Broadway's Closed till 2021, The ONLY Way It Comes Back and Thrives is with VOD

The Broadway League announced that theatres will remain closed through the end of May 2021.

This is more hard news for Broadway employees who now know they won’t be able to work for at least another eightmonths. With income resources limited as they are, I can’t imagine the position this puts them in.

This is why the Broadway powers-that-be need to start considering every avenue to return to work in some form that is both safe and lucrative. Socially distanced audiences aren’t going to work. Waiting until it’s safe to fill a 1,200 seat theatre might not happen until 2022. Waiting for a vaccine could be even longer.

I’ve been going over and over it in my head, thinking about every direction that might work and there really is only one solution, Broadway is going to have to perform via video-on-demand(VOD).

I proposed this last month and it was met with a lot of doubt and opposition, but there is a way it could work that might satisfy all parties and unions involved. Let’s walk through this.

Safety

First and foremost, and so no one misunderstands me, any type of work should and would only happen when all parties/unions/governments agree that it’s safe to return to work.

So far every union I’ve seen is implementing strict protocols to be followed before any of them allow their members to return to work.

Having said that, from the medical professionals I’ve spoken to, there is a clear difference between when it’s safe for folks to gather to perform versus performing in front of over 1,000 people in a crowded theatre. And it’s likely that the former will be approved before the latter.

So, just to recap, this plan should/would only happen when it’s safe for everyone in the theatre to come back to work but not yet safe to perform in front of an audience.

Let me also mention that for something like this to happen, there would have to be a ton of red tape to be signed off by each union. In the past, there have been complications when it comes to these tapings about compensation. For argument’s sake, let’s make it clear that for any of the following to happen, all the unions need to be on board with this.

Step 1 - Production

What I envision is that rather than filming a live performance every night, at the start of each week, one performance is filmed inside an empty theatre.

Performers, musicians, and crew would need to pass various safety protocols to enter the theatre space and abide by whatever safety protocols are required once inside.

But by not performing every night, this limits the close and physical interactions these folks will have on a weekly basis.

When it comes to filming, these would not be the pro shots that you will be getting from Hamilton. That was an incredibly expensive production that the producers were lucky that Disney forked over $75 million for. The taping I’m suggesting would simply be the POV from where you would be sitting.

The performance would be captured by multiple stationary cameras around the theatre. Perhaps one from the middle of the orchestra, one from center-mezzanine, maybe even one from the rear orchestra. I would say no more than five cameras capturing the performance. There would be no close-ups or tracking shots, simply shooting from the view one would have if they were sitting in that location(This is going to be important for reasons I’ll state later),

After the performance is over, all involved leave the theatre, it’s cleaned thoroughly and they don’t come back to the space until the same time next week to record another performance.

Step 2 - Sales

So now that the performance has been filmed, how do producers sell this? There are a couple of ways that make sense and would appeal to the theatre consumer.

The first suggestion I would have would be to work with VOD platforms directly rather than going through entities such as BroadwayHD or Broadway On Demand. No offense to those platforms but they don’t have the resources or capabilities to handle something like this yet. And shows having to share revenue across a subscription-based system isn’t going to satisfy producers. So working with Amazon, Comcast Xfinity or Apple, among others would be the better option.

There are a couple of routes producers could go about selling this. The first is that they could offer that week’s performance for a 24 hour rental for a set price. For argument’s sake, let’s call it $20.

So for $20, you and your family could sit down and watch that week’s performance of Wicked.

Now here is where the multi-cam setup comes into play. For $20, the viewer could watch the performance from the front mezzanine view. Then, producers could set a different price for the view from the middle of the orchestra. They could charge more for the viewer to be able to toggle between two or more views.

When it comes to availability, the producers could set a limit on how many “buys” the performance gets throughout the week, this way it could “sell-out” which would then incentivize the viewer to come back next week to purchase the following week’s performance.

Or, the producers could expand the potential viewership, which could lower the price to something even more affordable like $12-$15.

The Cons

Piracy

Obviously going onto a digital format, the biggest concern will be piracy. People will find a way to download these and put them on Youtube or other bootleg sites.

So to combat that, producers will need to set prices to account for lost potential revenue from pirating and work with the platforms to implement as many securities as they can.

It would eliminate the need for ushers, concessions, and other Front of House Staff.

Yes, by going digital for the time being, it would eliminate the need for these folks. That’s the sad reality but a necessary loss for this plan. But I should mention that this or any plan will be temporary until Broadway can resume with audiences in the theatre.

Also, if there is potential for an increase in revenue, there’s no reason why the producers shouldn’t provide funds to unions and organizations that represent these workers until they too can return to work.

Audience-less performances

Yes, we all love having the audience present and hearing their reaction. But we’re living in a post-COVID-19 world where the things we love and romanticize in this industry probably can’t happen. If you love theatre as much as you say you do, seeing it performed with or without an audience in the short term shouldn’t matter.

The Pros

It gets the business of Broadway back up and running.

People need to work and shows need to start earning money. So as soon as it’s safe to return to work but not yet for audiences to attend, this plan should be looked at.

Increases in potential revenue

Yes, a family of four paying $50 to see Wicked won’t raise the same amount of revenue that it would if they bought four tickets. However, producers could open up the potential buy to account for this. So instead of 8,000 viewers that a normal 8-performance week might pull in, producers could make each airing available much more, to either match what they would get from a sold-out house or much more than that. Subscriptions to Disney+ for Hamilton increased by 72%, that’s got to have been noticed by Broadway producers.

I thought about every angle of this and I honestly don’t see any other option for Broadway to fiscally return in some form of normalcy before audiences are allowed back in theatres without stringent safety protocols.

I have dozens of theatre employed friends who are going through the worst nightmare of their professional and personal lives. Plans and solutions need to be announced soon. Relying on small grants and funding from organizations is not going to carry them through another year of this. Broadway and maybe even regional theatres converting to VOD when it’s safe to return to work is the strongest option I see.