I need help figuring out Broadway grosses...

[secondactor]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 4:11pm

help!

So I'm reading that GOOD PEOPLE is making 250,000$ a week. But that it's POTENTIAL is 500,000 $ a week.

Yet it's selling something like 89 % of it's seats.

What gives?

is it flopping, or doing well? I can't tell- how do you read these things?

Posted: 3/9/11 at 4:17pm

Ticket prices are variable. A show that is NOT selling out will offer discounts. Average ticket price will drop. A popular show will raise ticket prices, or sell more "Premium" seats or just not offer discounts. Average ticket price (and grosses) will rise.

Also, a show might be offering a lot of comps- Are they giving tickets to critics? Tony voters? People off the street?

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 4:18pm

Potential gross is assuming that all seats in the house are sold at full face value. With discount codes, TKTS sales, and rush tickets, the average ticket price is brought down. As GOOD PEOPLE is an MTC show there are subscriber tickets, which are sold for well below the face value of the ticket. The show's intake was also reduced last week due to the number of comp tickets that were undoubtedly distributed for the opening night performance on Thursday.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 4:38pm

Comps do not count in the attendance percentage. That number is arrived at by totalling the seats sold for some amount of money.

If you can find the chart that lists the dollar potential, and there is such a chart somewhere on the web, it will give you a better idea of how a show is actually selling.

A show selling 50% of its seats all at full price in theory makes the same amount as a show selling 100% of tickets at half price.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 4:58pm

is it flopping, or doing well?

That question is entirely irrelevant. GOOD PEOPLE is a nonprofit show, which means there are no investors, no capitalization, no recoupment, and the money made from ticket sales goes into the company's operating fund to run all of their activities (and that revenue from other activities can help fund the show).

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 7:05pm

That question is entirely irrelevant. GOOD PEOPLE is a nonprofit show, which means there are no investors, no capitalization, no recoupment, and the money made from ticket sales goes into the company's operating fund to run all of their activities (and that revenue from other activities can help fund the show).

I'm sure it's relevant to the people managing the operating budget. If the show does better, they can afford to spend more on future productions or other activities, and/or don't have to push so hard to raise funds outside of ticket costs. If it does poorly, the company has to cut expenses, shows, press for more donations, or cease operating.

I'm sure you're criticizing the OP's use of "flopping" outside it's specific definition of not returning an investor's capital, but in the sense of the financial success of the production, it's entirely relevant.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 3/9/11 at 7:15pm

WOSQ - comps ARE counted as part of the attendance percentage. That was one of the changes the League made in 2009.

And Good People is doing very well for MTC.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 12:37pm

I'm sure it's relevant to the people managing the operating budget. If the show does better, they can afford to spend more on future productions or other activities, and/or don't have to push so hard to raise funds outside of ticket costs. If it does poorly, the company has to cut expenses, shows, press for more donations, or cease operating.

I'm sure you're criticizing the OP's use of "flopping" outside it's specific definition of not returning an investor's capital, but in the sense of the financial success of the production, it's entirely relevant.

It IS entirely irrelevant to this conversation and the OP's question. The show doesn't do well - the COMPANY does well. With factors like subscriptions, donations, government and private grants, and additional revenue-producing activities, it is impossible for us to say whether the show is doing well by looking at the grosses.

For example, while Lincoln Center had SOUTH PACIFIC running, their other shows could all run at a loss because all the profit from SOUTH PACIFIC could help run it, so the company was making money and all their shows were doing well, from a financial standpoint.

A commercial producer does not have that luxury. Even if he has multiple shows on Broadway at the same time, he cannot legally take the profits of one show to cover the losses of another. That is why we can judge the financial success of a commercial show by looking at the grosses.

[wonderfultown]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 2:12pm

I certainly didn't mean to offend by implying it was a 'flop'-

but it COULD be making $500,000 a week, and it's making 48 % of that- it has a very small 'box' on the grosses chart.

I guess because it's MTC they can keep it going even though it doesn't seem to be selling that well...

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 2:37pm

but it COULD be making $500,000 a week, and it's making 48 % of that- it has a very small 'box' on the grosses chart.

But it COULDN'T. MTC, like any nonprofit on Broadway, sells a large number of seats to subscribers, who get their tickets at a discount.

The only way GOOD PEOPLE could possibly reach its potential gross of $500,000 is if MTC had absolutely zero subscribers this season and sold every single seat to single-ticket buyers at full price - and if that were the case, the company would be out of business. Most nonprofits NEED subscribers to survive.

The use of the term "flop" isn't offensive, it's just inaccurate.

Updated On: 3/10/11 at 02:37 PM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 3/10/11 at 4:09pm

"Yet it's selling something like 89 % of it's seats."

Think of it this way (for any for-profit show):

if a show sells 89% of its seats, but reduces it from $100 to $1 per ticket, well then, you will be far from the potential gross despite the high capacity. You could be selling a lot, but if the price is low, then you won't reach your potential gross. Potential gross takes into account tickets at their full-price.

This is why a show that is seemingly popular in terms of capacity does not mean that it will pull in large numbers towards its potential gross. People often forget to factor in ticket prices and the fact that some shows might be giving many comps out.

Shows like Jersey Boys and Wicked most of the time are at high capacity AND their ticket prices are rarely discounted. This is why more often than not they are close to their potential grosses.