the only sin is the sin of scale…
One of my first bosses used to say that the only sin in showbiz is the sin of scale. In other words, practically any show will work if the venue is the right size.
Jared and I were just talking about an idea he’s working on: creating a show around a comic pop-culture star. The question is, what scale should it be? Do you create a theatrical show for Broadway, a limted run harnessing the Broadway marketing machine? Or Off Broadway, without the glam but with reduced expectations and the excitement of seeing a star up close? Or a rock style tour, playing one nighters in 3000 seaters?
If you go too big, you can’t shrink. If you go small and it’s a hit, you can move to a bigger theatre — but you may also miss the critical mass of marketing dollars and word of mouth that could make the show work.
One option, often derided, is market research. We recently tested an idea to create a live show around a certain VH1 star, whose dating show was a phenomena, years after his rap group had been famous. The numbers were incredibly low, despite enormous awareness, so the research probably saved us six months of hard work and a lot of money.