We look good on paper
We're preparing our season brochure, and last week, I ordered our spring appeal bulk mailing. By using #80 paper on each instead of #100, we're saving several hundred dollars on each run (the brochure is a 14,000 run, the appeal is 5200). We also recently canceled weekly direct deposit for our three full-time employees.
Why bother with these little things? The direct deposit only cost $2.60 a week. Well, it means a few things - maybe $500-$700 more to invest in designers. It might mean a bonus where it counts - a stage manager who goes the extra mile; a TD who can walk and chew gum; a master carpenter whose knuckles don't quite hit the ground; extra valium for the costumer.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the cost of live theatre. The major cost is in the people who do the work, and the effect of good people is obvious on stage. The cost of direct deposit, #100 paper, and glossy programs is not obvious on stage. What do you want people to remember about your theatre - the stirring performances, or the sturdy paper?
Why bother with these little things? The direct deposit only cost $2.60 a week. Well, it means a few things - maybe $500-$700 more to invest in designers. It might mean a bonus where it counts - a stage manager who goes the extra mile; a TD who can walk and chew gum; a master carpenter whose knuckles don't quite hit the ground; extra valium for the costumer.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the cost of live theatre. The major cost is in the people who do the work, and the effect of good people is obvious on stage. The cost of direct deposit, #100 paper, and glossy programs is not obvious on stage. What do you want people to remember about your theatre - the stirring performances, or the sturdy paper?
Personally, I like the advertisement sheet because I can't afford the actual tickets and I don't have the time to go to a show. What I do to keep the appearance of my "cultural" up-bringing is mount the advertisement sheets in frames and put them on the wall. I have managed to fool many women into thinking that I was important and balanced by not telling them anything about the sheets, but giving them the time to snoop around my living room at the many "official" things I have mounted on my wall. Yes, fool them, then sex them...that is my motto.
ReplyDeleteYou see, if you cheap out on the quality of paper, then it makes my life much more difficult, and you know the saying, "you can fool some of the women some of the time, but not all the women all of the time." You are reducing the number of women I can fool.
Well, I better get back to Plan B, which is to cut out the pictures from my National Geographic so I can mount photos of my worldly travels.