Well, some folks called it "Pay What You Can" or "Pick Your Price" and one newspaper came up with "Pay As You Go", which sounds like a whole other bizarre and interesting idea. (Pay $X for the first act, if you like it, pay $X more for the second act.) Anyway...
Dead City was - by a long shot - the most popular show we've every produced. We beat our previous record for a run by almost 200 people. And we actually had fewer performances of this show than most. Wow.
However, we were told by a whole lot of people that PWYW was the reason they came to the show, and the numbers bear-out the fact that people were ready for the opportunity. We had a lot of people paying far below our normal prices, even down in the $2-5 area. THAT'S A GOOD THING, because, I'm guessing most of those folks wouldn't have been there if it was a $10 or $20 ticket. And, their seats would definitely have been empty if they weren't there to fill them. Balancing it out from the other end of the spectrum, we had a ton of people paying the normal $20 or even more.
A few tidbits:
We also saw a big increase in the number of student-aged patrons, and repeat patrons, and student-aged repeat patrons. And, of course, our overall income was really great because of the sheer size of the crowds. I gotta think that the ticket policy gave people a good, solid reason to tell their friends and do a little word of mouth marketing for us. So, despite the fact that we spent a heck of a lot more money than usual, we may actually break even, or even make money this time. I guess our risks paid off. Go us.
So, we feel good and proud. We had a great time doing PWYW and it helped turn our show into a success. We definitely plan to stick with it.
Thoughts? Specific questions? I'd love to hear from others who have tried this or are considering doing so.
Comments (1)
that's great! congrats!
Posted by Adam Szymkowicz | April 28, 2008 10:15 AM
Posted on April 28, 2008 10:15