer (and, by the way, that’s a myth).

Finally, more and more there is no “good” time to open, so you kind of have to grit your teeth and just do it. But, there are definitely months to avoid.

January

January used to be a great time to open. I would urge clients to kick off their shows on January 2nd. Who wants to spend the holidays in tech, right? Well, apparently no one minds anymore, since early January is now is chock full of festivals to coincide with APAP. And we are seeing three Broadway openings this month as well.

February

Broadway competition is not very heavy in this frigid month, but some of the major Off Broadway non-profits do begin to open again. This year, I like February more than January, but it’s still important to get an idea of what’s opening when before you make the plunge.

March

I like early March for openings, but it needs to happen within the first two weeks. Later March usually sees the lead up to the April insanity as Broadway producers cram their productions in time for the Tony Award cut off dates. This year, Off Broadway is much quieter than February, but that’s often not the case.

April

You have to have something really “Wow!” worthy to attempt to open Off Broadway in April. It’s a hard month. I would avoid it at all costs.

May

A lot of the major Off Broadway shows open now, after avoiding the April Broadway stampede. There is also the problem of the Tony nominations… Now theater coverage is geared towards features on the nominees and handicapping the awards. And, the critics are burnt out. It’s certainly better than April, but can still be a challenge.

June

Get the Tony’s over with, and it’s a decent time to open. Again, keep an eye on Off Broadway. Over the past few years, they have moved into later June for this very reason.

July

While you butt up against press on vacation, July is a pretty nice time to open. Of course, summer 2011 was buzzing with the RSC, which made summer openings a lot more complicated.

August

Ah August. You have to battle the NY Fringe, and that’s no fun. But I think if you open early or later August you can do OK with press impact.

September

I loved to open shows immediately after Labor Day. The press is excited to get a new season started, and they are energized. Apparently, everyone else noticed too. Now, a lot more shows are cropping up right after Labor Day, and the First Irish Festival has grown into a pretty major fest with a good amount of coverage. I still won’t count out an early September opening, but look towards later September as well (like after the 20th).

October

I’ve always liked the first two weeks of October. But after around the 15th, Broadway gears up, and the major Off Broadway shows are opening. I look at it as our own little Oscar season–this is when the more serious fare gets produced, and those amazing character actors are on stage. Unless your show can tie into Halloween trend stories, it’s going to be a tough time to make any impact.

November

November is like April, and very busy. Late October through November 2011 was simply horrible if you weren’t opening a major production. Plus you are battling the Thanksgiving holiday, when pretty much everyone speeds out of town. So unless your play is about Pilgrims, I’d just sit back and enjoy the pumpkin pie.

December

The remainders of November flow into early December, and now the press begins to cover the holiday-themed fare. If you have a holiday tie-in, it’s possible to get into trend stories and so forth. The week just before Christmas was actually quite nice in 2011–there wasn’t much opening so a few smaller shows were able to get some traction. I recall it being this way in 2010 as well. But it’s a tough time to get audience out . I also recommend going with something more lighthearted and comic during this month. It just seems to resonate better than the serious work.

OK, did I miss anything? What are your experiences opening during a certain time of year? Let me know in the comments!

For today’s case of the Mondays, let’s do a little Monday morning quarterbacking for the weekend movie box office.

To put it succinctly, it was a crap weekend for Hollywood. And while the pundits blame crappy reviews and lack of testosterone at the box office, I think there’s something a else at play that may be effecting your box office too.

It has to do with the economy, but this time, I am not talking about money. I am talking about time.

Eliminated jobs mean that the people left employed (and ostensibly those who still have available entertainment dollars) are working longer as they pick up the slack. Salary cuts, which many have faced, mean that people may be picking up part time jobs or freelance work to fill the financial hole.

I know I have no time right now. I haven’t had time to do any real holiday shopping, haven’t had time to clean up the house for guests, haven’t had time to do much of anything since I have a lot of work obligations right now. And I am sure I am not the only one.

I think people are more cautious about how they spend their time. Do they have two or three hours to spare to see a movie or a play? Will this be the best use of the one free evening that they may have in the week? Or would that three hours be better spent catching up on housework or having a long dinner with a friend?

People are now saying, hey, with less leisure hours, this time is as valuable as my work time (if not more so).

So how do you let new audiences know that their time spent with you is not time wasted? Maybe people will start paying attention to reviews again. But I still think word of mouth is the strongest driver. Your biggest advocate is your already loyal audience. How are you inviting them to tell their friends?

The story of Amanda Hocking's literary rise reads almost like The Little Engine That Could

I have been pretty transfixed by Amanda Hocking, the young woman who made a million bucks by self-publishing her ebooks and then landed a traditional publishing contract with an advance of double that amount.

If you read her backstory, she’s like the little engine that could. And she most certainly DID. On her blog, she is pretty open about how she got from working a minimum wage job to being the breakout story of the year in the literary world.

While Amanda’s story is unique, I am searching for the “ah ha” moment to extrapolate from it. She doesn’t owe it all to Twitter or Facebook — in fact she has said she is not very good at keeping up with either of those social networks. She mentions being involved in some online forums, but it sounds like she was in these forums well before she began selling her work.

There seem to be two things that she points to as instrumental for her success: her fans, and book bloggers.

Book bloggers. Not the New York Times Book Review. Not Kirkus.

Fans. The people who gave her 5 enthusiastic stars on Amazon, who gladly downloaded the next book in the series, who told all their friends about her, who left supportive messages on her blog.

And about that blog. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that the online marketers insist you need for success. It’s a Blogspot domain, with a generic design.

She’s very warm and completely approachable on her blog. Charmingly self-depracating. While she doesn’t respond to her fans in the comments, everything she writes is clearly for them. Often it’s pretty mundane.

She also includes a chapter of each of her books. It’s a little tease for the reader. She pulls the reader into the story. Then a link brings you to an Amazon page where you can purchase for less than a cup of coffee. She has taken away a lot of the risk people feel when trying something new.

Yes, her pricing is very low. Ninety-nine cents for the first book in a series, and then something like $2.50 for subsequent books in the same series. It’s a model that almost mimics the old dime store novels. A serialized story that is inexpensive enough for fans to keep on purchasing.

So what are our takeaways? Honestly, I am not so sure. It’s hard to excerpt a theater piece on a blog, and there are a few more barriers to entry than a link to an Amazon page. But I think the focus on the relationship with her fans is important, with the book bloggers running a close second.

So, guys, what’s your take on this?

I was in a lovely little “mom and pop” coffee shop having a delicious iced coffee and overheard a meeting between the proprietors and a few other people.

They were discussing how to boost the small shop’s revenue.

One woman was very enthusiastic about knocking off a version of the Starbuck’s Rewards Card, which is sort of like a pre-paid debit coffee card. Customers can load it with money and use it for their Starbucks purchases instead of cash or a credit/debit card. The card has certain perks—free additional syrup flavors, a free drink after 10 purchases, and other special one-time offers.

I certainly see the appeal in having customers pre-pay for their purchases. It is like a no-interest loan from your customers. They give you a chunk of money up front while you slow-drip the product to them. And then there are the customers who load the card and then never use the balance. Free money!

The pre-paid card works for Starbucks because they offer decent perks and you can’t walk a mile without tripping over a Starbucks. If you get a pre-paid card, you need to psychologically justify that you will use it. That $20 is no longer be in your bank account and available for a purchase from someplace else. You made a financial commitment to Starbucks. If it wasn’t on every corner, would you feel that commitment was worth it? If you can’t access the store easily from your office when you want a 3pm coffee boost, how will you feel paying cash for a cup of coffee when you have a $20 credit for coffee elsewhere?

But… As a small coffee shop with only one location, are there enough customers who would buy into it to pay for the additional costs for a new point-of-sale system so the card could work?

This one woman was really into her idea. And it took a good 20 minutes of explaining why it wasn’t a good idea for this little coffee shop to get her off the pre-paid card track. It was a waste of productive time. (Well, so are meetings, but that’s a post for another day.)

The point is, when it comes down to marketing ideas, sometimes stealing from the big guys works. But often it doesn’t. Just because it worked for Starbucks did not mean it would work for this little coffee shop. Yes, they both sell coffee. But that’s all they have in common. The little shop needs to find a way to play on its strengths and not play monkey-see with a massive chain.

Consider talking to your marketing team when doing season planning. Their insight may be helpful. (And don't you wish there were 32 days in a month?)

Forgive the silence of the past few weeks. I was undergoing dental work that turned out to be a major time suck. But enough about my teeth!

We are already starting to see season announcements for next year, and I am sure once Broadway simmers down in a few weeks, we’ll see tons more season announcements land in the various outlets that cover theater news.

So, as you get ready to release your info, I ask you to pause and reflect on the process of coming up with your next season.

OK, are you reflecting? Great.  Now a question…

Did you let your PR and marketing team in on the season discussion?

My guess is, probably not…

I know, I know, we really know how to suck all the air out of the room. I’m the pain-in-the-ass wrinkling my nose at the unknown playwright, asking if you are chasing celebrity casting. The marketing team is already bugging you about writing blog posts and tweeting and engaging the audience. And all you want to do is direct a play, finish the script, perform the role. But we’re the splinter in the heel of your foot, making the process of season planning more painful than it needs to be.

Hell, I wouldn’t want to invite me either.

But… (You knew that was coming, didn’t you?)

Season planning takes a village. If you are interested in gaining audience and getting coverage, you will give us a seat at the table. While we can’t see the future, we do have an idea of what may, or more importantly, what may NOT sell to audience and media. We also know what time of year may be better for what project. We pay attention to trends. We often have a broader view of the competition.

What do you think? Do you consult with PR and marketing during season planning? Why or why not? And if you do, has it helped?

Tulips are poking through the ground, our clocks have sprung ahead and Spring officially kicks began on Sunday. That can only mean one thing. The crush of Broadway openings is upon us!

My phone is pretty quiet and my email inbox isn’t filling up quite as fast. I am catching “See You in May” Facebook stats from friends and colleagues. The “open in time for the Tony” race is totally on.

This is the time of year that working Off or Off Off Broadway puts you at a severe disadvantage, no matter what the project*. There is just way too much noise and its drowning everything out. And it seems particularly magnified this year with Spiderman sucking all the air out of the room. I couldn’t even clearly tell you what is opening ON Broadway over the coming weeks. It’s just so much that simple retention of titles is pretty impossible.

In truth, there is no “good” time to open anymore. Over recent years, Broadway and the really large Off Broadway houses got savvy to the Off Off Broadway trick of being the only game in town when opening during the “off” season. Hence we see major shows opening in the August doldrums (guess everyone finally realized that the mass exodus to the Hamptons was a myth).

But there are definitely still times that should be avoided at all costs. And, dear readers, the time is now. If you want to take the media by storm, mid-March through early May is probably not the best time to do it (in New York City anyway).

*Exception: An Off Broadway starring Madonna, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, or another celebrity of similar iconic status.

The horrific situation in Japan just keeps getting scarier and scarier, and I am sure they will need piles of assistance from the global community to rebuild after a tragedy of this scale. But I can’t help be a little cynical. Because when disaster strikes and altruism sets in, sometimes it’s hard to tell where the self promotion ends and the selflessness begins.

In the weeks and months following 9/11, I got a number of calls about handling press for benefits and shows where “all proceeds” would go to some 9/11 fund. Some people were donating to the Red Cross and other specific charity outlets, but some were very vague about who exactly was getting that money. Was someone going to carry a paper bag of dollar bills and coins to Lower Manhattan, stand on top of the rubble and hand it off to the first recovery worker they saw?

I suppose what compounds my cynicism is that often there was the endless insistence that because their motives for their project were “purely altruistic,” the press absolutely had to cover what they were doing. It was all to raise money for disaster relief.

But raising money for disaster relief was the aim of just about every project at that time. So a disaster relief donation on its own had absolutely no merit for coverage. It was not newsworthy; it was actually the norm.

Now, of course big corporations use their altruism to gain favor. Facebook handed over a massive sum of money to the City of Newark, and received a lot of media love for it. Time Warner certainly wanted some lovely PR when they underwrote the Signature, so that the theater could change only $20 per seat. The vast sums of money that a Facebook or a Time Warner is able to donate makes them not only newsworthy, but it also gives them a free pass on whatever their motivation may be for their altruism.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that only large organizations should raise and donate money. By all means, go out there and raise money. Donate it, even if it’s $5! It’s amazing to give to organizations that help people in need–and even the smallest amount of money can be an enormous help. And yes, put it in your marketing materials and press releases, so people know where the money is going. It’s perfectly OK to share what you are doing. And perhaps someone will make more of an effort to buy a ticket because of it.

But do it because you want to do it, because you are driven to help in some way. Do not go into it with the mindset that because your company is donating money to a cause you deserve coverage, audiences, etc. Don’t use it as a vehicle for self promotion. It won’t have the impact you desire. And it’s simply bad karma.

Unrealistic expectations can turn really shout-y really fast. Photo from the fabulous Parallel Exit show Room 17B by Jim Moore.

I once shared office space with these really terrific guys who produced shows for corporate events. They funded an Off Broadway run of one of their shows they thought could break out of the corporate event circuit.

They had money to spend and spend it they did. They hired one of the biggest theater PR firms at the time to handle the press outreach. They were super excited.

And then came no reviews on top of negative reviews. They did the show in a space that was questionable as an Off Broadway venue. They produced at a busy time of year. There were no stars. It was essentially a musical revue, which can be a tough sell. They were pissed at the press office.

They told me they went into a marketing meeting screaming that they shared an office with a publicist and knew I was on the phone non-stop for my clients. They claimed this company wasn’t doing the same for them.

“In our very first meeting, you said you would get us ALL THIS!” was the gist of their anger. They felt ripped off.

I knew the people on their account. They were a knowledgeable, hard working bunch with great contacts. The show was as tough sell to the press, and in my opinion they actually did a really good job with what they were handed.

Where I felt this firm failed was in that initial meeting. They promised Broadway-sized press for a show that was never going to achieve that sort coverage.

Essentially, they oversold and under-delivered. And that’s no fun for anyone.

A big part of my job is managing expectations. And this makes some people angry. When people are passionate about their work, it’s very hard to hear someone with a more realistic point of view. But I need to be a voice of reason.

It has cost me money in the short term. Realism is read as being unsupportive. Since I am not “passionate” about the project, I lose the business. But in the end, it’s saved me a whole load of problems on the back end. Who wants to deal with screaming clients who were given unrealistic expectations? In that instance, they have a right to be pissed.

It’s important to dream big, but it’s also important to keep the expectations more down to Earth.

So if you head into a meeting with a prospective PR firm, try to go into it objectively and have realistic expectations of what you is achievable. And if you are being sold pie-in-the-sky scenarios, you may want to reconsider your choice of representation.

You aren't the only one without the Twitter love. 71% of Tweets get no reaction.

Because I’m a nerd, I loved this post, Attentionomics: Captivating Attention in the Age of Content Decay, from Edleman’s Steve Rubel about value creation and how it is getting harder and harder to stand out in the digital realm.

While it gets a little too carried away with”corporate-speak,” the slideshow is definitely worth a look. It’s astounding to how quickly a tweet moves to obsolete, or a Facebook post goes poof.

Here are three of my favorite takeaways.

Hand craft content for each audience

This is something so rarely done, but so strikingly important. And frankly, it’s a no-brainer. How many times have you gotten a piece of junk mail and went WTF are they sending this to ME for?  For example, an invitation to join the AARP, when you are in your 20s (yes, it happened to me).

This is also important when reaching out to the press. What outlet is appropriate? What reporter would be interested in this pitch? Wouldn’t a cover feature on Justin Beiber be simply rediculous in AARP’s magazine?

Think about the message you are sending. Is it appropriate to the person on the receiving end?

Activate expert employees

“Social media is 1% of 100 ppls jobs, not 100% of 1 person’s job.” If you are a one man-band, OK, social media is 100% your job along with everything else (and if you haven’t already, check out Dave Charest’s awesome Twitter Guide).

You know who “gets” this? 2AM Theatre. With the #2amt hashtag on Twitter they can keep conversation flowing. And it’s not only the site’s founders, everyone who participates becomes that 1%. Hard to create and duplicate, but something to consider. But remember, David and Travis did not create the site as a way to fuel their own careers–they created a community for theater artists. It took off from there.

Integrate owned and social networks

I’ll admit, I am crappy at this. But I am also one person and my attention is divided (and this is where I need to re-read and implement lessons from Dave’s Twitter Guide). Once again, 2AM Theatre does a great job at this–they start the conversation on Twitter and move it to the blog, or vice-versa. You definitely need a “home base” (and your Facebook fan page doesn’t count).

Your audience isn’t on your site straight away. But there’s 700 million people on Twitter to invite over for cookies.