PACE Execs Address Membership
Following the October Overall Meeting, the Union was
fortunate to feature Miles Wilkin and Scott Zeiger of Pace Theatrical Group,
Inc. as guest speakers.
President Debuskey introduced Messrs. Wilkin and Zeiger,
noting that Mr. Wilkin holds a degree in Business Administration from the
University of Florida and has been Chairman and CEO of Pace Theatrical since
1982, and that Mr. Zeiger, an ATPAM member, has been President of Pace
Theatrical since 1983, and also holds a degree in Business Administration
from the University of Florida.
Wilkin explained that since 1979, Pace Theatrical has
produced and presented Broadway shows, primarily outside of New York. They
operate theatres of seasons in 22 cities around the country. He reported
that one of the major changes that has taken place has been, with a few
exceptions, the elimination of multiple companies of a show. In the past,
there was the Broadway company and then, usually, a national or Los Angeles
company, and finally a touring company or companies. Recently it was more
likely that there was only one company which toured major and minor cities
either before or after the New York run. He said that there are also
non-Equity companies that play former split week and one night venues which
cannot afford the huge guarantees that are often required. He stated that he
was not endorsing non-union productions, but that they are a fact of life in
today’s touring world. He reported that there are fewer "ma and
pa" theatre operators and presenters than there were in the past.
Presenters like Pace are producing or co-producing more of their own tours
in collaboration with booking agencies, New York theatre operators, Canadian
theatre operators, etc. in order to provide product for their venues. During
the past few years Pace has been establishing affiliate offices on a
contractual basis in as many cities as possible in order to have a
"core" of management, press, box office and technical people that
they know and on whom they can depend. He said they have been especially
interested in developing a cadre of Company Managers and Press Agents as
these positions are key to the success of their touring shows.
Scott Zeiger followed and reported that Pace currently
has four "hub" offices in New York, Miami, Houston and Louisville.
One of their objectives has been to train their Company Managers to be
Producer’s representatives in addition to the traditional duties of travel
and hotel arrangements and the checking of box office statements. The
Louisville office acts as a central subscription processing office for their
nationwide circuit and that the offices in Houston and Miami each have a
group of marketing directors and operations people. He stated that they
refer to their Press Agents as Marketing Directors as they are responsible
not only for all press related activity, but also to interface with the
local presenter and to advise of advertising. He said that these Marketing
Directors also supervise and instruct the local press people and are
responsible for overseeing the proper distribution of press materials such
as flyers, posters, newspaper ads, radio and television commercials, etc.
Ideally, a Press Agent should be able to leverage a $40,000 or $50,000 media
buy into $100,000 to $200,000 worth of exposure through ticket trades,
promotional trips to New York to see the Broadway company of a show, and
charitable promotions. He then opened the floor for questions.
Howard Rogut asked about non-Equity companies. Wilkin
replied that while they do not produce non-union shows, in some smaller
cities they have booked them and put them on their subscriptions for
economic reasons. He stated that they are a fact of life and, in certain
situations, they fulfill a need and provide an economically feasible
attraction for cities that would otherwise not book a Broadway show.
President Debuskey asked what the economic difference was between a union
and non-union show. Wilkin answered that in the case of ME AND MY GIRL, for
example, the Equity company required a weekly guarantee of between $225,000
and $250,000, while the non-Equity version sold for approximately $130,000.
While there was a finite artistic difference, he wasn’t sure that in
cities like Topeka or Columbus it was appreciable.
A question was then posed regarding promotional trips to
New York and whether Pace paid for them entirely or was able to make
arrangements with airlines, hotels, etc. Zeiger replied that it depends on
the city as Pace has on-going relationships with hotels and airlines and
several cities. For the national tour of SOUTH PACIFIC, they made an
arrangement with Continental Airlines and Bali H’ai Hotels and were able
to offer free trips to Tahiti to local presenters who achieved a specific
amount of media exposure. Zeiger stated that incentives like these were
common practice with large family arena shows such as Ice Capades, the
circus, etc., and that Pace tried to provide an upgraded version of these
incentives in the legit market. He noted that Pace Theatrical Group is a
division of a larger company which also includes rock concerts, motor sports
events, outdoor events, etc., and they all use similar marketing practices.
Victor Samrock asked if the problem with malfeasant House
Managers and box office treasurers on the road was as prevalent today as it
used to be. Wilkin replied that with national companies such as Ticketron
and TicketMaster, the problem wasn’t as great as it used to be, but that
Pace still counseled their Company managers to count the number of seats in
a house and pay keen attention to subscription and ticket prices. Bill
Schelble asked how a non-Equity show was advertised and promoted. Zeiger
answered that Pace did not misrepresent a show by advertising "Direct
from Broadway" if it was not. Schelble asked about the difference in
ticket prices and Zeiger replied that usually non-Equity shows were offered
at lower prices, but that all ticket scales were predicated on the cost of
the package. Debuskey asked how a subscription price was arrived at and
Zeiger answered that they added up the cost of each individual attraction,
deducted 10%, and then added the necessary handling and processing charge.
Debuskey then asked about the length of engagements and Zeiger replied that
Pace did not operate any split-week theatres, but that some of their
attractions did play one night and split-week engagements.
As there were no further questions, Debuskey thanked
Miles and Scott for taking the time to speak at the meeting and expressed
his appreciation for the innovations and advances they have made on the
road.
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