We generally think of Broadway producers as the people who put up the money to develop a show. In reality, however, producers can also be integral multi-taskers throughout the entire creative process. In fact, their roles are strangely akin to being a parent.
As a producer for 25 years, Marty Bell has developed Broadway musicals such as KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, RAGTIME, FOSSE, PARADE, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS and, most recently, LOVEMUSIK. Bell knows firsthand that finances are but a piece of a much larger puzzle.
“A producer is the chief executive officer of a show,” says Bell. “You are responsible for overseeing every aspect of the business and everybody working on the show reports to you and you’re the bottom line.”
According to Bell, a producer will first option a property (obtain rights to a project) and then develop the property (show). Developing a show includes hiring the entire creative team, funding the whole show, overseeing the contractual side of the production, marketing the show and continually supervising the development process. “Frankly, the hardest part of the job is running the show once it opens,” he explains. “There’s a tremendous amount of day-to-day work such as keeping your cast and crew happy, replacing people, selling tickets and making sure the show stays in good financial shape. And then - if you get a good one - you get to do it all over again and tour it.”
Up until the 1970’s, there was usually just one producer or a small group of people who would get together to produce a show. As costs began to escalate, producers had to find investors for their show. People would invest large sums of money to have their name above the title and gradually that evolved into people wanting to be more actively involved as a producer in return for their investment. “Now a new job exists which is managing your producing team and I would say that next to putting a show together, it’s the most demanding and difficult task for a contemporary producer,” says Bell.
Bell explains that the most successful producers have long-term relationships with writers and directors and there is a strong commitment from the producer to the artist. “In many ways, writers and producers are partners in producing a show,” he says. “Unlike in the movie business where the studio owns the movie, the whole key to the theatre business is that the writers own their own material and they lease it to the producer. So you’re becoming a partner with them.”
Bell says that when he signs on to a Broadway project, he’s signing on for 18 years with a writer and it is his job to be the caretaker of the project those 18 years. “I compare shows to children all the time,” he laughs and says, “They’re very much like children. Every one is different and requires a different kind of care and what you learned from the last one has nothing to do with the next one.”
By: Nancy Parrott
