I have a musical that I wrote, produced, directed and performed 27 time. Need investors. Any advice?

Question

In addition, I have everything in place, marketing firm, PR, set designer etc. I will also have 2 celebrities in the cast. I am located in New Jersey.

Answer 1

If it's already been performed, why didn't you engage backers at that point? Your publicist should be marketing this to potential money bags now!!! Try to throw a fundraiser performance. Get your celeb cast members to invite everyone they know and get the publicist involved in that. Have a cast pow-wow and brainstorm on who you know and who owes you a favor :-) Time to cash in, literally. The publicist should be contacting all local papers and tv stations as soon as you have dates and times. The paper can be doing stories now and interviewing as well. Work your celeb angle. If they are also promoting any upcoming movies ask them to please mention the play and location when they go on Letterman, Leno, etc. Wear a t-shirt with the show on it... something different for each show. Do you have hats? T-shirts?

You cn also sell ad space in your programs. Go to businesses and have no shame about pimping your celebs. Be ready to rattle off their resume but also inform them about the show and it's message or whatever.

Your location doesn't help, just depends on how far from NY. Check the NJ film association, commissions, alliances, etc. See who's filming in their state and might be able to attend your event. Not sure if IMBD.com has any helpful info on that front...

best of luck!
Marianne

Answer 2

If it was performed 27 times it seems like you already found a way to mount this production in the past but for the sake of argument, lets say that those were small volunteer type productions and now you want to go bigger.

If any newspapers covered the performances in the past, get as many of those as possible. Any pictures that were taken during the production and put it all together into something an investor could look at to get a sense of what they are sinking their money into. Get them printed up in color. Make sure they look nice. If the actors you have lined up are well known include info about them
and what they have been in before. Have nice clear photos of them included with the info packet you put together. 95 percent of
winning people over is convincing them that you have it all figured out and all you need is the money. Many people go in thinking that if they just say "I know what I am doing" enough times that will convince someone. Suffice to say, nothing could be further from the truth. Doing so sounds desperate. You need to have all your ducks in a row and be able to answer any question they have with something backed up by numbers. Like being able to say, "We had a turnout of x amount for all the previous performances...The venue we have chosen has these positive reviews....The time we have chosen to begin performances is perfectly poised between this event and that going on in X city. The more you are able to answer their questions the more confidence they will have in you and the more willing they will be to part with their money.

As far as finding the people to pitch, I'd say be at whatever charity events are going on in the area. Preferrably the black tie sort of thing. Mingle, talk to people and don't be pushy. If you end up in a genuine conversation with someone and the opportunity doesnt come up right then, you have still made a contact that you can renew later. Wait for an easy opening in the conversation and mention that you are in the process of mounting a production. They'll ask about it. You'll say you are in the process of lining up investors. If they don't pursue that line of conversation, don't push it. Once they know you are looking it's best to let the matter rest until they return to it. If you have had successful productions in the past then focus on how that makes you confident that finding the money won't be a problem. Most importantly the confidence that works best is quiet confidence. Don't be obnoxious about it. Real confidence speaks for itself.