So You Want To Be A Theatre Producer? Revised Edition

This book is a practical guide to getting started in theatre production. I write from the perspective of being a relative newcomer myself, entering my tenth year as a professional producer around the time this book is published. Hopefully I am still close enough to the starting blocks to remember what it’s like for a novice producer.
This book is not a manual on how to produce massive commercial shows. Instead I write about what I know, which is how to put on a show at the smaller-scale end of the spectrum, with a few diversions into considering larger scale shows. My background is that I took the fairly unorthodox route of producing professionally without having `done time’ as an assistant or intern for a more established producer.
I was lucky to be hired as a part-time administrator for theatre company Ophaboom at the start of my career, whilst also pursuing my own projects. I soon grew into more of a producing role for the company. They appreciated having someone else around to arrange their tours, and keep the company’s momentum going whilst they were busy per- forming their shows around the world. And I appreciated the opportunity to do all these things for a theatre company who always delighted audiences with their shows.
Every producer has a different path – but I guess if I had the opportunity to replay my early career, I would have found time to work as an assistant producer on a commercial show, as that would have given me a broader base of experience. Instead, the first big commercial production I was involved with was one that I produced. Undoubtedly, I’d have done a better job with that show if I wasn’t discovering so many things for the first time whilst trying to create the show. My loss is your gain, because this early career path lends itself to a clarity about what lessons I learnt the hard way. Hopefully this book will go some way to preventing you from slipping up in the same way as you start out.
On the subject of what you need to know and what hap- pens when you make a mistake: I think that whatever scale of show you’re trying to put on, the basics of producing are the same. But I would suggest that it makes sense to learn about producing by making mistakes on a small show rather than a big one.
For those readers who are keen to find out more about the intricacies of staging big commercial shows, I can recommend the similarly named guide So, You Wanna Be A Producer?!, which is available for free download from the website of the theatrical development and investment charity Stage One.
Indeed, it is useful for a producer to read the excellent sister titles in the So You Want To Be… series, to understand the perspective of actors, directors, playwrights and so on. I also hope that this book will be useful reading for people who are not aspiring producers, but want to understand producing, or are called upon to produce a show for what- ever reason. Whilst the book is written with reference mainly to professional shows, hopefully much of its con- tents can also be helpful to students, amateurs and people involved in putting on fringe or profit-share shows.
The producer’s job can be a mysterious one. This is probably because the best producers are the invisible ones, who make it look effortless and obvious that their shows are successes. Producing isn’t easy – but it isn’t impossible either. And the fact that it is difficult greatly increases the buzz you’ll experience when you have a hit on your hands.
On your way to that goal, fortunately the theatre business enjoys a hugely collaborative spirit. So you shouldn’t hesitate to ask for guidance from other producers and practitioners when something does start to feel impossible. I hope this book can offer a helping hand along the way.