Since the boom in the Internet, the dawn of bloggers and everyone having the opportunity to be a ‘famous’ – that line of professionalism and integrity has really, for lack of a better term (and forgive my French) gone down the shitter.
Everyone wants to be the one with the scoop; they want to be Internet famous. The one to be the first with the break, to get the most hits on their blog; which, like back in the day, was the writer who wanted to be the first to press with the big story. Fast forward a few decades, the timing on this now is down to milliseconds.
So people’s judgments, in my opinion, have become a bit skewed and a bit bias towards what will get them their 15 minutes versus what is right.
In the entertainment industry, the majority of people who work in it will have to sign indemnity forms, confidentiality clauses if they’re not already woven within the confines of their existing contracts. It’s even more tied down the closer you are to certain pieces of production. I’ve had to do this working in PR far removed from direct production because I was coming into contact with scripting pages, marketing communication materials and general details.
If I decided to ‘leak’ anything I knew or had seen out, even through ulterior means or other channels that weren’t directly via me, I would not only be fired, but I would be opening myself up to liabilities like you can’t even fathom, including lawsuits and kissing whatever was left of my career goodbye.
There are particular reasons why production companies, networks, and the lot do not want things released early. Things are still in the creative process. Meaning they’re still being created and creative, they’re still being tweaked, changed, and created. These are ever evolving processes. And as much as we would all love to have things at every single step of the way, there are legitimate reasons as to why we cannot.
In addition, when things do get leaked, we have no real context to if or even where they will fall because, as I said before, things are still in a creative process. Things get added and subtracted in the blink of an eye. No one other than the people directly within that process have the right to really and truly know about, despite the wisps and crumbs that make it through the cracks. That, however, is a whole other story.
So the writers, producers, publicists, marketers, senior vice presidents, they all have every single right to be angered when their intellectual property is stolen out from under then and given to the masses without their consent or in their own planned timeframe. It’s basically breaking contracts and in turn breaking laws.
After everything that has gone down in the last year to 18 months within the industry with major leaks, extras not adhering to confidentiality clauses and background information getting stolen from people within the company who didn’t have rights to it in the first place, anyone with touch points in that world knows what is at stake.
It’s ridiculously sad that people don’t understand what these leaks really and truly cost, that it’s just more than “I need to know everything as it happens because I WANT to so give it to me any way I can have it.”
I usually don’t talk about stuff like this on my show, but I really want to thank everyone who’s supporting me. And if you don’t know me very well, if you’re just watching maybe for the first time, or you’re just getting to know me, I wanna be clear and here are the values that I stand for: I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated, and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values. That’s what I stand for. (x)
(Source: missblanchards, via howcosmopolitan)
How I learned the difference between love and respect at my first Broadway show.
We arrived to the theater about 30 minutes before the show was scheduled to start, so I began talking to the girls seated in front of us. They seemed very lovely, and smart. They laughed at all the right times, had good manners, and applauded at the correct points, unlike some other audience members. Skip forward to about fifteen minutes before Brotherhood of Man.
Brotherhood, as many know, is the pinnacle of the show. It exemplifies Darren as a performer, as long as the rest of the cast. There are notes in that song that must have impossible to hold, and it really tests the every member of the number in the dance department. If you haven’t seen this video of Daniel Radcliffe performing it along with the cast at the 2011 Tony Awards, watch it now, and just imagine Darren doing it.
Now, imagine a group of six girls and their mothers standing up, gathering their things, and leaving right before it.
Artie!preach.gif
(Source: cloverhigh)
Broadway World & EW today released some great statistics/trending info regarding Darren’s first week run in How to Succeed.
Some will just see the great black and white facts of it all:
- Show made serious bank in what’s a solid, but not stellar week at the box office normally (post holiday/New Year’s week)
- It trended in the top 5 shows overall in revenue for Broadway productions
- The show was at 99.8% sellout capacity
- This week for Darren outpaced any previous eight show week with DanRad
What between the lines and underneath it all we need to take from this:
- Look at the company that this show is keeping up at the top: Lion King, Wicked have consistently been in the top 5 grossing shows for the last few YEARS.
- This basically writes a pretty damn close to complete carte blanche, for Darren and another opportunity for guest run in a Broadway show. Between the ticket sales, capacity and sheer amount of positive buzz in just one WEEK in show he’s bringing - producers have to be and are salivating.
- Press is, as we all know, eating Darren up with a fucking spoon. Anyone in their right mind wants to have this type of coverage. The vast reach he’s pulling right now from mainstream to social/digital is just mind boggling, example: front of the arts & entertainment section on opening night in the New York Times that included a special photo shoot.
- What everyone thinks was a crazy, stupid idea for Saturday night with the sing along? No, no no no. You need to see it from all the sides. It was so much more than just being something so typically Darren. This shows everyone: theater fans, Broadway execs, media - the sheer power of Darren, Team Starkid and their fans. That showing could help lead to the smoothing of pathways for a Starkid production making it to the Great White Way.
You can’t go full out comparison Darren to DanRad because situations are different, but you will be able to do some interesting analysis after Darren’s run is completed. So far, however, just 8 performances in you have to stand up and take notice.
(Source: suchalilyofthevalley)
Now that the first run of Darren taking the Broadway stage is complete, time to do a little bit of number crunching, analysis and explanations…
Darren Criss in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
January 3-22, 2012. 3 week run. 24 shows.
Total gross: just a hair over $4 million ($4,037,394 to be exact)
Week 1: $1,386,065
Week 2: $1,331,505
Week 3: $1,319,82497.4% capacity average
Week 1: 99.8%
Week 2: 97.5%
Week 3: 94.8%96.6% average gross potential
Week 1: 99.46%
Week 2: 95.54%
Week 3: 94.71%$121.34 average ticket price before fees, etc.
Week 1: $121.87
Week 2: $119.90
Week 3: $122.26BroadwayWorld reports top ticket price averaging steady as $302, however Hirshfeld box office was selling premium seating as high as $402. TeleCharge had premiums at one point upwards of $600.
Entire 3 week run was slated each week at #5 overall grossing against powerhouses Wicked, Lion King & Book of Mormon.
Right-o! Now to the apples versus apples portion:
Opening weeks Dan vs. Darren
Fun fact here too: Dan had 4 solid weeks of previews before opening so I’ll be using the ‘hard’ open date for thisDan: $972,524 gross at 99.7% capacity and average ticket price $85.63.
Darren: $1,386,065 gross at 99.8% capacity and average ticket price $121.87.
Closing weeks Dan vs. Darren
Now this one will be a slight bit skewed as they threw an additional show, making Dan’s last push in closing a 9 show week, while Darren’s was the traditional 8.Dan: $1,910,224 gross at 100.6% capacity and average ticket price $148.14
Darren: $1,319,824 gross at 94.8% capacity and average ticket price $122.26
(Sourcing: BroadwayWorld, EW)
AnalysisI started to say a lot of similar things after week one but alluded that you couldn’t draw any type of analysis or conclusion until after things were completed, but now that is is, all this above kind of just confirms it in a way that even boggles *my* mind.
This time of the year for Broadway shows/tickets is normally very slow and very weak grossing, coming off the big holiday push. Unless you’re one of the perennials, this time of the year is not known to make noise with the almighty dollar, other than for shows to potentially flop & close. So to front these types of numbers is a kind of beyond a big deal.
This above, mind you, does not take into consideration any merchandise gross, which I would be quite curious to see numbers on. With a shortened, condensed run they had very little ‘Darren-specific’ merch, just a Darren dust jacketed DanRad program, poster and purple bow ties; the rest was very DanRad or show specific. Fun facts with merch: they sold OUT of bow ties early on closing weekend and seemed to have a dwindling inventory on posters.
Not only to mention the sheer VOLUME of press, awareness, buzz and chatter that surrounded Darren and his run/his time in New York. You honestly couldn’t turn anywhere without hearing, seeing or having people talk about something tied into it. Be it random people, serious theater goers, Darren fans or industry insiders. I lost track at home many times during the run that he himself or something tied into the show trended in the social media sphere.
The coverage the show and Darren received was all encompassing: from the traditionals of the New York Times, Playbill and BroadwayWorld, to all the pop culture driven outlets of EW, PopSugar and Access Hollywood and then the New York-based/New York-centric media from tv stations (WNBC), radio outlets (1010 WINS) and print (NY Post, NY Daily News). Also of note - he only did ONE national talk show press hit: Live with Kelly which aired during opening week. I can only guess as to what else could have brewed up with numbers, etc. if there was more of these types of press hits in the mix.
There’s some interesting more in depth types of numbers that are eye opening in regards to Dan’s run, but with Darren’s run only 3 weeks - it would be hard to make these types of comparisons (ala comparing apples to chocolate cake). The pacing though and the trending - Darren’s 3 weeks consistently outpaced and outtrended Dan.
The long and the short of it though: this basically proves without any types of doubts or reservations, that he could easily sustain a longer run on Broadway and bring in some serious bank to the producers and backers of the show from many avenues. Taking the money portion out of it? These industry people have at their fingertips a guaranteed, surefire way to bring themselves serious legitimate press, a metric ton of buzzing interest and a group of seriously dedicated and captivated fans.
Take note - this isn’t the last we’ve seen. Hardly, by any means, really. This is just the very beginning. Get ready. As Darren said on closing night: “We’ll see you next time on Broadway.”
WORDS YOU SHOULD READ FROM SMART PEOPLE. (hey hey hey popping on to reblog some important things)
Come on, guys. If anyone wants to find it, they can find it. Easily.
No, people shouldn’t send things directly to them, but 1. they don’t have to read what they’re sent and 2. a very simple Google search could get them there all on their own.
Breathe, my loves.
Some of the posts in the Darren tag really worry me about the kinds of fans who are lucky enough to be seeing him in H2$
You cannot liveblog the whole show, you cannot ~~!!~secretly record anything, you cannot take pictures. You cannot wear your pink sunglasses and your ‘MRS BLAINE ANDERSON!!!!<3XDXD’ shirt.
It is a BROADWAY show, not a silly set of his in a coffee shop or a theme park or whatever, it’s a respectable event. If you get your phone out or start squeeling or -and for the love of god if I find out anyone does this I s2g, yelling ‘I LOVE YOU DARREN!!!!!!’ you will get kicked out, you will piss off the people around you, you will distract Darren on stage, and you will embarrass every fan that walks through the door within those 3 weeks.
It’s basically like nothing you will ever see Darren do, solely for the fact that it is serious.
Please don’t ruin it for everyone involved.
Reblogging because ^this for one, but also because I know exactly what this is like. Lizzy and Nikko and I went to the Yale Benefit in San Francisco in May and ran into people like this. People behaved like this. It was a Yale. Benefit. Alumni were there. People were dressed up. I was dressed up. It was a benefit. People should not have gone in there dressed in homemade t-shirts and pink sunglasses. People should not have yelled out during the show. It’s not cool to yell out, “Darren, you’re supermegaawesomefoxyhot!” It’s embarrassing, it’s childish, and it’s rude. Save your cliche shirts and jokes and gushing for another event, another venue, or even the fucking stage door. When you’re in the theater, sit, watch, listen, and enjoy. Do not ruin the experience for other people, and don’t regret something you do in there later on. Just… have common sense. Have tact. It’s okay to be excited and act your age, but recognize the atmosphere and environment you’re in and the people around you.
And I’m making the D: face right now regarding the SF Yale Benefit.
I mean. I understand excitement! I don’t want to tell people not to feel their feelings but, damn, there are different levels of public behavior, just as there are differences in how I may react publicly versus privately. The kind of venue also matters. I have been to many, many concerts in 2011. The attitude of going to see some band play at the Mercury Lounge is a totally different animal from someplace like the Beacon Theatre and that’s not even bringing the Glee Live concert experience into play, where screaming loudly for everyone is often the point. To contrast a concert with a Broadway show? A different animal and being “on your best behavior” does not mean that you have to be stifled when it comes to showing your excitement.
It just means be considerate of those around you. Even if you’re seated in huge group of fans and/or friends (hey I’m doing likewise!), there’s going to be people around you who don’t know why you’re so stoked and aren’t “in” on the whole shebang and why it matters so much to you. And that’s okay! But if you’re not polite to them or thoughtless about your own actions, you’re being rude. If you want to be rude, it’s not like anyone can stop you. Posts like this above and stories like Tina’s are reflecting on something I have personally witnessed: inconsiderate behavior at Darren’s shows.
Like. I was stunned at how fantastic the crowd behaved at Joe’s Pub. I shouldn’t have to be surprised by everyone being chill, that shouldn’t be a shocking bonus to an already cool event.
Now, please don’t accuse me of being mean to Darren’s fans, I’ve experienced much worse crowd behavior at other events (I got into a nasty argument with a guy at a Foster the People concert when he and his two female friends kept pushing me during one of the opening acts). But I am definitely hesitant when it comes to shows revolving around Darren or the Starkids nowadays due to what I’ve seen with my own eyes (and how much screaming my ears have heard). I didn’t go to the Starkid NYC shows during Thanksgiving weekend because I was a little wary of the crowds (I mean, I had to be drunk at Irving Plaza to handle the fannish entitlement as well as the disgusting littering that was left on the streets, god I was not pleased).
It’s just. Come on, guys. Be cool.
And you are free of course to use your phone and/or camera during the performance in that, it’s not like it’s taken away from you once you enter the theater. But if you get kicked out, you can’t really complain because it is breaking the rules. Because it’s not a concert experience, where Darren openly acknowledges that everyone’s recording him.
Again. Be excited! If it’s your first big Broadway show, I hope you have an awesome time and feel all the feelings about one of your favorite people getting to perform on the big stage. But if you could spare a second to think, hey, is it the decent thing to be respectful of other people? and conclude why yes it is, that would just be stupendous.
Quality people saying things so quality I don’t even have anything to add.
