BY DAN BERKOWITZ
To self-produce or not to self-produce: that used to be the question. These days, it’s more often the answer. With the economy in the toilet, and theatres struggling to stay open by presenting only proven hits, self-producing is increasingly the way to go for a writer with a new, untried play.
But how to make the leap from struggling playwright to Max Bialystock?
In January, Los Angeles theatrical attorney Gordon Firemark launched a six-month course in producing which he hopes will become a yearly event. The sessions – one a month from January through June – cover topics including acquiring rights, choosing a creative team, selecting a venue, dealing with unions, budgets and financing, marketing, and “pulling it all together.”
Though the course isn’t targeted specifically toward self-producing, Firemark reports that about half his students are writers interested in putting up their own work. He cautions that “there is much to be said about collaboration and having partners” when your work is produced, and adds that “art benefits from people who’ll go to the mat for what they believe in, and not just go along blindly with everything you want.”
Nevertheless, he argues that producing your own play, especially the first production, “can give the writer control to help set the tone for the life of the show.”
The most important things to keep in mind? Choose your collaborators carefully, making sure at least one person on the team “has been around the block”; form a company to be the production entity, so you insulate yourself and your assets from liability; and make sure you have good contracts with all the participants. Not surprisingly, he strongly urges you find a good lawyer to set up your company and do the contracts – and by good lawyer he means “someone conversant with custom and practice in the theatre business” and not a friend who does, say, real estate law or divorces.
Firemark himself began his theatrical career in junior high as a sound technician, “and I still do it sometimes.” After law school, he “cultivated a niche in theatre law” – a rarity in L. A. – and continued hands-on theatre work as CEO of Fierce Theatricals, producing “small-cast musicals, cabarets, and mini-tours.” He teaches business law at Loyola Marymount University, and serves on the board of the Academy for New Musical Theatre, where he teaches his course.
His last word on self-producing? “Don’t stand around thinking about it. Just go out and do it. Of course you’ll make mistakes, but so what?”
Los Angeles
BY DAN BERKOWITZ
To self-produce or not to self-produce: that used to be the question. These days, it’s more often the answer. With the economy in the toilet, and theatres struggling to stay open by presenting only proven hits, self-producing is increasingly the way to go for a writer with a new, untried play.
But how to make the leap from struggling playwright to Max Bialystock?
In January, Los Angeles theatrical attorney Gordon Firemark launched a six-month course in producing which he hopes will become a yearly event. The sessions – one a month from January through June – cover topics including acquiring rights, choosing a creative team, selecting a venue, dealing with unions, budgets and financing, marketing, and “pulling it all together.”
Though the course isn’t targeted specifically toward self-producing, Firemark reports that about half his students are writers interested in putting up their own work. He cautions that “there is much to be said about collaboration and having partners” when your work is produced, and adds that “art benefits from people who’ll go to the mat for what they believe in, and not just go along blindly with everything you want.”
Nevertheless, he argues that producing your own play, especially the first production, “can give the writer control to help set the tone for the life of the show.”
The most important things to keep in mind? Choose your collaborators carefully, making sure at least one person on the team “has been around the block”; form a company to be the production entity, so you insulate yourself and your assets from liability; and make sure you have good contracts with all the participants. Not surprisingly, he strongly urges you find a good lawyer to set up your company and do the contracts – and by good lawyer he means “someone conversant with custom and practice in the theatre business” and not a friend who does, say, real estate law or divorces.
Firemark himself began his theatrical career in junior high as a sound technician, “and I still do it sometimes.” After law school, he “cultivated a niche in theatre law” – a rarity in L. A. – and continued hands-on theatre work as CEO of Fierce Theatricals, producing “small-cast musicals, cabarets, and mini-tours.” He teaches business law at Loyola Marymount University, and serves on the board of the Academy for New Musical Theatre, where he teaches his course.
His last word on self-producing? “Don’t stand around thinking about it. Just go out and do it. Of course you’ll make mistakes, but so what?”
dberkowitz@dramatistsguild.com
Gordon Firemark can be reached through his website http://theatrelawyer.com/; the Academy for New Musical Theatre’s website is http://anmt.org/.