These are the items that were discussed at the top of our meeting:
Collective Comedy
The event is THIS WEEK. All Collective members are called at 5pm on Thursday at The Actors Temple, unless you have been instructed otherwise by your committee lead.
1. Sign Ups
Lisa K. passed a sign-up sheet for specific tasks. If you did not sign up, please contact us via email to let us know how you would like to participate on Thursday, and to confirm that you will be there.
2. Finances
It costs us about $800 to produce one night of Collective Comedy. Every member is asked to contribute his/her $20 admission, whether you are working the event, and whether you are drinking or not. If every member contributes, we will cover our production costs, which means that all the admission fees for our guests will go straight into the bank for our next production. See the box office to put in your $20 and get your hand stamped.
3. Hustling
Our goal is to recoup the loss from UPRISING of about $3,000. That means everyone needs to hustle their people to come. Personal goal should be at least FIVE people. GET YOUR PEOPLE THERE. It is a great night, a great value, and has a direct impact on how soon we can produce another show.
4. After party
Nick has made arrangements with The Gaf again for our after party. Drink specials are available with your Collective Comedy hand stamp.
Collective Mondays
1. Guests
We had quite a few guests, which we anticipated following UPRISING. People are interested and excited about what we are doing. That's a good thing. Guests you have personally invited are welcome at our meetings. Please continue to send an email to thecollective9@gmail account to alert us that you will be bringing a guest.
Please take personal responsibility for your guests, and ask that they observe for their first couple of visits. We want to be sure people understand our philosophy and methodology before offering comments. There is a level of trust that is compromised when new faces are in the room. We want feedback to be targeted and useful, and this is more certain from people who have taken the time to witness our process. Moderators will not generally call on guests to comment.
2. Feedback
Remember that we are not directors or acting coaches. We are peers who are learning from each other. Please limit feedback to what you observe in the behavior, and refrain from making comments about different choices YOU would have made, or referring to the work as any kind of performance. These are NOT performances. (I (Robert), personally, have an issue with applauding at the end for that reason.) Beware of making assumptions about what the actor is doing or thinking. If moments of the work are unclear, address it. Perhaps even ask about the specific choice. But do not make suggestions (e.g. 'try it like this', or 'the last time I saw someone do this part...', etc.) or decisions (e.g. 'I would do THIS...', etc.) for the actor who's working. Let the individual doing the work decide how to address any issues raised. If you are familiar with a particular piece, please feel free to offer insights on the material without trying to coax a specific performance you remember.
Those who are bringing in work should speak to the moderators before they work, and try to be as specific as possible about the areas of the work that you want feedback. Requests for comments on 'anything' often lead to meandering discussions.
Major Needs Actors for a Project - March 17th & 18th
Please contact Major Dodge if you are interested to participate in a web project. The job is non-jurisdictional, and there is some pay. It is a spoof of an existing commercial which will be shot at Bowlmor Lanes over two half-days. Actors are needed for background (spend the time bowling, $75 cash), plus three women for featured roles ($200 cash). Contact him ASAP for more info.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Collective Monday – February 16, 2009
These are items discussed at the top of our meeting this week. Please read all the way through, as this one is loaded with important information. In particular, there are preliminary details about next week's Collective Comedy.
The Collective UPRISING Series post-mortem
Most of the first hour of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing the positives of the UPRISING week, a financial update and review of the week, and a discussion of missed opportunites and learning points for future events.
Lots of Good Things
– We succeeded in our promise to provide at least a monthly performance opportunity.
– We produced six original works in seven days.
– More than 30 of our actors appeared on stage during the week.
– Although we went 20% over budget, if we produce a successful Collective Comedy this month we should be back to the same financial state we were BEFORE the UPRISING Series.
– Many remarks were made about the wonderful moments of people in the group pulling together to overcome crises, large and small.
– There is a renewed vigor and sense of commitment to our mission.
– Special shout out to Mike D who went above and beyond in hustling his people to come see the shows. Many of his invitees were on a comp list and STILL donated generously to The Collective, often times MORE than the price of a ticket.
– The management and staff of The Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex and the cast and crew of "Freudian Slips" (who were performing their quick-change farce in the theatre opposite ours) were all impressed and pleased with the way we handled the small shared space.
– Several of our members made their New York stage debuts.
Financial Update
It is important that all of our members renew their understanding and commitment to financial responsibility when it comes to The Collective. Every choice you make for The Collective about spending money and using resources comes directly back to the well-being of the group. You may think that taking a bottle of water or a glass of wine from the concessions is a minor thing; but your action needs to be multiplied by forty members. During UPRISING these small details added up to several hundred dollars of additional expenses and lost revenue.
Some facts about producing an event like this that you may or may not know:
– It costs us $3,500 to rent a theater in NYC for one week. And, we STILL have to share it with other companies and the owners/managers. Every additional usage is tacked onto the base price (a projector, extra rehearsal time, any special request, etc.). If we do not leave the space in as good or better shape than we find it, we risk losing a $1,500 deposit.
– It cost us almost $8,400 to produce ONE WEEK of shows during UPRISING. Although we did generate $5,700 through ticket sales, the Holiday benefit and bar revenue, this still leaves us with a $2,700 LOSS for the week. The Collective ran out of cash BEFORE the week began, and Robert put $3,000 of his own money into the production to get us through the week.
Let's change the way we think about these events, financially: If we assume $8,000 to produce an event like UPRISING, and we assume there are 40 active members of The Collective, that means EACH of us is responsible for a MINIMUM of $200 for the production. So, your responsibility as a member of this group is to help us find ways to generate $200 worth of income (ticket sales, merchandise, donations, etc.) AND/OR reduce expenses (bring your own bottled water, use less resources, material donations, donate your time and skills, help find cheaper venues, ask for favors, etc.). Understand your PERSONAL responsibility for each event we all generate as The Collective. Your future performance opportunities depend on whether the group can afford to produce more events.
– Although we had three "sold-out" nights during the Series, overall we only sold about 55% of our capacity for the week. That means we missed out on a potential to sell nearly HALF the available seats for the week, and could have added up to $4,600 if those seats had been sold. There was a sense that because so many people were involved in the events that individuals didn't need to hustle. If the question is ever "do we have to hustle?" the answer is ALWAYS "yes".
– We missed opportunities to generate revenue through concessions/merchandising.
a) We wanted to provide wine and water as a courtesy for our guests and only charge enough to cover our costs. Next time, we will raise the prices of wine.
b) Mike D was kind enough to give us the opportunity to sell his books for $10 each and let us keep the sales revenue. We sold a disappointing six books total. We all need to be salespeople and seize these opportunities.
c) Because of cast and crew dipping into the wine, we did not have supply to sell on our final night. Mike D's people were ready to drink, and we had nothing to offer. These events are NOT Collective Comedy where the beer is donated– if you drink it, pay for it.
d) We had beautiful paintings to promote and sell. Talk about them with people when you're in the room. If it doesn't lead to a sale, at least our fellow artist may get some exposure from it.
– We missed opportunities to creatively sell the 3-Pack and Series Passes. Even if people are only planning to come see one show, why not encourage them to buy a pass as a way to make an extra donation to The Collective? A $30 ticket is a reasonable request. We only sold six passes for the week.
Additional Learning Points
– Don't forget about the intangibles:
a) Encourage people to give us their email address. Networking is EVERYTHING for the growth of this group. We only collected 19 emails from the entire week of shows. Getting people there in the first place is a challenge, so let's not blow our chance to get them back.
b) Comps are there to get the right people in to see the shows. We only had about 6 industry people reserved to see shows during the week. More than half of the cast did not use their personal comps. Why not use those comps to get people to come see a show that may not sell out, even if it's not the one you're performing in?
– If you had a chance to perform this time around, be prepared to get involved behind the scenes for the next event.
Collective Comedy
The next Collective Comedy event is only a week away, Thursday, February 26th. Same venue, same price, same sponsor and same deal. Schumer has commitments from some kick-ass comics, so HUSTLE, HUSTLE, HUSTLE. We have promotional pages on Facebook. You can send people to our web site. There is a promotional email which you can personalize and forward to your own lists.
Sign-up sheets will be sent around in the next few days. We need your help, as always, to make this event YOUR event.
It will cost us about $800 to produce this event. We still request that those members who attend the event (to work or to watch, or both, to drink or not) contribute your own $20 cover. We do not ask for dues to be a member of The Collective, and this is not a pay-to-play organization. BUT, please think of it like a Collective Monday-- the donation you make goes DIRECTLY toward the expenses for the venue and the event. If we assume 40 active members, $20 a piece means we meet our $800 expenses and the rest of our guests bring the gravy. We need to generate at least a $2,700 PROFIT to put us back where we were before UPRISING. Get YOUR five people to the event and we're on our way.
If anyone has a creative idea about generating buzz and getting people to the event, please speak up. Let's knock this one out of the park. Speaking of...
Collective Softball
Captain Sam Doerr has organized our team and a sponsor to cover the entrance fee. Thank you, Dive Bar. If you are still interested in joining the roster, please contact Sam. At this point, the only expense individuals will be responsible for is:
- your uniform (TBD)
- your glove
- throw some business to Dive Bar after the games (food and drink)
Balls and bats will be provided.
There will be a couple of practices in March, and the season starts first week of April and runs through end of July. Games are Monday afternoons in Central Park. If you don't want to play, please come show your support.
NY FRINGE Festival Submissions
Two original plays were submitted this weekend to the New York International FRINGE Festival for consideration: "I'm Gonna Shoot Bob Dylan" by Brian Leider (appeared in The Collective UPRISING Series as a reading called "The Naughts"); and "The Whales of Long Kesh" by Matt K. Weiland (a 17-character play – a fictionalized account of the 1981 hunger strikes). If you would like to read "The Whales of Long Kesh," email The Collective account and we'll send you a copy.
The Collective UPRISING Series post-mortem
Most of the first hour of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing the positives of the UPRISING week, a financial update and review of the week, and a discussion of missed opportunites and learning points for future events.
Lots of Good Things
– We succeeded in our promise to provide at least a monthly performance opportunity.
– We produced six original works in seven days.
– More than 30 of our actors appeared on stage during the week.
– Although we went 20% over budget, if we produce a successful Collective Comedy this month we should be back to the same financial state we were BEFORE the UPRISING Series.
– Many remarks were made about the wonderful moments of people in the group pulling together to overcome crises, large and small.
– There is a renewed vigor and sense of commitment to our mission.
– Special shout out to Mike D who went above and beyond in hustling his people to come see the shows. Many of his invitees were on a comp list and STILL donated generously to The Collective, often times MORE than the price of a ticket.
– The management and staff of The Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex and the cast and crew of "Freudian Slips" (who were performing their quick-change farce in the theatre opposite ours) were all impressed and pleased with the way we handled the small shared space.
– Several of our members made their New York stage debuts.
Financial Update
It is important that all of our members renew their understanding and commitment to financial responsibility when it comes to The Collective. Every choice you make for The Collective about spending money and using resources comes directly back to the well-being of the group. You may think that taking a bottle of water or a glass of wine from the concessions is a minor thing; but your action needs to be multiplied by forty members. During UPRISING these small details added up to several hundred dollars of additional expenses and lost revenue.
Some facts about producing an event like this that you may or may not know:
– It costs us $3,500 to rent a theater in NYC for one week. And, we STILL have to share it with other companies and the owners/managers. Every additional usage is tacked onto the base price (a projector, extra rehearsal time, any special request, etc.). If we do not leave the space in as good or better shape than we find it, we risk losing a $1,500 deposit.
– It cost us almost $8,400 to produce ONE WEEK of shows during UPRISING. Although we did generate $5,700 through ticket sales, the Holiday benefit and bar revenue, this still leaves us with a $2,700 LOSS for the week. The Collective ran out of cash BEFORE the week began, and Robert put $3,000 of his own money into the production to get us through the week.
Let's change the way we think about these events, financially: If we assume $8,000 to produce an event like UPRISING, and we assume there are 40 active members of The Collective, that means EACH of us is responsible for a MINIMUM of $200 for the production. So, your responsibility as a member of this group is to help us find ways to generate $200 worth of income (ticket sales, merchandise, donations, etc.) AND/OR reduce expenses (bring your own bottled water, use less resources, material donations, donate your time and skills, help find cheaper venues, ask for favors, etc.). Understand your PERSONAL responsibility for each event we all generate as The Collective. Your future performance opportunities depend on whether the group can afford to produce more events.
– Although we had three "sold-out" nights during the Series, overall we only sold about 55% of our capacity for the week. That means we missed out on a potential to sell nearly HALF the available seats for the week, and could have added up to $4,600 if those seats had been sold. There was a sense that because so many people were involved in the events that individuals didn't need to hustle. If the question is ever "do we have to hustle?" the answer is ALWAYS "yes".
– We missed opportunities to generate revenue through concessions/merchandising.
a) We wanted to provide wine and water as a courtesy for our guests and only charge enough to cover our costs. Next time, we will raise the prices of wine.
b) Mike D was kind enough to give us the opportunity to sell his books for $10 each and let us keep the sales revenue. We sold a disappointing six books total. We all need to be salespeople and seize these opportunities.
c) Because of cast and crew dipping into the wine, we did not have supply to sell on our final night. Mike D's people were ready to drink, and we had nothing to offer. These events are NOT Collective Comedy where the beer is donated– if you drink it, pay for it.
d) We had beautiful paintings to promote and sell. Talk about them with people when you're in the room. If it doesn't lead to a sale, at least our fellow artist may get some exposure from it.
– We missed opportunities to creatively sell the 3-Pack and Series Passes. Even if people are only planning to come see one show, why not encourage them to buy a pass as a way to make an extra donation to The Collective? A $30 ticket is a reasonable request. We only sold six passes for the week.
Additional Learning Points
– Don't forget about the intangibles:
a) Encourage people to give us their email address. Networking is EVERYTHING for the growth of this group. We only collected 19 emails from the entire week of shows. Getting people there in the first place is a challenge, so let's not blow our chance to get them back.
b) Comps are there to get the right people in to see the shows. We only had about 6 industry people reserved to see shows during the week. More than half of the cast did not use their personal comps. Why not use those comps to get people to come see a show that may not sell out, even if it's not the one you're performing in?
– If you had a chance to perform this time around, be prepared to get involved behind the scenes for the next event.
Collective Comedy
The next Collective Comedy event is only a week away, Thursday, February 26th. Same venue, same price, same sponsor and same deal. Schumer has commitments from some kick-ass comics, so HUSTLE, HUSTLE, HUSTLE. We have promotional pages on Facebook. You can send people to our web site. There is a promotional email which you can personalize and forward to your own lists.
Sign-up sheets will be sent around in the next few days. We need your help, as always, to make this event YOUR event.
It will cost us about $800 to produce this event. We still request that those members who attend the event (to work or to watch, or both, to drink or not) contribute your own $20 cover. We do not ask for dues to be a member of The Collective, and this is not a pay-to-play organization. BUT, please think of it like a Collective Monday-- the donation you make goes DIRECTLY toward the expenses for the venue and the event. If we assume 40 active members, $20 a piece means we meet our $800 expenses and the rest of our guests bring the gravy. We need to generate at least a $2,700 PROFIT to put us back where we were before UPRISING. Get YOUR five people to the event and we're on our way.
If anyone has a creative idea about generating buzz and getting people to the event, please speak up. Let's knock this one out of the park. Speaking of...
Collective Softball
Captain Sam Doerr has organized our team and a sponsor to cover the entrance fee. Thank you, Dive Bar. If you are still interested in joining the roster, please contact Sam. At this point, the only expense individuals will be responsible for is:
- your uniform (TBD)
- your glove
- throw some business to Dive Bar after the games (food and drink)
Balls and bats will be provided.
There will be a couple of practices in March, and the season starts first week of April and runs through end of July. Games are Monday afternoons in Central Park. If you don't want to play, please come show your support.
NY FRINGE Festival Submissions
Two original plays were submitted this weekend to the New York International FRINGE Festival for consideration: "I'm Gonna Shoot Bob Dylan" by Brian Leider (appeared in The Collective UPRISING Series as a reading called "The Naughts"); and "The Whales of Long Kesh" by Matt K. Weiland (a 17-character play – a fictionalized account of the 1981 hunger strikes). If you would like to read "The Whales of Long Kesh," email The Collective account and we'll send you a copy.
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