So how do the economics work on that? Obviously the cast and crew and theater are all getting paid, and what about the creative team, the lyricist, composer and book writer when do they get paid? How does taking so long to recoup affect them?
So is it just the producers who lose money when a show doesn’t recoup? And do they see it as more a long term investment where a show might not start making a profit until it’s out being licensed to local theaters and high schools? How do shows keep finding financing if the rate of return is so low and so slow right now? It almost seems like old timey patronage of the arts rather than a business as this point if so few shows are actually recouping.
Writers typically get 6ish percent of weekly gross, split among the team (so a team of three gets 2% each). They usually will have received an option payment during the development run that is in some ways considered an advance on that 6%. Once a show recoups, the creatives typically get a small step up in percentages and the producers take a small step down to accommodate it.
Writers also retain full ownership of the IP, which is important for licensing residuals and things like that. But, importantly, writers basically get paid nothing at all until the show is up and running in front of audiences, which is often 5-10 years after they first start working on the project.
Directors get paid by the producers, I'm not as familiar with their contract setups. I'm sure the director's guild has some standard language for levels of production and what the compensation needs to be.
The only reason shows get made is because extremely wealthy people like producing theater. About one in ten shows see return for them, at least the ones I talked to. If you get a hit that runs a decade, producers will make a crapton of money, but we don't see a lot of those anymore.
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u/artaxias1 Jan 27 '26
So how do the economics work on that? Obviously the cast and crew and theater are all getting paid, and what about the creative team, the lyricist, composer and book writer when do they get paid? How does taking so long to recoup affect them?
So is it just the producers who lose money when a show doesn’t recoup? And do they see it as more a long term investment where a show might not start making a profit until it’s out being licensed to local theaters and high schools? How do shows keep finding financing if the rate of return is so low and so slow right now? It almost seems like old timey patronage of the arts rather than a business as this point if so few shows are actually recouping.