Structuring a successful theatre group

sasparillo

Hi :wave:,

I have run a small theatre/new writing voluntary group for a couple of years now.

We've reached very high standards and have been invited to take part in events other than our own. I have professional actors and directors coming in to work on scripts by emerging writers which I and a friend choose from open submission.

We then give performances in public spaces. I've had some really excellent people coming forward early in their career who are now award winners/on TV and otherwise making a splash on the arts scene.

I personally have had a small amount of funding paid to me personally twice - once direct from a local authority and once from the same local authority but through an arts organization. This, I have been told, apparently is quite unusual for an unstructured voluntary theatre group run by one person.

We're now being invited to festivals and there's an interest in our scripts. I now need to find someone with an equal passion for theatre/scripts and with a business head who can help us set up a structure (whether a limited company or otherwise), protect our event format and formulate simple contracts for our writers and artistes and help us tap into what funding there is in these straitened times.

I would post on the Artsjobs Arts Council mailing list but I'm in a catch 22 position as in the last year or so it requires such postings to be from organizations with a formal structure.

Although this has mainly been a one-(wo)man band, I've kept the goodwill of everyone involved. One event involves several casts and crews each with different directors and we have also done a short tour.

Anyone who knows anything about theatre knows this takes quite a feat of logisitics to keep everyone happy when they are unpaid!
I try to make our events enjoyable for all participants even if I don't pay. And of course participants know I don't pay myself either.

We have had terrific feedback from audiences willing to put it in writing on feedback forms and be quoted by name.

I've also brought in stage managers and delegate as much as I can while keeping hands-on in order to make sure everything runs smoothly. I also keep in mind that people are giving their time freely, usually as part timers, so make things as time-efficient as possible.

This posting has a two-fold objective:

1) Can anyone lead me anywhere where I may be able to find the person I need to help me. It will have to be on a volunteer basis, at least at first, and again I appreciate that it probably will have to be structured so it is time-efficient.

2) Is there anyone out there in moneysavingexpert land, London or near London-based, who feel they have the qualifications and passion for theatre to want to find out more and we can get to know each other?

I hope this forum can help me!

paddyrg

This is a tough one - 'unpaid' and 'professional'. National minimum wage still applies except in some limited circumstances. And if you are controlling when and where and what people have to be/do, it is likely you hit NMW, unless you are a charity and they are volunteering. This is a current can of worms over in the film/TV world

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/31321/avalon-television-confronted-over-advert-for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJANs3rg_PY (this is BECTU not Equity, but it throws up a load of the same issues)
http://shootingpeople.org/poll/minimumwage/ (read the points debated at the bottom - it is long!)
http://www.mikeybee.com/nmw-low-budget-films-solution/

Bit of a contentious issue, so be aware it may affect tyou.

vka1

You could do well in contacting your local council for voluntray organisations - Lots of good info here http://www.navca.org.uk/ and here http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support for getting started as a group, accessing grants etc.

Having a formal structure, even if it's only as a constituted group rather than a registered charity, will help you access all sorts of support. I'm also suprised you've managed to get grants paid into you own bank account, unless they were for your individual development. Being a group will open far more doors.

The process may seem daunting, but with the right help can be very straightforward. A bit like all the template letters on the MSE site, your local support org will have templates to help you get going.

Good luck with it all,

V

sasparillo

paddyrg wrote: »

This is a tough one - 'unpaid' and 'professional'. National minimum wage still applies except in some limited circumstances. And if you are controlling when and where and what people have to be/do, it is likely you hit NMW, unless you are a charity and they are volunteering. This is a current can of worms over in the film/TV world

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/31321/avalon-television-confronted-over-advert-for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJANs3rg_PY (this is BECTU not Equity, but it throws up a load of the same issues)
http://shootingpeople.org/poll/minimumwage/ (read the points debated at the bottom - it is long!)
http://www.mikeybee.com/nmw-low-budget-films-solution/

Bit of a contentious issue, so be aware it may affect tyou.

Hiya :wave:,

Yes I am aware of all this including a more recent news story as well. That's why I've emphasized that I don't get paid and, as you say, if I did set up I would have to be aware of all this, I am a union member myself in another profession so copyright, minimum wage etc are uppermost in my mind. At the moment I have paid actors and directors a very minimal token contribution to expenses once and vastly underestimated my own expenses in what I took out of the grant I received. The actors I use are mostly Equity - this is because when I produced my own play what I wrote ... I did enquire about insurance matters as well. At the moment we run as an informal cooperative with me doing the coordinating and also the pesky business of begging for rehearsal space and also trying to source benefits in kind for events. So the actors and directors and writers have been paying nothing except for fares and their time and talent. At the moment we are therefore non commercial but reaching professional standards. The actors also get a couple of high res photos from each event from a photographer friend who helps out and also a copy of any video taken which contains their image. The writers can also get a photo and video of their own piece.

sasparillo

vka1 wrote: »

You could do well in contacting your local council for voluntray organisations - Lots of good info here http://www.navca.org.uk/ and here http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support for getting started as a group, accessing grants etc.

Having a formal structure, even if it's only as a constituted group rather than a registered charity, will help you access all sorts of support. I'm also suprised you've managed to get grants paid into you own bank account, unless they were for your individual development. Being a group will open far more doors.

The process may seem daunting, but with the right help can be very straightforward. A bit like all the template letters on the MSE site, your local support org will have templates to help you get going.

Good luck with it all,

V

Hi :hello:,

It's all been two lots of one-off funding with the invidividual employees in the authorities involved keen to help us because we do bring in large new audiences into public spaces.

So I think it has been about audience development and a genuinely different way of doing things. Of course I had to present a proposal and then accurate accounts and receipts after the event to receive the money. So I need to have the money up front in order to do it. It's true that for the most part they give grants to individual artistes and, although I haven't clarified it with them, I can certainly say it has developed me both as writer (although except for my own play which was unfunded, I take a step back and put on other people's pieces) and producer - and as form filler!

As you say, it seems rather daunting at the moment and I'm hoping that once I get going on it, I'll wonder why I didn't do it before with all the hassle I've had, not wanting to tread the Primrose Path of dipping (too much) into my own pocket to keep this going!

Maybe it will clarify the situation if I do say I do this outside of the area where I live, so I guess I've made a double breakthrough - with of course the gi-normous help of the writers, directors and actors and stage managers and designers I've had on board.

paddyrg

All sounds lovely, just want to make sure that formalising the structure doesn't force you onto the other side of the NMW argument, being liable for huge amounts even though you yourself are unpaid. Minefield!

Maybe you can form a loose collective to which everyone pays subs in order to use the name, business crds, pay for meetings, centralised invoicing etc., but isn't a full legal entity in itself?

sasparillo

paddyrg wrote: »

All sounds lovely, just want to make sure that formalising the structure doesn't force you onto the other side of the NMW argument, being liable for huge amounts even though you yourself are unpaid. Minefield!

Maybe you can form a loose collective to which everyone pays subs in order to use the name, business crds, pay for meetings, centralised invoicing etc., but isn't a full legal entity in itself?

Hi Paddy,

It does sound a bit utopian, doesn't it I guess the choice is between a voluntary group structure, a collective as you suggest, if it's possible, or a limited company. Or Royal Patronage if you're Will Shakespeare

If we are a limited company will this automatically make us liable under the minimum wage legislation? As an employee/Director of the company will I even have to pay myself minimum wage even if we make a loss? :eek:

There are a lot of new writing groups on the circuit with writers and actors. I suppose I should enquire how they are set up. They certainly have subscriptions and payments per meeting and seem to have the money to pay rent for rooms and to hire a theatre for the occasional showcase.

I guess I've given myself absolute freedom in choosing scripts and getting different directors and actors to act in spaces we get for free. This is partly of why we've succeeded and people have enjoyed themselves but I can't continue indefinitely without tapping into funding - and then we need to be some kind of structured group.

In other words, in theatrical terms I'm waiting for the deus ex machina to come down and talk us through all the possibilities and say, hey, I can help you out ... But real life means I'll have to do the hard graft again of finding out about all this stuff ...

paddyrg

A limited company comes with its own overheads, expect to pay about a grand a year in accounting costs for starters. And as a director you can put in all the free hours you like, but making everyone directors sounds like a recipe for disaster. I (and this is not legal or financial advice, so if anyone qualified comes along, listen to them instead) would be as informal as you can, whilst still operating under an umbrella name. Maybe treating it as a subscription-based club would get you around some of the hurdles. Luckily your shows are all creatives, no technicians (who get no glamour or glory, so usually want paying instead!) so it is pretty equitable, and I assume any profits from the shows are shared, at least to a degree?

sasparillo

paddyrg wrote: »

A limited company comes with its own overheads, expect to pay about a grand a year in accounting costs for starters. And as a director you can put in all the free hours you like, but making everyone directors sounds like a recipe for disaster. I (and this is not legal or financial advice, so if anyone qualified comes along, listen to them instead) would be as informal as you can, whilst still operating under an umbrella name. Maybe treating it as a subscription-based club would get you around some of the hurdles. Luckily your shows are all creatives, no technicians (who get no glamour or glory, so usually want paying instead!) so it is pretty equitable, and I assume any profits from the shows are shared, at least to a degree?

Hi, when I talk about directors, I mean theatre directors rather than company directors and, no, all and sundry would not become directors! But I think after discussing it with a colleague, a limited company is not an option for us.

I've done one production where tickets were charged for but it was my own play and so a different kettle of fish. We broke even (I was lucky enough to get media coverage for a five-day run) apart from my telephone calls ... And yes, that was a profit share.

For our flagship event we are just about to do a paid-for event for the first time without any other funding as a box office split although frankly because there are several different casts involved I don't envisage there being much for everybody in the end. Actually I do have a technician involved. While I have run events with six casts and directors without a stage manager, I started using one when we were invited to take part in a festival with a stage rather than just a simple public space and have tried to keep one on ever since. Because we have quick one-off events rather than longer runs, this is possible.

I guess we have to find out more about a subscription based group or a structured voluntary group or even possibily an agency as we do promote the writers, actors and directors. I'd be interested if you or anyone else had any thoughts on this?

vka1

Maybe you can form a loose collective to which everyone pays subs in order to use the name, business crds, pay for meetings, centralised invoicing etc., but isn't a full legal entity in itself?

There's pros and cons to both. As a vol org, members are personally liable for losses etc but you can become a company limited by guarantee (similar to a commercial limited company but everyone's liability is limited to £1 and accounts for being vol/membersip led) - and offers you the ability to operate with membership, or as a social enterprise.

Having a legal entity provides protection from persoanl liability if it all goes pear shaped. NMW applies wherever there is an employee, and becoming a membership/voluntary group won't change that.

Take advice from your local umbrella body. Different models of governance (and there many, not just ltd companies or voluntary associations, community interest comapnies etc) willsuit differen cicumstances, and it pasy to get it right!

Whatever you do, you need help getting a governing doc together and with it, and bank account for your group, you'll have far more access to grant funding.

Good luck wih your project,

V