The Vs. Studio Blog

From the Urban Dictionary...

butts in seats

(also “bums in seats” and “butts in the seats”): spectators who have been drawn into a theatre or other entertainment by a low-brow, mass-appeal production. A reference to the economic demand on entertainment business producers to attract paid attendance.

As a producer I often get asked the question, “How do I get butts in the seats for my show?” A quick google search reveals numerous articles like this one and this one and this one that discuss strategies for doing so.

This is flawed thinking right from the jump.

Your audience is not “butts in the seats.” Your audience consists of people you know and love who will be delighted by your art. That’s who you’re making it for.

Tell them a compelling story as to how much you care about this work and why you’d love to share it with them. Tell it from the heart. Tell it with generosity and empathy for their time. And tell it consistently.

All your marketing (remember, marketing is storytelling) should be focused on that and that alone. If you do your job (you must do it throughout the ENTIRE run) and your production is indeed excellent, they will come and they will be delighted and they will tell their friends.

“The task of the playwright is to make the audience wonder what is going to happen next…How does one entertain the audience? How does one make it wonder what happens next? How does one accomplish that? Through the structuring of a plot. That is what drama is, and that is the task of the dramatist. The plot, the structure of incidents, is all the audience cares about. The audience may not be able to articulate it, but honest (which is to say, personally necessary) observation by the dramatist will reveal this to be true. (Consider the sales-pitch meeting: When the other fellow’s eyes glaze over, the meeting is done, you didn’t make that sale.) You or I may think, “But what of my talent, my ideas? What of my characters?” and so on, but stand in the back of the house and watch the first audience member yawn (let alone walk out), and learn a lesson.

The task of the dramatist is the construction of a plot. Some will write snappier dialogue. Fine. Note that we enjoy plays in translation, where we have no idea how snappy the dialogue was in the original. Why do we love An Enemy of the People? Because of the plot. In the back of the house (and only there), watching one’s beloved play fail in front of that group that paid to see it succeed, one will learn of the importance of a plot.

How does one learn to structure, that is, to create a plot? Read Aristotle’s Poetics. There we find that a plot is the necessary structure of the incidents (that is, scenes), the failure of each scene driving the hero on toward a new attempt at the solution of the goal stated at the play’s outset. There is a plague on Thebes. Oedipus, the king, sets out to find its cause. He discovers, at the end, that he is the cause. The play is over. Note that it ends in a way, as per Aristotle, both surprising and inevitable. Why has the play survived thousands of years and why did Aristotle adopt it as a paradigm? Because of its perfect plot.

What must the contemporary dramatist do? Learn how to write a plot. How is it done? By writing, revising, staging, revising, and starting again. Good luck.” – David Mamet, book Theatre

For the playwright…

Your number one job and it’s the hardest job–only a few can do it well–is to get the audience to want to find out what happens next. That’s it. Everything else is secondary.

(Side note: As an actor and Artistic Director, I love great character-driven stories. They’re my favorite plays to act in, to see, and to program. But when I reflect on the ones I love, I realize those have pretty good plots too. You care deeply about the characters and want to find out what happens to them.)

Beware of exposition (if you write it, excise it and then if you want, hand it out as backstory for the actor), superfluous “flashy” dialogue that serves no purpose, or anything extra that bogs down the plot.

Because once you lose your audience from wanting to find out what happens next, all Is lost. Game over. It’s curtains for you.

For the writer…

Same as above. Your number one job is to get the reader to want to keep turning pages.

The Tao can’t be perceived.
Smaller than an electron,
it contains uncountable galaxies.

If powerful men and women
could remain centered in the Tao,
all things would be in harmony.
The world would become a paradise.
All people would be at peace,
and the law would be written in their hearts. -Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)

“It’s common to believe that life is a series of external experiences. And that we must live an outwardly extraordinary life in order to have something to share. The experience of our inner world is often completely overlooked.

If we focus on what’s going on inside ourselves–sensations, emotions, the patterns of our thoughts–a wealth of material can be found. Our inner world is every bit as interesting, beautiful, and surprising as nature itself. It is, after all, born of nature.

When we go inside, we are processing what’s going on outside. We’re no longer separate. We’re connected. We are one.” -Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way Of Being

“Keep an eye on the amount of time and the amount of awareness that we are allowing ourselves to get lost out there…Turn around and see yourself because then in the moment when you are doing this you are going to see yourself and this is the beginning. Because once you’ve spent time with yourself, the inside comes…The world is always getting bigger on the one side…and always getting smaller on the other side.” Master Shi Heng Yi

As small as a proton. Even smaller.

As big as a galaxy. Even bigger.

The range and possibilities for insight, beauty and connection are limitless.

The inner and the outer.

The micro and the macro.

Aligned. Working together. In harmony.

At peace.

“Every time I go see a play, I’m hoping this will be the best play I’ve ever seen.”

That’s what a friend and avid theatre-goer told me recently.

While you can’t control whether your production will be judged that way, you can make it your goal.

And if it’s not your goal, why exactly are you doing it anyway?

No, you can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometime you’ll find
You get what you need Rolling Stones, song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”

“If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.” –Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ― Epicurus

It’s not that “we can’t get no satisfaction” as The Rolling Stones said.

It’s that we can’t keep that satisfaction.

Why is this?

Well, one main reason is that we always want more. And we think that by having more, we’ll be satisfied. If we could just cross off that last item off our bucket list, then we’ll finally reach some imaginary, nirvanic state of perfect complacency.

Nope, not happening.

Instead, as Arthur Brooks advises, want less. Make a reverse bucket list. Eliminate items. In doing so you just might find, you have all the satisfaction you need.

And then some.

For whatever your passion project, the secret to manifesting it isn’t hoping it gets picked by some outside gatekeeper.

The secret is to make it an inevitability. “It’s just happening” must be your mindset at all times.

Then, list all the possible things you can do, ala the workplan, starting now and everyday going forward. Set arbitrary deadlines. Take massive and consistent action. Measure your progress. Iterate if necessary. Demonstrate and celebrate your wins, large and small.

Day by day.

Drip by drip.

“It’s just happening.”

It will happen.

It happened.

Because you made it inevitable.

P.S. – Check out this awesome Substack article from Ted Hope, independent film legend, and who inspired this post.

P.P.S. – This scene.

‘

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” – Mark Twain

“A [person] who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.” – Seneca

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” – Soren Kierkegaard

“It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase.” ― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

“Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.” ― Jodi Picoult, Sing You Home

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” — Oprah Winfrey

Anxiety, a real and growing problem in the United States, is future focused. One is obsessed with asking “What if?” over and over again without taking any action. This leads to a scarcity mindset, an overestimation of one’s troubles (real or imagined) and an underestimation of one’s ability to cope.

Instead, get present focused. Obsess on asking “What is?”

“What is real?”

“What is actually happening right now?”

“What is true?”

“What is beautiful?”

“What is good?”

“What Is?”

“What Is?”

“What Is?”

This leads to gratitude and an abundance mindset. You’ll realize you have all you need and way more power than you think. Which then inspires action, the numero uno antidote to any and all anxiety.

“We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.” -Herb Kelleher

“Stagecraft can be learned only onstage, in front of a paying audience. For as in most things it is the blunt trauma of failure that is the necessary spur to knowledge.” – book, Theatre by David Mamet

“The key to happiness is not being rich; it’s doing something arduous and creating something of value and then being able to reflect on the fruits of your labor.”
– Arthur C. Brooks

“Don’t do what you can do–try what you can’t do.” – William Faulkner

You can think about doing it.

You can talk about doing it.

You can read and study all the various forms and ways of doing it.

You can watch and study and analyze and critique others who are doing it.

Or.

You can just do it.

If a country is governed wisely,
its inhabitants will be content.
They enjoy the labor of their hands
and don’t waste time inventing
labor-saving machines.
Since they dearly love their homes,
they aren’t interested in travel. There may be a few wagons and boats,
but these don’t go anywhere.
There may be an arsenal of weapons,
but nobody ever uses them.
People enjoy their food,
take pleasure in being with their families,
spend weekends working in their gardens,
delight in the doings of the neighborhood.
And even though the next country is so close
that people can hear its roosters crowing and its dogs barking,
they are content to die of old age
without ever having gone to see it. -Verse 80 of the “Tao Te Ching” by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)

“Are you amazed to find that even with such extensive travel, to so many varied locales, you have not managed to shake off gloom and heaviness from your mind? As if that were a new experience! You must change the mind, not the venue…Socrates said to a person who had the same complaint as you: ‘Why are you surprised that traveling does you no good, when you travel in your own company? The thing that weighs on your mind is the same as drove you from home.’…Do you ask why your flight is of no avail? You take yourself along.” -Seneca, Letters From A Stoic

“Wherever you go, there you are.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn

Amy and I just got back from an incredible, once in a lifetime, everyone should go if they can, bucket list vacation to the Maldives. (Thank you to our great friends Bruce and Lise for inviting us along and for being the best travel companions anyone could ask for.)

It was an incredible, awe-inspiring trip on so many levels. The Maldives might just be the closest thing to heaven on earth. (I look forward to sharing pictures and talking your ear off about it when next I see you.)

Besides relaxing and recharging, two great things things about taking an overseas vacation are:

(1) You gain a greater perspective and understanding of different cultures. The Maldivians are truly remarkable and special people. Some of the kindest folks I’ve ever met.

(2) You acquire an even greater appreciation for your own day to day life back home. One big one for me is this blog. I’m excited to be back at it!

That being said, remember you can’t ever take a vacation from yourself. As Seneca and Lao-Tzu would advise, first ensure that all is well on the homefront. Strive for meaningful work and meaningful community. Take good care of yourself and others. Find joy and gratitude in the everyday…You do these things and you won’t ever need a vacation. Like this trip was for me, it’ll just be a beautiful and wonderful bonus to an already amazing life.

“There’s nothing to feel guilty about for being idle. It’s not reckless. It’s an investment. There is nourishment in pursuits that have no purpose—that is their purpose.” – Ryan Holiday, Stillness Is The Key

“I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful… I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful… I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful…” -Bob Wiley (as played by Bill Murray) in the film, What About Bob?

Dear Reader,

I”ll be on an overseas vacation for a bit. As much as I love the discipline of writing and sharing posts with you each weekday, I think it’s also important to fully lean in and commit to a break sometimes. There’s a discipline in rest. It refreshes the mind and nourishes the soul.

So…no posts from me until Monday, October 9th.

Until then, thank you for reading and commenting and sharing this blog. It means a lot to me and is my continued fuel (closing in on 1,000 posts!). Know that I’m rooting for you and your artistic dreams, big time.

See you soon.

xJohnny