Posted: 5/26/24 at 8:22pm
I work for a major presenter in the Midwest, and I’m looking for some insights into the economics of Broadway touring theatres and presenters. Specifically, I’m curious about what the productions have to pay to play at each respective theatre and how this differs from a show sitting down on Broadway.
From my understanding, the touring production typically pays the presenter a set amount of money to use the space and cover the theatre’s staff. However, our presenter seems to have a hard time keeping the theatres fully staffed. Here’s a bit more detail:
• For three of our four houses, a fully staffed theatre requires 34 ushers, 6 supervisors, 1 assistant house manager, and 1 house manager.
• For our fourth and smaller house, a fully staffed theatre needs 6 ushers, 1 supervisor, and 1 house manager.
My question is, if the presenter guarantees 34 ushers to each production and the production pays for 34 ushers, but the presenter doesn’t hire enough people to reach this number, where is the excess money going? Is there an industry-standard practice for handling such discrepancies? Any insights or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help!