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Producer’s Role

-Most senior member of the production team

  • The Producer has ultimate responsibility for the production and has the final say in any decisions that are made. Therefore,if necessary, the Producer may overrule the Director in order to stay within the production’s budget and any limitations posed by the team or venue. However a mutually agreed decision is always to be preferred.
  • Delegation is a key skill. The Producer doesn’t have to do everything personally.

-Appoints key members of the production team

  • In collaboration with the Director, the Producer chooses:
  • Marketing Manager
  • Design team
  • Production Manager & Technical Crew

-Cuts through red tape

  • Signs a contract or tenancy agreement with the venue management
  • Applies for the rights to perform the chosen play
  • Applies for permission to use any recorded music
  • Informs the venue of any special risks involved in staging the production
    e.g. smoking, pyrotechnics, naked flames
  • Obtains any necessary insurance and licences e.g. for using child actors

-Manages the money

  • Deals with the production company’s bank account
  • Obtains financial backing for the project
  • Draws up a budget and monitors spending

-Manages the team

  • May assist the Director in organising and running auditions
  • Organises and chairs regular meetings with the production team to discuss progress and problems – especially ensuring the communication between designers and crew is enabling the technical preparations to go as scheduled
  • Attends important rehearsals; provides an objective judgement of the play’s progress and addresses the concerns of any team member
  • Liaises especially with the marketing team to ensure that the production is being effectively publicised

-Liaises with the venue’s Box Office and Front of House staff

  • Assembles programme information for the Marketing Manager
  • Recruits Front of House personnel and arranges any refreshments, licensing etc
  • Gives Front of House staff information for audiences (running times, warnings etc).
  • Monitors ticket sales and considers appropriate action to improve audiences

-Assists during the run

  • Ideally, attends every performance to check that the show is playing well
  • Trouble-shoots any problems that arise during the run

-Ties up the loose ends

  • Liaises with the venue to obtain box office returns and the end-of-run settlement
  • Compiles final accounts and records. These will need to be shared with OP and funders.
  • Reimburses the project’s backers
  • Organises a final party for cast and crew

Important Pointers:

It might be hard work but it shouldn’t stress you out. You’re responsible for a lot but that should involve co-ordinating the people to do the jobs rather than doing them all yourself!

Sometimes the Producer’s role will involve de-stressing others – but make sure that you don’t get over burdened. That’s where a quick email, phone call or visit to the Drama Officer might be a good idea, even if you just want to have a little moan or be reassured that you’re doing fine!

Always remember that we’re here to help – so if you’ve got a problem, the sooner you come and speak to the Drama Officer or the venue staff the sooner we can help you sort it!

Money troubles tend to arise if the budget hasn’t been compiled in negotiation with the key team members including the director, designer and production manager. If everyone is agreed on how much they have to spend for their area, they are less likely to over spend. Do not forget to add VAT into your budgets.

Little things go a long way – part of your job is to keep the team happy and working together. If you’re working over a vacation period maybe send everyone little updates in a group email especially telling them about things that are going well like securing funding. Also, consider a small budget for entertaining – perhaps for biscuits for the directors during the auditions or for the crew during the get-in. Think about organising a social event for all the cast and crew before you start working in the theatre together – even if it’s just a meal or a trip to the pub that doesn’t cost the production anything, it’s nice if everyone has already met.

Because the job of the Producer is to oversee all aspects of production, the advice and deadlines given to the Marketing Manager, Learning, Designer and Production Manager can be found below.Marketing

Oxford Playhouse generic marketing for student productions includes:

  • Brochure – appearance in the season brochure, which is mailed to approx. 20,000 addresses, and distributed in the OP foyer, the city centre and surrounding counties.
  • Canopy – listings on large boards on the front of the theatre the week of production.
  • Season email – listed as part of season email, with link to online booking, sent to approx. 36,000 addresses and approx. 3,000 student addresses.
  • Website – page on featuring show information, image and link to online booking.
  • Featured as forthcoming productions within programmes - listed on ‘forthcoming productions’ page where appropriate.
  • Regional and national press release – featured in a solus press release mailed and emailed to local and national press contacts by the OP marketing and press officer. Please note that you are responsible for writing the press release to the schedule of the OP marketing team.
  • Press night – held by OP for journalists, usually on the opening night of production.
  • Print – OP will display your posters and leaflets within the public areas of the theatre in advance of your production.
  • Advice – from the OP marketing department, on all aspects of your campaign, if requested.
  • Programme

What you need to do:

1)Confirm marketing budget – How much does your marketing team have to spend? What marketing tools will you be using and how much will this activity cost?

2)Forward Planning – Work out marketing strategy including what tools you will be using and the timings for implementation

3)Target Audiences – Decide who you want to reach with your campaign as part of your marketing strategy. You may decide to run different campaigns for different target audiences.

4)Messages – Decide what specific messages you want to communicate to your target audiences.

OP Brochure Entry: (10 weeks + or as soon as your slot has been awarded)

As part of the Oxford Playhouse season you will appear in the Oxford Playhouse season brochure. Your entry will consist of approx 100 words of copy about your production and an image. Deadlines for this copy and image will be circulated once your slot is confirmed. We usually work to a 10 week lead time for brochure production.

You will need to provide an image in one of the following formats; emailed as a JPEG (minimum 300 dpi), on CD in mac format (minimum 300 dpi) saved as an EPS or TIFF file or as photograph or transparency.

Please consider that your image needs to be illustrative of your production and remember who you are trying to target.

You will need to provide 100 words of copy that describes and promotes your production (70 words for a one-night slot). This needs to be appropriate for the OP core audience with the principle message targeting your key target audiences (see above). Please see previous OP brochures to see the copy styles of other professional and student shows. Again, remember who you are trying to target and that copy should be simple, accessible and to the point.

Please send copy and image to

Print: (10 – 16 weeks)

Your show print ideally needs to be out on distribution at least 10 weeks in advance of your show. Print can take weeks to be designed, proofed and printed so you need to consider the following advice 12 -16 weeks in advance of your production. The OP Marketing department will be happy to advise you on print design and production. Remember, the Marketing department have final sign off on your print, so please make sure you send for approval with plenty of time before the deadline in case any amendments need to be made.

Whilst designing your print you should consider…

  • Who are your target audiences and how are you going to reach them with your print?
  • Does your design convey the right message to contact your target audiences?
  • What format works best for your planned distribution (posters, flyers, postcards etc)? How will it look in a leaflet rack? You might consider different formats for different uses, for e.g. postcards for pigeonholing and DL leaflet for distribution.
  • Are the key details clear and accessible? DON’T assume the public will pick up your print to find out these details, make it easy for the audience by ensuring the essential information is clear. These details include: Title, author if relevant, venue, OP logo, dates, times, booking details (Box Office and Website) and ticket prices. It should also be clear on all print that the production is by students.
  • Don’t overcrowd your print, keep fonts and colours simple and use space effectively.
  • Look at other professional and student print, what do you think works well and what doesn’t? Can you understand the nature of a show you know nothing about and are you stimulated to come and see it just from looking at the print? This is your aim!

Direct Mail

If your budget allows for a Direct Mail campaign you may want to use appropriate OP audience data. Generally we don’t mail students (as addresses often change) but we find that this is a great way to get in touch with other key sectors of our audience. We do this by targeting specific previous productions where there is an audience crossover with your production.

We can provide the data in the form of an excel spreadsheet or postage labels and if you book a slot in advance you are welcome to frank your mailings at the Playhouse. The cost of labels and postage are charged back to your company as part of the deal. You should budget approximately 45p per address.

Schools – If one of your target audiences is schools then you need to mail them as far in advance of your production as possible, especially if your show is part of the National Curriculum or if you are planning to offer educational workshops (12 weeks +). Schools can be a very lucrative audience, so it’s worth targeting this publicity directly.

Public – Our research shows that the public are booking later and later so you should aim for your mailing to hit about 3 - 5 weeks in advance of opening.

Letter content - Avoid saying exactly the same as what you have on your leaflet or flyer. Remember key information, consider what your messages are and who you are writing to. Why would they want to come? Another approach is to think of reasons why they might not want to come and turn them on their heads. i.e turn negatives into positives. e.g. A lesser known title can sometimes put potential audiences off but if promoted as ‘a rare opportunity to see’ the message becomes a positive.

Advertising

We have a very preferential rate with the Oxford Times and Oxford Mail. Thursdays are the best days to advertise any theatre events. Media space must be booked at least a week in advance and artwork provided by the Tuesday prior to publication date. If you would like to advertise your production in the local media please talk to James Webster

Display

Internal – OP will display your posters and leaflets within the public areas of the theatre in advance of your production. Space is limited so posters are on rotation within the foyer displays. Print material won’t go up until your show is on sale but it is a good idea to get it to us as early as possible to maximise internal exposure. The Westgate Library also offers free display space for up to two weeks at a time. These sites are in high demand and get booked up very quickly but are definitely worth looking into – ask the person behind the desk within the periodicals section about booking.

External – There are two canopy boards on the front of Playhouse and your production will be featured during the week of your production.

There are a few free poster sites that can be used for displaying posters in Oxford city centre, including those by the High Street entrance to the Covered Market. The City Council doesn’t allow bill postering or leafleting anywhere in the city, other than within designated poster sites. The OP is not responsible for any costs or consequences if you choose to ignore City Council regulations.

Distribution

Oxford Playhouse has a very good rate for distribution runs with Oxford Calling. Please contact James Webster if you would like further information.

You can do distribution yourself as well, and you have access to a great resource in the Oxford Colleges and departments to reach other students and members of the university. Pigeonholing with your leaflets and putting your posters up in JCRs and departments are a good idea to spread awareness of your show. Outside the university, you can ask shops, cafes, bars, restaurants etc to display your print. Have a think about what sort of places your target audience will visit. It’s a good idea to amass a big team of volunteers to help with distribution, as this will widen the number of people that you can reach. It can also be quite time consuming! Make sure you take heed of the bill postering regulations though.

Flyering

Distribution has traditionally been achieved on the street also, but new rules in Oxford have made this much harder. Check out the guidelines at

Creative non-print ways to sell a show on the street, ‘guerrilla advertising’ are proving to be successful, and a way of turning a show into a real ‘event’.

Programme

Oxford Playhouse will create and sell programmes for your production. These are produced by a company called John Good. John Good provide OP programmes for many of the incoming touring productions.

Programmes are made up of biographies and information on the show. Biographies can be included for every member on the team, and should include subject studied and college.

Lauren will be your main point of contact. Once your production is confirmed and Lauren has received the programme production schedule from John Good she will confirm with you your copy deadline (the date you need to let her have your copy and content for the programme).

PROGRAMME SIZE: B5: 245mm high x 172mm wide

Please contact Lauren for advertising space dimensions (should you want to use any of your page allocation for advertising).

The maximum number of pages available to you for your editorial and content is 16.

Please designate one person to deal with the programme and be sole contact regarding its production.

TIMINGS AND DEADLINES:
Copy and content

This is your first deadline and is approximately 3 – 4 weeks before your first performance date. Copy and content needs to be emailed to Lauren in time to meet this deadline. You may also want to include some direction for order of content and look of the programme. Please also include an example of your show print so John Good can complement the design.

First proof

John Good will send a first proof through to Lauren approximately 1 week after your copy and content deadline. This will be emailed to your programme contact.

This first proof is for comments on design, style, and content. You will need to proofread the programme carefully and then email Lauren the following day with any copy/design/style changes and suggestions. All design changes must be made at this stage. The cover of the programme needs to be signed off at this stage.

Second proof

This will be sent to you approximately a day later and is an opportunity to check all the original changes have been made. You may find further changes and these must be sent to Lauren the following day.

Final proof

This is the final opportunity to make any changes to your programme. Again, send changes to Lauren.

Sign off

Your programme needs to be signed off one week before your first performance to ensure delivery is in time.

At this point we will need to confirm the number of programmes to be printed. OP will confirm this quantity based on current and forecast ticket sales.

Delivery

Your programmes will be delivered to the Playhouse during the day of your first performance. The OP Front of House team are responsible for selling the programmes to the audience.

CONTENT:

Your programme will contain a number of general advertising pages (John Good sell these pages and take the revenue from these pages), up to eight Oxford Playhouse pages and 16 production pages. These production pages are yours to fill and usually include the following: