TALE END - the marketing of a new play. Pt. 2

Mind you, even though the intent was to Create excitement (or at least intrigue) with the creation of a brand new play there was really no "diabolical" plan on how this would be accomplished. So, everything was just one step beyond the "willy nilly" stage. What would be the "hook"... apart from the fact that it was a new play? It was 4 months from "premiering" at Rogue 2007... and a completed play didn't even exist yet.

Epiphany: You can't sell a product that doesn't exist!

Then... BOOM... one morning (after a 4 week drag) there was a sudden burst of creative energy in play writing. Within 7 days the play (at least the first draft) was completed. I can only guess that my creative doodling with the video helped unblock me.

*The success of our "art" has always been dependent on "buzz".

So, now I had a product. (Yeah, chide me for calling it that... but ultimately, if you are selling tickets to a show... you have a product.) Now the promotional thrust began to take shape. 2 words came into play AWARENESS & INTRIGUE.

LET US START WITH AWARENESS

The show had been cast by this point (3 months and counting) and workshop readings were underway. I had asked the cast to post about their experience as the process of creation was taking place... warts and all! (The workshop and rehearsal process turned out to be a "love fest" but that's beside the point... if things got challenging and ugly they had the freedom to blog about it.) Though it did take a while... the cast did finally warm up to the idea.

Blogging
Theatre J'Nerique has had a website since the late 90's. It was pretty much a "static" site that operated as an electronic billbord of sorts. Since we hadn't produced for a while all the "news" there was at least 3 years old.

Adding a blog to it (which is really easy to do) made the site a lot more interactive and immediate. The fact that readers can comment also gave the potential audience member a direct buy-in into the show. * The idea is that if you follow something long enough... you'll want to catch the "final product."

(* All "art" is the skillful craft of manipulating thought and emotion.)

Poster
A poster had already been created for the show. (2 and a half months before.) Instead of limiting it to just a "hard" print form... a digital form was also created and placed on our blog. Readers were actively encouraged to "steal it" for their own blogs or sites.

MySpacing
I had my own MySpace account that I never paid much attention to. I didn't much care for their blog format (Blogger and Wordpress seemed more accessible and immediate) and it always seemed like more of a "dating network for a 13 year old mentality". On the plus side... everyone and his uncle has one and it seemed a great way to send out bulletins to a "captive audience"... if for nothing else maybe a way to get more readers hooked on to the blog at the company site.

The "target audience :

a. the usual suspects (local theatre nerds)
"Friending" target A:
Start with your friends in theatre... then move to "harvest" their friends. (Chances are they are into theatre themselves.)

b. a brand new audience.
"Friending" target B:
Hit "locals" (within a 50 mile radius) who are involved in other disciplines of the arts - poets, musicians, etc. (You'll be amazed how many of those in the other disciplines have never been to theatre... this gives them the perfect reason to check it out.)

Then, just about anyone (within a 50 mile radius) that would respond to your request to "add" them. The rationale was that if only 20 percent of your "friends" took notice of you... that's 20 percent more than you had before.

"Other" Sources:
Apart from MySpace bulletins... articles and notices were also posted in local "citizen journalism" e-zines and email forums from time to time informing of something "interesting" was occurring at our site. (BTW... owning our own domain provided a central and easy to remember location for people to check in to see what was happening at their own convenience.)

Video:
During the workshop period it was also decided that another VIDEO should be produced and posted. This brought even more immediacy to the awareness that "something exciting" was brewing and in the works.

AWARENESS COMPLETE
Two months before mounting the show our site was averaging 200-300 hits a day. Now it was time to move into the area of creating "intrigue".

Read about that in the final Part 3.

TALE END - the marketing of a new play.

(or... How we got over ourselves, experimented in web marketing and sold out 3 out of 5 performances at Rogue 2007)
by Marcel Nunis
(independent playwright/director/producer)

As a creator of new works it used to frustrate me to no end that theatre companies would not even look at a new piece unless it had already been produced. So, in the 1990's I formed my own production company. Well, that solved that problem... sort of.

Over the years as an independent producer I learned that one has to wear hat upon hat in order to be effective in the real world of the arts. I, at first reluctantly had to learn skills that (shudder) was not part of my craft. (Come on... just let me write... that's all I wanna do!) In time, I got over it and embraced those other skills (graphic & web design, etc) as part and parcel of my chosen gig.

FAST FORWARD... ... to the Fall of 2006. I was writing my first new play in 5 years. I had come head on up against a creative wall in the writing. While waiting for that engine to be jump started again, I decided to begin marketing of the not yet completed new work. (This is a trick that I have used for years. It's called "PUT YOUR BIG FOOT IN YOUR BIG MOUTH SO YOU HAVE TO DELIVER THE GOODS!") Works like a charm everytime... at least where completing the piece is concerned.

sidebar: I had read somewhere that playwrights are notorious for doing this. British playwright Alan Ackbourn would actually book a London theater for a run just to force himself to write the damn play.

OPEN MOUTH... INSERT FOOT I had already begun blogging about my frustrations on my personal blog... this post is an example. I decided that (to really motivate myself with the possibility of grand humiliation) I would go full bore and blog about it on the theatre company site. I had recently redesigned the company site (adding this blog to it) and figured that at least our stalwart supporters would find reading about the "process" mildy interesting.

I had also recently acquired some great video editing software (don't ask how) and decided to teach myself this new skill. So, with a borrowed DV camera I produced THIS VIDEO and uploaded it to Daily Motion and YouTube. I also embeded the video there. All this cost me was the investment of time (2 days.) Surely this would create tons of interest in this brand new (and not yet completed) project.

::crickets chirping::

OK... we hadn't produced a show in a while (3 years to be exact)... so, a total of 7 regular readers to our site saw the video in the first week... and a couple of curious YouTubers. It was time for a strategy.
STRATEGY (creating a promotional thrust)

I decided that I didn't just want to hook in the usual suspects (theatre nerds) but also perhaps bring in a BRAND NEW audience to my (yet completed show) that was slated to be mounted at the 2007 Rogue Festival in March. (If you are shooting for grand humiliation... go big, I say.) So, I devised a promotion strategy.

sidebar: In so doing I was reminded of this... "Every discipline of the arts is a medium of communication." for more on this go here.

Anyway, this is what I came up with: Create excitement (or at least intrigue) with the creation of a brand new play!! (Note: The exclamation points... this generally means "create excitement"... at least I was excited by this. BTW... if you are not excited about your own "product"... don't expect anyone else to be.)

How Would I Accomplish This? The Internet. (Afterall, not everyone is surfing for porn... ) This "new media" has hardly been tapped by the arts community (at least effectly)... if nothing else this would be a worthy (and affordable) experiment.

TOOLS I WOULD USE...

BLOGGING: From the standpoint of a potential audience the interactive nature of blogging provides a personal "buy in" to a project. (Come on... how many of us buy those "special edition" DVD's just to watch those "making of" mini features before actually watching the main feature?) So, in effect I was using this tool to give readers a "making of" as it was happening and creating a personal "insiders scoop" to the show.

MYSPACE: Everyone has one these days and it's a great way to "harvest" potential audience through "friending" and to send out bulletins to broadcast what is happening.

VIDEOS: With the rise of YouTube the potential grows to create "promotional videos" the way the "big guys" do. Everyone loves visuals... especially if they move.

LOCAL E-ZINES: In Fresno (where we are located) there is a great "citizen journalism" site (that is now owned by the local paper) called FresnoFamous.com where anyone can post articles or blog.

EMAIL DIGEST OR NEWS LETTERS: Again in Fresno (where we still are located) one exist called Mindhub.org that many in the "creative class" subscribe to. (Talk about a potential audience!)

I was still creatively blocked where the actual writing of the play was concerned... so why not exercise my creativity elsewhere? (Really, I didn't even have a title for the play yet.) The choice was between dawdling and picking my nose or perhaps jump start (and perhaps get unblocked) by exercising those muscles in another area of communication.

Find out in Part 2 how I used these tools. (coming soon!)

Theatre J'Nerique's first HNT!

Yes, it is a blatant and shameless way to sell our show... but... hey, why not? Tale End will premier at Rogue 2007! And it features the lovely Solitaire (pictured below). Make sure to come back next week for part 2 of this series (click for larger version)... and check out our sexy promotional video in the post below.

Happy HNT!

Rogue Buddy and our Promo Video!

The Rogue buddy we are featuring today is Mia Paschal. Beautiful and talented she is doing the Rogue for the very first time. She hails from San Francisco. So, CLICK HERE to find out what she is bringing to the Rogue and show her some Fresno love!

Just got done editing oue promo video for the Rogue. Check it out!

Talepromovideo
Uploaded by dathang

Rogue Buddies and a stolen video!

Yes, we have promotional buddies for Rogue 2007! Couldn't be happier with the buddies we have. We will feature links to them right here on our site. We are such promo whores that we have more than one.

So today we are featuring THEATRE VENTOUX (click to see what they are doing in this year's Rogue.

Yes, we are late on our ongoing video series... but there will be a couple more up... as soon as I finish editing them. In the meantime... enjoy the official Rogue TV Spot below!

Roguefest07tv
Uploaded by dathang

T-shirts...

... and posters as merch for the Rogue... what do you think?

Plans are underway to tour...

from Marcel
... the show in the Summer of 2008. It's too late to apply for any of the fringe festivals this year. (We missed applications to the SF Fringe by about a week.) Still, a year and a half will give us time to fund raise for it. At the moment, Toronto and San Francisco are on the talking boards between the cast, crew and I.

Premiering at the Rogue would also provide more opportunity to tweak it even more. The dynamics of playing in a garage and a theater space can vary vastly... and that too has to be taken into account. Though I do prefer an intimate venue for this particular one. Logistically it is a pretty simple show to tour. 3 lighting and 4 sound cues. If need be... just the actours can go out on tour with it.

I am confident with the talent and demenor of the cast and crack crew to at least get the show notice at these proposed festivals. No rush now but the stages of planning has to begin.

Promotions... ya gotta do it!

from Marcel
Yeah, we got an article on Fresno Famous today. (Thank You, Josh!) Though (if you haven't noticed already) we have been blatant and shameless about pushing the show from the start.

This is something that many in the arts often shy away from. They put in all their effort into creating their product that their box-office suffers.

Here is some logic that spurs us on.

1. If there is no audience... your art does not exist.
2. Show Business is 2 words and attention needs to be paid to both equally.
3. What is more embarrassing? Being shameless or empty seats in the house?
4. The difference between selling out your art and selling your show is the difference between giving an audience what they want and giving an audience what they WILL want.
5. If they don't know... they won't come.
   

Oh, there will be more shameless and blatant promotions from us in the weeks to come. Count on it! We may actually add brazen to the mix as well. Probably a couple more videos too before thew premiere.