Who here knows anything about amateur production licensing?

[romgitsean]

Posted: 3/13/10 at 5:25pm

So, my school is looking at LSOH for next year, and we're not charging admission and we're doing it in the music room which can seat about forty. How much do you think they'll charge for rights?

I know it's a very general question; but if anyone has been through a similar situation and can offer any answer, that'd be great :)

[Jon]

Posted: 3/13/10 at 7:34pm

Well, to start off, they're gonna charge you at least $300 to rent the scripts and music, plus a refundable deposit of about the same amount.

How do you do a show without charging admission? Where does the money come from for sets and costumes? Art you going to build all the Audrey II puppets yourself?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/14/10 at 7:02am

The above poster is right, except the deposit is more like 400 bucks now.

It does not really matter how much you charge, or how many you seat on your intitial contract. People would lie all the time if those two things made a big difference.It won't be cheap.

WHO holds the rights? Some are more willing to negotiate than others. Usually, you need to obtain the first contract and then you can try to TALK to someone about making reductions. MTI is the best about working with groups. (Others may give you an uphill battle.)

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 3/14/10 at 10:14am

Yeah, MTI hold the rights to Little Shop, and they may be willing to negotiate depending on your terms. I had some friends do a show through them as a benefit for a student who had cancer, and MTI lowered the cost a lot, but it always depends. That might've been an exception, I'm not sure.

Jon - many companies do shows without charging admission. At my college, we're not allowed to charge students admission if we produce the show on campus, because we're supported and given money by the school to put the show on. It's not too uncommon.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/14/10 at 11:54am

It does not really matter how much you charge, or how many you seat on your initial contract. People would lie all the time if those two things made a big difference.

Many of the licensing houses determine the cost by taking into account your ticket price and seating capacity. It may not still be "cheap" (depending on your definition of cheap), but it definitely matters. I'm not sure how MTI does it, though.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/14/10 at 1:28pm

They all ASK your seating capacity and ticket price. However, for the major licensing companies....it makes very little difference. I buy rights 6 - 10 times a year and I when deciding which venue to use, I often plug in several options: the differences are almost always non existant.

VERY few of the houses truly take it into consideration.