Fixed Rate for Ticket Prices?

[Evilpandabear]

I think I'm leaning towards keeping things they way they are now and hoping to change them in the future as audiences build.

here here. i support a fixed ticket price but i do NOT think now is the right time to do so. improve our marketing and advertising, reach more people, create packages to give to concierges, build our audience & sell out shows. then and only then can we raise our ticket prices.

when you raise ticket prices you naturally have some rate of attrition. you want to be ahead when you raise prices, not getting by. if you're barely getting by & raise prices, it ain't pretty boys & girls. you make bold, heat of the moment decisions in improv people, not in business.

[phlounderphil]

Stop denying our business ideas Jay, thanks!

Now I'm not so sure where I stand on this...

I agree with Erika May that raising the quality of shows is a much more difficult thing, that is very complex, but I think if we're going to think about setting the ticket price in order to say with confidence that THAT is exactly how much we believe we are worth, then we should definitely make sure we are worth close to or at least that much. This is a tough issue, I think we should all let this sit in our brains for a bit...think it over...sleep on it...

[HerrHerr]

I think we should keep prices as is for now and focus our energy on giving the threefer and style show new identities:

new names for each show, new elevator lines for each show

As the overall quality of the show's increase and we start drawing in more people with solid shows that are easily recognizable in print and roll off the lips well...the price will naturally need to increase...that supply and demand thing right?

I seriously don't think people are telling their friends, "I saw a pretty good improv show last night, but the place where they play seems to have an identity crises. They don't know what to charge. I'm not going back until they get more confident and take risks with their pricing."

Also, haven't we been marking down how much each person pays? Do we have an average for, say, the past month? When my friends come out, they usually pay ten bucks (they only come out every couple of months) because they want to support me as an artist.

[mcnichol]

I voted for and agree with maintaining a consistent price for tickets. It doesn't have to be 10 bucks, but honestly I can't stand the sliding scale thing. It's annoying and confusing. I've never been to a place to see improv that has done this. Ever.

I don't see any benefit to doing it.

It doesn't have to be 10 bucks, people. Just something consistent.

I agree that we need to up the consistency on show quality, but seriously, this is something that many other places deal with. No one has "achieved consistency" and is done with that. It's an ongoing thing, so waiting for that consistency before actually having a ticket price is silly.

And Chris, I hear what you're saying. I agree, no one is actually saying out loud any of that stuff. But it's implied, and it affects the way people perceive us. I feel like it makes us seem amateurish, and honestly, it makes us sound like we don't know what we're worth. Confidence has so much to do with improv, not just on stage.

Yes, I'm bitching about it and will continue to because it's pretty silly. Especially to outsiders. And that's who's paying.

[phlounderphil]

As a further note, I've worked box for Whirled News Tonight 3 times now, and not once has a single person said ANYTHING about paying $12 for the full-price ticket or even the students who pay $10 for a student discount.

Even people who approach me knowing NOTHING about the shows, even after hearing the price of both WNT and Maestro (and my completely non-biased pitch of both shows) some opt to pay more to see Whirled News Tonight. Is this because it's better marketed? Has a more interesting pitch? A more interesting name? Can be compared to the Daily Show? Is packed with talented/experienced improvisers? I have no clue.

I just know that not once have I heard a single complaint about it. Yet, I have heard people complain to me about paying $7 for a Cagematch, and those were friends complaining about paying for a You Me & Greg cagematch. It hurts.

[Wesley]

You need richer friends Phil. Rich people are better people.

I mean, do we really want poor people coming to our shows?

Oh, speaking of collecting data, we should poll people when they give suggestions.

"Can I get a type of tropical fruit?"
"Poopie!"
"Poopie? Hmmm, OK. Can I ask how much you paid for the show this evening?"
"Seven dollars, why?"
"I thought so."

"Can I get a famous person?"
"Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, 1475 to 1517, governor of Diego de Nicuesa and first Eurpoean to see the Pacific Ocean in the New World in 1513."
"Very interesting! Can I ask how much you paid for tonight's show?"
"Why $10, my good man."
"But of course you did."

[HerrHerr]

Hell no, we don't poor folks there!

Because of my friends paying more than most customers, I've made--er, my troupes have made--thirty-two dollars for the calender year. That's an average of two dollars more per show! After the cut and all that!

[nadine]

I liked how IO had free shows on Wednesday. When I went, they showed 3 troupes, the first 2 not that good, and the last troupe was enjoyable: Carl and the Passions.

Then the next show after that slot, they charged 10 bucks. And it was sold out (the free show wasn't) (And they were awesome: TJ and Dave's.) (I think I got the names right.)

So it could be possible to make everyone happy by having fixed priced shows, and one show that's free (maybe the first part of the thurs show?) So that financially restrained folks can still watch improv.

And for what it's worth, when I first encountered the sliding scale at the Hideout, I thought it was more for helping people who can't afford to pay 10. Not because I should pay based on what I think the quality of the show was.

[erikamay]

nadine.

my heart is happy that you saw TJ and Dave. they are so_freaking_good.

e

[valetoile]

They were so freakin good. Except TJ wasn't there. Tracy Lutz was there instead. It was still so freakin good. Still the best show I saw in Chicago.

[beardedlamb]

ok. i have meditated on this topic for many minutes in the shower and other bathroom fixtures. in the beginning i voted for fixed pricing. then i changed my mind. but then i was thinking to myself if i owned a theatre and were making pricing decisions, i would have a fixed price with a student discount and anyone who said they were a student wouldn't have to show an id. so, for some reason today i have switched back to fixed.

however, i must say that if we go fixed it's too soon to be over $10. $8 or even the silly-for-some-reason $9 sounds better. make students pay $7 or even $6.

since people seem to be quick to compare us to IO, who by the way, the general austin audience probably hasn't heard of. [not saying that as a slight on IO, just merely pointing out that austinites don't have it to compare] check the io calendar for their pricing system.
it's all over the dern place. this probably doesn't have any effect on their great crowds. the stuff that really effects crowds is quality and history so long as you don't go ridiculously high. and as nadine said, the 11pm wednesday show was sold out about a half hour before start time. and just for clarity it's actually $5. and yes, it was friggin amazing as usual.

i've just begun to not even advertise prices in my marketing. i'll give them all the other information and let them assume the price is close to a movie ticket. it's usually that or below that. the most important part is getting them there to the box office and them making them forget they spent money while they're in the theatre. it's getting nearly impossible to entice people with a low price. so entice them in the marketing with other candies and don't reveal your drawbacks.

AAAARGH. after reading what i wrote yesterday, i might be leaning back toward the sliding scale. i'm useless.

beard

[mcnichol]

since people seem to be quick to compare us to IO, who by the way, the general austin audience probably hasn't heard of. [not saying that as a slight on IO, just merely pointing out that austinites don't have it to compare] check the io calendar for their pricing system.
it's all over the dern place. this probably doesn't have any effect on their great crowds. the stuff that really effects crowds is quality and history so long as you don't go ridiculously high. and as nadine said, the 11pm wednesday show was sold out about a half hour before start time. and just for clarity it's actually $5. and yes, it was friggin amazing as usual.

I personally think that IO charges too much for their regular shows, but then maybe I'm a cheapskate. They used to charge $8 or $9 for the regular weekend shows about 6 or 7 years ago, but it's started sliding up and is now at $14, which seems ludicrous to me. But that's partially due to the rent getting WAY jacked up when Charna renewed her lease a little bit ago. But then, hey, Second City charges $24 for it's comparable weekend shows and sells out regularly.

No to further confuse the conversation, but based on something you mentioned above, Jeremy, maybe we can (at some point) talk about having different shows have different ticket prices. Maybe the Cagematch is a $5 show? Maybe the 3-fer is $9? I don't know. Something to consider though -- do all of the shows necessarily have to have the same ticket price?

Also, I know I'm out of the loop, but when are you coming back down here brother?

They were so freakin good. Except TJ wasn't there. Tracy Lutz was there instead. It was still so freakin good. Still the best show I saw in Chicago.

You saw something pretty cool -- Tracy Letts is a Steppenwolf ensemble member (which also includes John Malkovich, Joan Allen, Gary Sinise, John Mahoney, etc.), and is both an acclaimed actor and playwright. I've never seen him improvise but have heard amazing things.

[sara farr]

Lots of good discussion going on here. If we were playing that game where you picked sides, then each side got to pitch their argument, I may have switched back and forth several times (a la JLamb).

Additionally, I think (as BMcNichol pointed out) that we should consider questioning the idea of whether or not a fixed price ACROSS THE BOARD is a good idea. Having different prices for different shows, to me, is no more confusing than the sliding scale, and would probably require just as much explanation. (Is that good or bad?)

And, with the sliding scale, an audience member is given the power to decide what they were willing to pay for each show (which to me, is essentially deciding what each show is personally worth to that audience member). Therefore, an audience member could possibly make an uninformed decision to pay more for a newbie troupe show (where the risk of it being not-so-enjoyable is greater) and then be sorry for having paid ($X). But at least they couldn't blame us, as we gave them the option of paying less. HMM.

Also, I'm on coffee. COFFEE. COFFEE!! YEAH for CoFfEe. My boss made it and it was very dark and very caffinated and I can't handle it and I don't have a way to get rid of this extra energy and so I'm typing like a maniac. Ouch! Just broke my fingernail on the keyboard. Wow, my nails are weaker than usual. Must be the dehydrating COFFEE IN MY SYSTEM!! Yipes! I just broke my finger! Bones getting weaker! Body breaking down! Will stop now.

So, how will we make a decision? Will the majority rule in a vote during next month's meeting?

[nadine]

and as nadine said, the 11pm wednesday show was sold out about a half hour before start time. and just for clarity it's actually $5. and yes, it was friggin amazing as usual.

Darnit. I got the name closer to right this time, but not the price. But yeah, they were AWESOME. 2 person long form. And they had long moments of pure silence. And the improv conversations were very organic.. like a Robert Altman movie. Where they're interrupting each other, and having a real conversation. But somehow, it was super interesting with a strong story. Very inspiring and I loved it.

An interesting thing on the price, Jason Chin had been wanting to give Val and me free tickets to IO (he's super supportive) but when we went there on Wed, the first show was free, and the second show, all the money goes straight to the improvisers. So we didn't get free tixs, but I was cool with that.

[beardedlamb]

-off topic-
i will be in austin next thursday, one week from today. yippee.

-on topic-
ticket price.