Photo Flash: BroadwayHD Team Talks Keeping Performing Arts Alive in a Digital World at SXSW

BroadwayHD team members joined representatives from Disney Theatrical Group and Universal Theatrical Group at this year's South by Southwest (SXSW) conference for a panel. The panel was titled "Keeping Performing Arts Alive in a Digital World" and was described as follows: "It's almost impossible to imagine life without streaming technology. It's become pervasive in every part of our lives -- we stream TV, books, music, and videos to our friends and family. But what happens to industries that rely on live audiences and in-person attendance? This panel of trailblazers is working together to preserve the performing arts and create a community of engaged arts enthusiasts through digital capture and streaming technology."

The session was moderated by BroadwayHD founder, Bonnie Comley and included Clive Chang Director, Strategy & Business Development for Disney Theatrical Group, Chris Herzberger, President, Universal Theatrical Group and Stewart F. Lane, a six time Tony winner and CEO of BroadwayHD. The multigenerational panel reflected the age range of the audience. This makes sense because, unlike the demographics of the traditional Broadway ticket buyer, which has remained the same for as long as The Broadway League has collected this data (female, Caucasian, age 40+, higher than average income and education), the demographic that streams entertainment is wide open; crossing all race, gender, income and education brackets.

Comley set the stage by giving a few brief statistics of the business of Broadway - the average musical costs 14 million to mount and $550,000. per week to run. Thirty new shows open every year in one of Broadway's 41 theaters. Broadway shows grossed over $1.5 billion in ticket sales in 2017. The Broadway industry is bigger than ever before so why should anyone film live theatrical content? The answer is complex and not everyone agrees that all shows should be captured in digital form but this panel of industry leaders gave the audience plenty of food for thought.

The first topic was how to pick the shows that are produced for the stage, and all were in agreement that great stories, creative team and top quality production values are the key elements. The next point of agreement was that it is best to plan digital captures as early as possible, it was even suggested that while the shows creative team and cast is put into place that options for a possible digital capture are put into contracts. The theory being, that if a digital version is discussed from conception then no one is surprised by their work being captured for distribution in a New Medium. This puts the idea of digital video capture in the same light as a cast album for a musical, not mandatory for the producers but an option for future marketing and licensing of the show.

The panel was very clear about the distinction between legal digital captures of stage shows and bootleg pirated videos. The legal digital captures are done with agreements with all seventeen Broadway unions, guilds and associations. This means that the creators and performers of the show are compensated for their work, in other words, money goes back to the Broadway talent responsible for the show. The pirated bootleg videos are illegal and, although, they can be found quite often on youtube, permission was never granted to shoot these videos. Downloading or streaming pirated video is illegal in the US, the danger is more one of risking malware to your computer than jail time but you are supporting the exploitation of an art form. The other huge difference in the legal versus illegal videos is the quality of the video. Bootlegs are usually shot with a cellphone from one seat in the theater. This in in sharp contrast to a shoot like Holiday Inn, which BroadwayHD shot with 14 cameras in different areas of the theater and sound recorded directly from the actors' body microphones.

Chris Herzberger, President of Universal Theatrical Group oversees the day-to-day operation and long-term growth initiatives of the studio's live stage division, which includes both Universal Stage Productions and DreamWorks Theatricals. Universal's credits include the worldwide phenomenon Wicked, the Tony Award-winning adaptation of Billy Elliot, the Tony-nominated production of Bring It On: The Musical, and the Broadway premiere of Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn with the Roundabout Theatre Company. DreamWorks Theatricals, which became part of UTG in 2016, was formed to develop live entertainment inspired by the studio's acclaimed library of family friendly animated films, including the Tony-winning musical adaptation of Shrek and Madagascar Live! Herzberger stated, "there is no reason to go to the effort to shoot and distribute bad video bootlegs of Universal shows because there are high quality legal digital versions available." Herzberger worked closely with BroadwayHD for the filming of Holiday Inn at the Roundabout Theatre Company. Holiday Inn and Billy Elliot are available for streaming on BroadwayHD, and Shrek: The Musical is available for streaming on Amazon. Herzberger said that he is in favor of more digital captures of future Universal shows and believes that the digital captures are assets when licensing shows.

Many producers of live entertainment are afraid of harming the sale of tickets to the live event if a digital version of the show is available. This fear is known as cannibalizing the live ticket sales. Clive Chang, Director of Strategy and Business Development at Disney Theatricals is responsible for steering strategic planning and growth of Disney's commercial live entertainment businesses worldwide. His key areas of oversight include long-range planning, deal and decision analysis, industry insight, content and franchise management, and new venture development. Chang's job description foreshadows his interest in digital captures of live theater. Although he confessed that Disney will not be putting all of it's theatrical production on line for streaming consumption, he does believe there is a place for digital captures at Disney. Disney has already experimented with filming live performances capturing Newsies in 2017,which is available on Amazon, and Disney's Broadway Hits, which is available on BroadwayHD. Leave it to a Harvard Business School graduate to make the statement, "we are already selling out shows at venues around the world, so maybe the digital capture is the way to open the shows to audiences that cannot get a ticket." He felt that this could be controlled through geo blocking and limiting distribution windows of availability of on line viewing.

BroadwayHD, a subscription streaming service with a catalog of over 220 full length stage plays and musicals brings theatre to you anywhere you can access internet streaming content-including your computer, your phone, your tablet, and your TV. Stewart F. Lane, CEO of BroadwayHD, feels that digital captures will never replace live theater but that this new way to consume theater is a gateway to new audiences and a nice way to get your theater fix in between going to live Broadway shows. "The internet is the best place to engage the next generation of Broadway fans. Digital captures whet their appetite for the live Broadway experience." Here's to the future of Broadway!

The South By Southwest Conference and Festival, commonly known as SXSW began in 1987 in Austin Texas. Roland Swenson, Louis Black, Louis Meyers and Nick Barbaro founded the event, as a local music festival but it quickly turned into a national event with the premiere attended by over 700 people. The word spread of the quality of the acts performing, controversy and expertise of the panelists and speakers.