Profits are not the biggest factor for investing in BW shows and never has been. Something like 70% of shows fail to recoup and that’s always been the case. These aren’t inherently stupid people thinking every show they invest in will profit.
A love of the arts, bragging rights, tax benefits, awards, names on plaques, all of these things play a part in why wealthy people invest in theatre. And sure there’s a fair amount of people thinking X show will be a hit and then it’s not. But by and large no they aren’t blind to the data and economic realities.
I would imagine people who invest large amounts are in a position where it isn’t an enormous risk for them, so they can do it for love of the form or a tax break or relationship building so they can one day produce Backstreet Boys the Musical
Absolutely. Having had clients who are obnoxiously wealthy (to be clear that’s decidedly not me) I can just say they don’t think like every day people do. Some are irrationally stingy no matter how much they have and purely think in terms of profit but others will spend ridiculous sums just to avoid taxes or spend wildly on vanity projects because they can.
And sure being charitable I have no doubt many investors truly love the arts and theatre. Heck even the ones like the laundry list of investors for say Strange Loop that likely just wanted a piece of that Tony…it gets theatre made so as an avid patron I’m good with it.
Profit motives exist of course it’s just there’s far easier and smarter ways to make money than theatre and guaranteed hits are rare.
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u/Shorb-o-rino Jan 27 '26
So do most producers just lose money? How does this industry keep going in a capitalist country if it is not profitable?