Blogs

Year of the Producer Blog: The Mystery of Funding

| London | London's West End |

25 November 2011

Inspired by our adoption of Stage One as the charity for the 2012 Whatsonstage.com Awards,
we’re declaring this the “Year of the Producer” on Whatsonstage.com,
and are running a 12-month editorial series of interviews, blogs and
other features to give theatregoers a greater understanding of the
crucial role of the producer and an insight into the people who put on
the shows they love.

In this blog post, freelance producer Peter Huntley, a 2010/11 recipient of a Stage One Bursary for New Producers and a 2009/10 Stage One Apprentice, provides an insight into the tricky business of raising funds.

Theatrical impresario Philip Henslowe perfectly describes the business of making theatre to moneyman Hugh Fennyman in Tom Stoppard’s Shakespeare in Love:

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?

Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.

Hugh Fennyman: How?

Philip Henslowe: I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

Like most angels (the euphemistic name for theatrical investors) it turns out that Mr Fennyman has a soft spot for the glamorous world of the theatre and is prepared to embrace the mystery.

For a new producer (including those who share their initials with a certain Elizabethan impresario) one of the biggest challenges is finding the money to do a show. I’m building relationships with angels, but how do you meet them? If I were Max Bialystock, I’d be seducing little old ladies by now. Sadly for the ‘ageing nymphomaniacs’ of West London I’m not that kind of boy.

Crowd-funding can offer new producers some help. My recent production of The Belle’s Stratagem raised over £1,500 from We Fund and my next show, Floyd Collins in the Vault at Southwark, is going to have a great crowd-funding scheme that will allow you to see behind the scenes of the production. But I’m under no illusion; if you want to produce big you’ve got to get investors. And I want to produce big!

CB Cochran said:

“…always put a show on for yourself, and do it the best that you can. Only then, maybe, will an audience come to seeit.”

I always hold to that advice and, I think, if you do quality productions of interesting texts (Floyd Collins is about a man trapped in a cave and we’re doing it underground!), then you have a fighting chance with audiences. However, a commercial theatre producer has to marry that with making it appealing to investors. If you were putting thousands of pounds into a show, you’d want to make sure the producer was acting responsibly after all.

It leads to sleepless nights (how exactly do I pay for the show, my living expenses and Christmas?), but for the most part, I think it is true that one way or another it all turns out well.

How?

I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

www.peterhuntley.net
www.facebook.com/PeterHuntleyProductions
Twitter – @peter_huntley