The Gnomes of New Hope Productions is another arm of the production management scenario. That organizational structure, along with IMS Management, and The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture are being formulated and incorporated to produce and manage The Gnomes of New Hope franchise. Of course, it takes time to build any organization, let alone three, so in the meantime, production and development activities are taking place within Image of the Mind Studios.
To be clear, IMS is a development operation with an emphasis on creating the Core Creative Material of a project and packaging it for presentation. When the package is sufficiently defined and presentable as a viable business endeavor, it then moves into the "pitch" mode. There are numerous production management elements that need to be in place before that can happen. Oh it is true that; a project like The Gnomes is always being pitched; but that kind of pitch, considered Development pitch, is required to keep development moving forward and to clarify the shape that is coming into form. The level of the pitch changes as the business environment and production demands start to take shape and the project moves into pre-production, indeed through all the stages of production, including the Ancillary Markets.
I find myself challenged to stay on the path I have set, described above, when I see other projects advance without apparently going to the lengths I have set forth. But the lengths I have described take into consideration long term objectives. All too often have I seen, and been a part of, projects which flare up and die, because of the lack of forethought and a result of brief excitement that dies down. The public has a short memory, especially in today's flooded marketplace.
There has been, for decades, the idea that you cannot know the outcome of a theatrical endeavor. Producers wonder "Will it have legs?" This opinion about an uncertain outcome is, in my opinion, an excuse for failing to manage the financial responsibility to provide investors with a return. Such a position makes it too easy for a producer to cut and run if things get too difficult or opportunity is not in view. That has been the history of producing in the theatre. That is a strong deterent to investors. I do not agree with that underlying position.
It is true that recoupment, traditionally a 21 week period on Broadway, is contingent upon many factors, most particularly the very high expense of a First Class Production. A very large part of producing in today's world are the required bonds and assorted terms in the union contracts, but if the Core Creative Materials are sufficiently developed, those issues can be surmounted, indeed they must be in any event.
I wonder sometimes how any show ever get up with the complexities and expense that is required. Certainly, inclusion of resources from the Ancillary Markets is sought after by producers to fill in the gaps. I take a different position on that subject also. I feel as though each market must stand on it's own merits, function from its own resources and provide profit to the collective, building a capital fund to develop new markets and broach those markets. That means that; operating expenses of any given market can only be derived from that market and the ancillary markets cannot be taken into account when structuring the production management of any given market.
In other words, in the simplest terms, and by way of example; income from a line of toys cannot pay for expenses of a theatre presentation to the public and the potential income from that line of toys is not available for any consideration in any production contract. That particular ancillary market is only available for consideration under the production management scheme that involves investors money directly applied to that market and to the upper level management, in this instance dictated by the Board of Directors of The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture and IMS Management. So across the board, ancillary income may be used to support growth in another market, but not operating expenses.
But I diverge. I say, it's the Producer's duty to give a project firm ground to stand on, to clothe it for the Wedding, and to take care of the child after it is born. If this is done with careful forethought about the potential and development of the contributing factors in the marketplace, then the outcome can be anticipated, in more than just a fantastical way. If a producer knows the extent of his markets and sets down a plan to broach those markets, a plan that maintains incremental control over management of the product within the scope of those markets, then that project can become self-generating. A self-generating project has the potential for growth based on resources created by it's own merits. And any circumstance of expansion, based on capital influx from both inside and outside sources has a much more solid foundation for success.
What started out as a light discussion, that I thought would be appropriate for this blog, has become something more suited for IMS Producing Partners. So I will stop here. More on these subjects to come. AG
