Experimental Results

I made a promise to myself a while back that if I was going to use the word “experiment” in association with my work as a theatre artist, I had to do so more like a scientist and less like some avant garde poser.  As I said in my earlier post “Putting the Fail back in “Experimental”: 

Any actual scientist understands that true experiments have rules and consequences. Experiments are tests of hypotheses hoping to become theories; and theories, in order to prove useful, must be falsifiable.  In other words, true experiments by definition contain the possibility of failure.

I would add that good scientists publish their results whether or not they find them gratifying.  And that’s exactly what I intend to do here and now regarding the experiment of publishing my play Ballard House Duet simultaneously with its recent world premiere.  (I enthusiastically explained my reasons for initiating this experiment here.)

So as of this posting, here is how my sales break down by channel:

Not a data/chart nerd like me?  Okay, here are my plain English conclusions:

1. I have too much unsold inventory.  If I had listened to my publisher and ordered the number of books he recommended I’d be sitting on a mere 3% overhang now, which would have been right in the estimator’s sweet spot.
2. “Show sales” was my strongest channel, which is gratifying, since offering the script simultaneously with performances was the main point of this effort.  If I did this again I would lean even more heavily into this channel: maybe invest in a more visually pleasing display than the cardboard box with the words “Scripts for Sale - $10” scrawled on the front of it in ballpoint pen.

The bottom line is I turned a profit about three eBay sales ago.  I am now $19.59 richer for this experience; but based solely on the data, I would have to give myself a C +, since I moved only 78 % of my product. 

Of course, it is much harder to quantify all the things I have learned from the experience, not to mention all the nerdy fun I have had.  Here’s a quick list:

• People will buy scripts at a show, but they have to be reminded, in the pre-show speech and then again at intermission and after the show.  The display of scripts has to be prominent.  You have to make buying them easy and fun.
• eBay is not the best means of selling a script on line.  It wound up costing me $2.31 out of every $10 script I sold on-line.  Given the cost of printing, that left me with very little margin to take any profit.  If it hadn’t been for show sales, with their much wider margin, I would still be bleeding red ink at this point.

The best outcome of this experiment was, of course, the chance to talk about the experiment itself: to revisit the question of whether it makes sense to publish play scripts simultaneously with world premiere productions, and more specifically, whether it makes sense for a playwright to put up his own capital to do so. I would say the short answers to these questions are, “Yes, with some improvements in the process.” And “No, a playwright already banks enough when he or she antes up their play for staging.”

Fellow playwright Joshua Conkel chimed in on Facebook to point out, “…In the U.K. it's common to get the script at the show. It costs a few pounds and it also serves as the program…. Oberon Books does it. And then of course the script goes out to bookstores and all that. It's great!”  Perhaps as Seattle grows as one of the nation’s hothouses for locally grown new theatre, it might behoove us as to explore a script sales model like the UK’s, though it should also be noted that the simultaneous publishing experiment has been run quite extensively here in decades past. Bret Fetzer explained in comments posted on my earlier blog:

The experience of Rain City Projects -- which published plays in conjunction with productions for over ten years… was that when the theater promoted selling the script, it succeeded, and when they didn't, it didn't. The single most significant factor, by an order of magnitude, was having someone hold up the script in a preshow speech and say "This is for sale in the lobby; if you enjoyed the show, we encourage you to buy the script." Other approaches -- such as plugging the script for sale in a program ad -- had a fraction of the impact of a live preshow plug.

Over time, theaters became less invested in promoting scripts. There was a trend away from preshow speeches, and even the theaters that still did them just wanted the speaker to say the essentials and get off the stage. Most of the theaters producing new plays were small, volunteer-run organizations, so there was no one to consistently make a plug for the script, and trying to educate a rotating crew of house managers about this was too much to accomplish on top of all the other stuff that had to get done. Everyone supported the idea of selling the scripts in the abstract, but in practice it fell by the wayside.

But the main reason Rain City Projects stopped publishing individual scripts was that, as these were brand new plays getting their first production, a majority of playwrights learned a lot of new things and did significant rewrites after the production. Immediately the scripts were obsolete and the playwrights didn't want them sold or distributed....

My experience working with Original Works Publishing, eBay and Amazon Direct Publishing leads me to believe that new technologies and processes might allow theatres and playwrights to keep their inventory small and flexible enough to offer scripts, either in hard copy or electronically, such that some of the challenges Rain City Projects faced might now be mitigated. 

One conclusion seems certain: folks who bought my script seem very pleased indeed to be able to own a permanent document  of an otherwise inherently ephemeral experience.  Theatre is fleeting, but perhaps we theatre artists could work a bit harder to bottle some of our volatile moonshine for future times.

 

 

PS.  In the Mametian spirit of “always be closing”, I thought I’d mention that it’s not too late to give me some extra credit and boost my “C +” grade to a “B” or even—dare I hope?—an “A”.  Scripts are still available for sale at eBay here, or if you’d rather, you can ping me for me snail mail address and simply send me a check for $10 bucks.  I’ll get a script to you free of shipping charges.  (While supplies last. I won’t be selling these past January, once Original Works Publishing starts offering them for sale.)

PPS.  Speaking of Original Works Publishing , they are  an excellent company that currently offers several of my scripts for sale, as hard copies or electronic versions:

 

An American Book of the Dead* The Game Show†

The Good Ship Manhattan

The Sequence

 

PPPS. Additionally, I independently offer four more of my scripts exclusively for sale as ebooks at Amazon.  They are:

   

Louis Slotin Sonata

The Ten Thousand Things

Tuesday

The Don Juan Cult Concerto

Related articles

Bespoken Word

Ballard House Duet's Poster is Here!

Simultaneous Publication: Legit Experiment or Hat on a Hat?

Ballard House Duet: Just the Facts

Comments

[Mike Rainey]

Maybe C+ from an engineering standpoint, but from a business standpoint I'd grade it a B-. You didn't *lose* money and you learned enough to improve the process.

If theaters that produce your work are amenable, you could offer a package deal of a show ticket plus a script through the ticketing agency, perhaps with a slight discount - give people a chance to buy the script before they even get to the theater.

[Paul Mullin]

Mike, I think that's an awesome idea, worthy of its own experiment. It would require the playwright to be more integrated with the producing theater's operations, but I would consider that step to be a positive one backwards to the days of Moliere and Shakespeare, when writers had a stack in the entities producing their plays.

[Wesley K. Andrews]

Great point Mike. There are lots of ways to add upgrades at all points of sale, which the larger theatres routinely do with dinner coupons, parking, fundraising, etc., and making playwright merch a priority in those channels would be a terrific way for nonprofits to support writers. It wouldn't really be that much extra work and would show a real commitment to artists.

Paul, I really enjoyed following this project! Thanks for writing about it!

[Louise Penberthy]

Definitely a better sign than “Scripts for Sale - $10.” :-) Not only more aesthetically pleasing, but with words that express why someone would want to buy it.

I like to buy scripts to figure out how the playwright did it. Also, I've noticed that enjoy the play again when I read the script.

So if the sign could capture this:

Enjoy the play again
Buy the script
$10

(Definitely "buy the script" not "scripts for sale".)

Or, for playwrights:

"Playwrights, steal my secrets!"
Buy the script
$10

Have you talked to Mirror Stage about their experience selling scripts at performances of "Odin's Horse"?