#ntlive
i literally fucking hate broadway’s policy of not filming until the show is over, if at all. im going to compare it to sports games
seeing a football or basketball game live is amazing for sports fans, right? like most players would probably recommend seeing it live, you get to go with your friends and buy food and the players are really there and the games are usually sold out. but because seeing it live is a more favorable way to experience the game, that doesn’t mean they don’t let anyone watch it on TV and demand anyone who wants to see it has to go to the game. what about people who don’t live in the area or don’t have money to go? they still get to see the game with everyone else, and the fact that they put the game on television doesn’t drive down ticket sales. people still love seeing football or basketball or whatever in person
broadway is the same way. it’s so fucking inaccessible if you live anywhere other than new york, and even then it’s so expensive and hard to get tickets. why wouldn’t you also film it? there’s no reason not to, if your show is sold out for a full year, you’re not going to lose ticket sales because you’re also letting people watch it on TV. you will not be losing some random girl from Tennessee’s ticket sales if it would be impossible for her to go in the first place, in fact you’d make money by spreading it to a wider audience.
i love legally blonde, ive seen it upwards of 10 times because theres a professional recording on youtube for an MTV special. this doesnt mean if i had the opportunity to go see it i’d be like nah, id rather watch it alone on youtube. i’d JUMP at the opportunity to go see it live.
tldr: people arent going to stop seeing stuff live just because you also monetize on a recording of the show to be released to a wider audience, you dumb fucking shits
Also, when people get twitchy about the idea of filming it because then there’d be lots of different versions out there, which would increase the competition for sales?
Not a problem??? I have three versions of Much Ado About Nothing because each staging is different. I would have literally zero problems owning five different versions of Rent *insert ‘give it to me’ gif here* and even if other people aren’t as ridiculous as me and want every version of Henry V ever filmed ever, generally, filming a production means that you could continue to gain profits from it long after the run had ended? Particularly with certain Broadway stars, even if someone can make it to New York to see Idina Menzel in Rent they might not be able to make it back again to see her in Wicked, even though they might want to.
*Film all the Broadway and West End productions, stop having them be inaccessible to the general theatre-going public*
Hey this reminds me of NTLive (National Theatre Live), a project by the Brits to bring incredible plays to cinemas worldwide. I have seen a number of NTLive recordings at authorised cinemas and they are of excellent quality! Broadway should find a way to do that!!! And they’ll make a lot of profit… these films are more expensive than regular films too.
