SO YOU WANT TO BE A PRODUCER - Nick Hern Books
SO YOU WANT TO BE A THEATRE PRODUCER
James Seabright
NHB
Rec Price: 12.99
ISBN: 9 781854 595379
Review: Rod Dungate 06 08 10
(Some useful links appear below.)
An excellent addition to the SO YOU WANT TO BE seriesJames Seabright’s book scores on many fronts. First of all, it’s about an area of theatre work most people will know of (however vaguely) but haven’t really considered in depth. Secondly, Seabright comes, not from the big empressario type of producer most of us think of, but from small and middle scale producing. Thirdly, not only does he make you feel you could do it too (having read this book!), but, fourthly, he also passes on a feeling of excitement about it . . . you want to go out and and produce a show yourself.
Seabright firmly establishes the producing role as a vital and vigorous job within the theatre world.
The book will be invaluable to anyone considering producing a show as it will be to others too. Any college, school or university department which covers a topic like ‘The Performing Arts Business’ will find, for students, the book is stimulating and easy to read - leaving aside the value for teachers as well. And groups of young people wishing to kick-start their performing careers by forming small scale groups would do well to read the book too.
Seabright writes with great clarity and ease; pages are full of nuggets that you know will be valuable in the real world. He covers all areas of producing including building the teams, casting and auditioning, finance, PR and marketing (concisely setting out the difference). At the end of the book he also includes a section on various company structure options - an easy area to miss out on, Seabright’s inclusion is perceptive.
I like the way Seabright slips in definitions of producer language - ‘capitalisation’, ‘recoupment’ for example. And his explanations range from in-depth advice (many examples of budgets for instance) to hints on dealing with people - treat writers with respect, how to work with established stars when meeting with them for potential casting, papering on press nights.
If you have some experience of putting shows together and possibly touring then, Seabright’s gem of a book will enable you to consolidate, organise and add to your knowledge, if you have little or no experience, here’s your starting point.
Some useful links:
A link to the series of So You Want To Be . . . books on the NHB website:
http://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/index.cfm?nid=home&searchResults=1&searchCriteria=so+you+want+to+be&x=12&y=15
So You Want to Go To Drama School and So You Want To Be a Playwright have both been reviewed on ReviewsGate.com
Here’s a link to the book on Amazon:
2010-08-06 09:50:18