Producing Feed

Producers Pool - Dates in the Diary pt1

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Towards the end of 2019 I was introduced to the concept of the Portfolio Career and it was a mindset game changer.

2019 was also the year I asked myself, which I often do year on year - "If I won the lottery what would I do?" The answer has been the same for as long as I can remember. To fund and produce independent small scale theatre working with emerging artists and directors.

This time I accepted I’d probably never win the lottery but ya do want to do this.

I know my craft as a stagemanager, my digital learning and project experience has encompassed social media and associated productivity technologies, podcast audio recording and production, I can edit video.

Mobile live-streaming and virtual worlds. Audience and augmentation.

Technology and theatre.

Not for technology but for engaging immersive idea revealing story-driven theatre. Unusual productions in extraordinary spaces. A big part of the lottery dream is to have the money to fund it.

Then there is like-minded professional networking. Nothing is more aspirational than spending time talking, listening and strategically dreaming with fellow producers. All on differing trajectories in their own careers. A community of collaborators. A tribe of mentors.

Chris Grady hosts Producers Pool.

I was, since 2018 forever attempting to synchronise my meetings in London at Equity or events by Cybersalon to draw a three-card trick where I’d get to attend a Producers Pool, Equity meeting and a Cybersalon event. Trump card would be to fit in a theatre show too.

I would augment my attendance at events on occasion, to showcase remote access potential. The immersion in ground-based experience made the strategic split to include cloud-based access hard to make happen when I was the on needing access and not providing the access which was the ultimate aim, to extend attendance.


The value and reward of cloud access were invisible to physical organisers. The concept appealed but in practice, the management of the physical event was enough.

Blending Digital and Physical looked to be a pipe dream. Then came Covid. One of the first to embrace the opportunity to pivot to digital was Producers Pool. Hurrah!

So independent producers and theatre-makers meeting monthly often with an influencing peer speaking currently happens online.

What do you have to offer?

What do you need?

This leads to the momentum and mindfulness of conversations. 

What can I offer? Insights, experience and practice to pivot to digital. What do I need? The blending back to physical with gradually lowering balanced percentage extension option to attend either way and get the same influencer insights and networking dialogue.

I don’t ask much! Am I asking too much?

Monthly on the last Wednesday, until further notice starting January 27th if you are interested in joining Producers Pool find your way to the Facebook Group.

For the mindfully invested. 

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The journey starts here www.chrisgrady.org/producers-pool
Producers' Pool (UK & International) - next meeting 4.30 pm Wed 27th January


Restarting My Blogging Journey

Hey everyone, Thank you to those who check back and remind me I need to blog again.

It's been a while since I last sat down to write a blog post, so here I am to announce that I'm restarting my blogging journey! Typepad has always been a special place for me to share my thoughts, experiences, and the stuff happening in the world around me and going forward, the theatre and staged productions I’m involved with. And of course the amazing artists I’m humbled to be supporting as I stand up and be counted as a Producer! 

Today, I want to share ‘Producers Pool’. https://www.chrisgrady.org/producers-pool/ 

Producers' Pool June Gathering

We were on Zoom for the Producers' Pool June online gathering. For those who may not be familiar, Producers' Pool is a fantastic community of producers who come together to share ideas as well as give advice and support to one another. This month’s meeting was packed with insightful discussions.

The highlight was Chris Grady's preview of the ‘Producer Persona’ , a bespoke developed managed database system. Simple and Strong. This platform is designed to help producers connect more efficiently, making the often daunting task of finding the right collaborators much simpler.

Producers can sign up at https://www.producerspersona.com  

Check out my profile and the platforms elegant yet simple style

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Non-Player Character at the Edinburgh Fringe

On a personal note, I am beyond excited to share that last year's Can’t Be There, Be Here is on hiatus! Why excited? Because instead I am supporting as producers and company manager, Brendan Bradley and his Virtual Reality one man musical Non Player Character and we are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe this year! This virtual reality musical has been a labour of love for its core team Brendan, Maurice and Michael and I can't wait to open at Yotel Edinburgh for a 24 show run on Aug 2nd. During the Producers' Pool meeting, we discussed some of the technical aspects and promotional strategies for the show, including inviting fringe artists and cast groups to ‘Come Play’ which we hope will generate buzz and attract press attention for both shows.

 

Building My Online Presence

As I prepare for the marathon that is the Edinburgh Fringe, I'm also focusing on building back up my online presence. Blogging will be a key part of this journey, allowing me to document my experiences and connect with a wider audience for when the show programmes a 2025 UK tour. But, I need your help!

Growing My Readership

Here are a few ways you can help me grow my readership and spread the word about Non Player Character:

  1. Subscribe and Share: If you enjoy my posts, please subscribe to the blog and share it with your friends and networks. Word of mouth is incredibly powerful!
  2. Engage with My Content: Leave comments, ask questions, and share your thoughts. The more interaction we have, the more visible the blog becomes.
  3. Follow Me on Social Media: Stay updated by following me on Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin. I’ll be posting regular updates, behind-the-scenes content, and more.
  4. Join the Conversation: Use the hashtag #NPCmusical when talking about the show online. Let's get the conversation started and create a buzz!
  5. Collaborate: If you're a blogger, podcaster, or content creator, let’s collaborate! Guest posts, interviews, and cross-promotions are great ways to reach new audiences.

Thank you for your continued support. I am so excited to share this journey with you and look forward to connecting with new friends along the way. Here’s to the exciting times ahead!

Until next time, Caron


Producers' Pool - Hybrid Blended Meet Up (Hosted in NY and Zoom for everyone else)

OLB invite to PRODUCERS POOL

Its not enough to just run Zoom in the background or just welcome people to a venue and call it hybrid. There has to comparable experience for the attendees 'on the ground' and attendees 'in the cloud'. There is a third dimension of 'metaverse presence' but thats another time for Producers Pool.

A the start of the pandemic Chris Grady was one of the first of my connections to get in touch for Zoom orientation. I'd hoped Producers Pool would go digital and as we emerge for the clutches of Covid it is going very well.

There have been Zoom 'in the cloud' only events and a few 'on the ground' in London. A hybrid with a foot in both camp is a holy grail and evolving as Producers Pool hybrid attempts invite attendees on the ground to bring laptops or mobile devises. Headphones are suggested. To start the events the attendees all arrive. The informal welcome is carried out as people come into the building or as the Zoom call fills up. 

Whats to see how it works? The next Producers Pool event is Tuesday 26th April

Is Producers Pool for you? Are you thinking internationally about your projects and productions? Producers Pool meetings are a chance to make connections, explore Fringe and Off-Off-Broadway opportunities in the UK, USA and beyond.

Producers' Pool is a UK started gathering of aspiring and emerging producers who come together to make connections and explore two questions - "what do I need?" which someone in this room might be able to help with, and "What can I offer?" to someone else in this room in terms of time, talent and even treasure. Mainly focussed on live theatre and musical theatre, the group has grown over Zoom in lockdown to 600+ people.

On Tuesday 26th April 1pm EST & 6pm UK time, NY based Producers and creative SPAs (self producing artists) are gathering to meet at Arts on Site at 12 St Marks Place, Manhattan hosted ‘on the ground’ by New York Producer, Writer & CGO alumna Megan Schadler. www.meganschadler.com Producers Pool’s Chris Grady www.chrisgrady.org/chris-grady is joining her while visiting the Big Apple taking in some shows. This NewYork hosted event is in association with US based organisation TRU (Theatre Resources Unlimited)

This is not a Broadway meets West End gathering - it is more Fringe and Off-off-Broadway local, national and international discussion. If you are elsewhere in the World NOT in New York, this is where the hybrid comes in and able to join us, there is a Zoom presence is hosted from the UK by yours truly, Caron Lyon @pcmvcreative

Attendees on the ground are encouraged to bring laptops or mobile devices with headphones to enable the hybrid overlap to take place for part of the meet up.

All Producers Pool events are a great place to find partners and take an idea forward.

 So if you'd like to join me 'in the cloud' or Megan, Chris and the guys from TRU 'on the ground' grab ya tickets.

On the Ground (New York) TICKET paid in $$
https://buytickets.at/chrisgradyorg/684378
In the Cloud (via Zoom) TICKET paid in ££
https://buytickets.at/chrisgradyorg/684350

Zoom Control - FrenchHistoryUK

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I’ve done a Zoom Controlling gig this evening. Light Camera Action… well webcam, virtual background title slide and shared computer sound.

Its all very sedate. But thats why the clients come to me. A good behind the scenes experience. They are simple events that they want to deliver with perceived effortlessness.

Great long long tail lectures with engaged audiences and specialist top of their topic. Each expert insight to thread of history a joy to zoom tech.

Society for the Study of French History

The 2022 Annual Douglas Johnson Memorial Lecture was the 12th in this series, organised by the Society for the Study of French History and the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France.

My view…

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The lecture was presented by Professor Penny Roberts (University of Warwick) a paper entitled 'The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacres 450 years on'. Professor Roberts is Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Warwick and the President of the Society for the Study of French History.

The battle and religious civic conflict from 450 years ago frighteningly possible internally inconceivable yet… 2022 who knows. Do we learn? Have we learnt? Who did the learning? Could history repeat? Has it repeated?

This source examination is important.

The Attendee view on iPad with captions.

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Needed to frame the space.

Found some Creative Commons music. Debussy was suggested. The audience arrives and the title slide displays. Waiting to begin.

The music fades and the continuity host welcomes and sets the scene, establishes boundaries and orients the attendees. Chat panel, Q&A panel. Some will have attended many Zoom meetings some may not be familiar with Zoom webinar. On this occasion a prompt to encourage share locations revealed a truly global audience of 122.

Enjoy the music

Debussy: Preludes
by Jeremy Denk
Go to Tribe of noise PRO

Live at the Gardner Museum's Tapestry Room
The songs in this album are licensed under:
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

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Investment in 50 - coming of age at last!

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There has been a pause in my blogging over the last week to portion out time to complete a finished version of my diploma module to prepare a first attempt at an investment pack to finance a stage show. Mine has been a long time back burner project. It’s the reason PCM is part of my online persona. There is a wind of change on the horizon and it’s exciting times.

Assignment submitted and birthday celebrated. I’m mid way through a diploma in Creative Producing. 16 weeks including a 2wk study break… and Christmas. My horizons are widening. I will need people in this new horizon. The next 2 assignments are envisioning for purposeful target marketing and storytelling, then company structure and good team structures.

Here is my opening section.

Concept orientation

To produce and commission new and fresh live 30 minute productions for new audiences emerging around immersive staged experiences such as Secret Cinema, War of the Worlds and Dr Who Fractured Time, and new global audiences who remotely attend film festivals featuring dedicated VR films. Festivals award categories for VR and 360 as well as interactive experiences and VR short films at Expanded BFI 2021, Expanded Vienna 2021 and Canada’s FIVARS VR film festivals.

LLF Expanded BFI - British Film Festival

Labiennale - Venice VR Expanded

Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories
February 21st – February 28th 2022 (Online)

The productions will explore relationships and augmentation into the ‘real life’ of the burgeoning metaverse - encouraging discussion, examination and participation with the company, challenging the audience's perception of where the frontier of digital, physical and meta virtual dissect.

Before the financial breakdown, info about the stage play there is this. The story is becoming clearer and the financials are solid

This investment prospects is the foundation of my vision setting out a realistic beginning. A play produced on an ITC influenced agreement and physical mid-small scale ambition, opening at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023 designed and directed to then tour to sizeable black box theatre studios and village halls from Dervaig on the Isle of Mull to The People Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne and Bristol Old Vic’s Weston Studio.

Its gradual evolution though my DYCP exploration’s will take it from extended on-stage production space with a fourth wall and traditional seated audience to later include a dual presence digital and meta virtual experience realising an immersive ‘public house Snug meets park promenade’ experience, delivering culture from the comfort of A couch, Your couch, and beyond!

The audience concept has its roots in 2012 producing TEDx LaceMarket.

So this (pic below) within an immersive wrapper…

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CC Chapman speaking at TEDxLaceMarket -

 


Business as usual, 2022 has begun.

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The Creative Producing Diploma cohort led by Chris Grady are entering the second half of the course. Over Christmas we have each been tasked to develop our first comprehensive budget and investment pack for a project.

For me this is to take the founding steps for a new PCM entity PCMimmersive and it’s first physical production along with the conception manifesto for the Metaverse extension to provide the PCM audience a world to transcend presence, giving quantum purpose to access physical, digital and virtual experiences of the same singular central performance.

Attend - Watch - Observe - Participate

What does it mean to purchase a ticket where you exist with the choice of physical, digital and virtual across an engagement spectrum.

Can each augment the other?

The physical experience is geo locked, maintains a finite capacity each time.

The digital experience is home bound and satellite, maintains curiosity before and after all the time.

The virtual experience is evolution and beyond, maintains play and adventure stimulating new experiences.

The audience are central as collaborators, the company as observers, investors attend and a community emerges to support new work by creators influence by the possibility of story enhanced by technology.

Teach, Entertain, Engage

When I first really began thinking about what the next phase of PCM would give I knew it must come from a truth. A quest for a truth.

With the technology wrapper as a tour-able venue it will champion the pioneer mobile traveling theatre that began with Century Theatre and its days on the road.

The produced, commissioned and programmed work will explore neurodiverse and non binary casting. The first proof of concept production will use a script written to be ‘performed by 3 humans’.

To see this filled me with hope that alternative structures are surfacing and the future is ever nearer.

So how much is this going to cost? That is what I’m feeding into the spreadsheet the scope of which has been imparted so knowledgeably by Chris and the CGO faculty.

So guess this is part 1…


Extraordinarily Ordinary - #DYCP

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I don’t know what to say.
I was awarded a Develop Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England today.

It means more than I can convey right now. My request set out how I would take where my career has bought me to, swoosh it all together package and appropriately reframe it like I never imagined I’d be able to in order to set my horizons to pursue aspiration that without the funding would be unimaginable.

So what does it mean? Big Picture Stuff

  1. I have my Creative Producers Diploma paid for
  2. I can invest in some serious networking within the immersive theatre experience arena?
  3. I have a budget for a dyslexia support work to help be with words to paper brain fog syndrome! Fi you rock.
  4. I can explore the NFT smart contract royalties/residuals concept I think could change the way we archive and invest legacy in live performance arts and entertainment.
  5. Attend at least 3 festivals in 2022 where live performance is being innovated to immerse myself in what’s possible
  6. Compile a full business proposition and production plan for my first immersive theatre piece for a paying audience
  7. Prepare and pitch to investors my innovative staging environment with its first production and NFT offer.

I’ll be podcasting with some livestreams to document and share my journey, the development and discovery also. This will afford me time to audit my own career portfolio, review and align my digital footprint and existing legacy.

All this to move forward as a Creative Producer securing and exploring unconventional and novel funding opportunities to engage investors who have an arts advocacy and production partnering itch to scratch where return on investment will be part financial, part social consciousness and part trailblazer. Proof of stake and ultimately proof of talent is the speculative investment. The right casting for the right future return.

Production scale for those intrigued is ITC and Theatre UK MRSL3 in terms of salaries to creatives and performers. The production environment and repertory of performances will, fingers crossed showcase at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe and a similar production scale immersive festival such at Vault.

Making the dream reality actually starts today Wednesday 4th August 2021.


Dinosaur Hackathon. Interested?

DinoHack is taking shape

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It’s taking place in Bristol at The EngineShed a literal stones throw from Temple Meads Train Station.

Email if you are interested in attending or/and sponsoring [email protected]

http://bit.ly/dinohack2021

It’s got some work still to do.
If you’re reading. I’m sharing.




Yes... Standing on the horizon.

Today I was offered and accepted a place on the CGO Institute’s Creative Producers Diploma which starts 1 Nov 2021

From the January 2020 line in the sand, all through the Pandemic and the lockdowns I’ve be heading to this moment.

Chris Grady (Mr CGO) was my first induction to Zoom as Covid hit. I’d been eager to attend Producers Pool Meet-ups but never managed to be in London at the right time to be in the right place.

Producers Pool ‘pivoted to digital’ and I couldn’t be happier. I encountered so many amazing talents all with there own paths, projects and productions.

Through Producers Pool I met Kate McStraw and secured my first producers assistant role.

So it begins

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Digital Field Trip - Clicks n Mortar - Kinoautomat

The night in March 2009 I chose to attend a cinema session I was curious. I’d read/played the pick-your-story books and Ian Livingstone & Steve Jackson dice rolling books. A pick-the-story film was new to me and that this one was a retro experience intrigued me. Definitely one of the distinct instances that has shaped the work I’m embarking upon in 2021.

Originally it was a performance, which combined a projected film with interventions from two stage moderators, which was shown for the first time in 1966. On this occasion it was being presented my the film makers daughter.

The film, One Man and his House, centers around Mr. Novák who finds himself caught up in various situations which represent moral dilemmas.

Using a specially constructed voting system, the audience members changed the trajectory of the film at several key moments by pressing red or green buttons. The direction voted by the majority would then be followed by the projection team.

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Extract - Kinoautomat, prelude to the future

http://www.progetto.cz/kinoautomat-un-preludio-al-futuro/?lang=en 

“The TV of tomorrow”, was the expression used by the British newspaper The Guardian, while the critic David Griffin spoke of it as a film that “uses the best elements from both video games and films”. The reference was to “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”, released on Netflix just over a year ago, which attracted attention mainly due to being an interactive film in which the action stops at certain intervals and the viewer makes decisions for the protagonist, influencing the course of the narrative. A certainly compelling idea, but there were indeed quite a few viewers to whom the format seemed to be something already familiar.

Extracted - http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/kinoautomat

“The vote was executed by the projectionist switching one lens cap between the two synchronized projectors. The artfulness, ultimately, was not in the interaction but in the illusion of interaction. The film's director, Raduz Cincera, made it as a satire of democracy, where everyone votes but it doesn't make any difference.” (Quote from: Michael Naimark, Interactive Art - Maybe It's a Bad Idea, 1997)


Secret Stories - #SparkFestival - performing live on Zoom

Today I was able to sit in on a couple of the digital live Zoom performances taking place this is as part of The Spark Arts for Children half term #SparkFestival


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“During lockdown families from the Belgrave community, the golden mile of Leicester, met online to share and uncover their personal histories.”

Chandni Mistry performed Airmail - a set of community told adapted stories live-streamed direct to the audience’s home, over Zoom. Airmail is a collection of stories told through time, across continents and generations. Jumping from Uganda to Watermead Country Park, Leicester.

AirMail (below - Chandni Mistry)

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Rina Fatania performed The Video Call - a collection of stories that resonate voices from the heart of Belgrave, the golden mile of Leicester… a world of WhatsApps, Zooms, never ending summer barbecues and right up to lockdown.

VideoCall (below - Rina Fatania)

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I’m currently compiling the on demand versions richly recorded and underscored to podcast listening comfort perfection by Audio Artist, Dimple Patel. Directed for Zoom by Trina Haldar from stories co-written by her Satinder Chohan and participating families of Belgrave in Leicester.

Delighted to have been able to introduce Marcus Romer into the mix which provided support and confidence Trina, Rina and Chandni. He allayed their fears of Zoom bringing a sense of play to the scripts embracing the confines of the video frame. Zoom was used magnificently with Virtual Background overplayed with filters. Chandni seamlessly flipped from back to background with a well placed dog face tracing filter. Feathers were raised to the camera with the space in frame thoughtfully augmented with a Paper plane and model boat large and close in passing across the field of view.

The stories gave a glimpse into a world and culture of being a migrant from India through the eyes of 2nd and 3rd generation Leicester families. Shock and delight, I audibly gasped in Airmail, here in my home at the story of family members leaving India under duress and instructed to remove jewellery at the airport to laughter in VideoCall at the contracted text speak and Dwali zooms.

I now have the live experience. Performed in speaker view with families watching from home line up along the top of the main spotlighted performers window. Interaction between the children and Chandni during Airmail pushed the boundary to wholeheartedly demonstrate that live theatre can be digital.

The 9 stories will be available to listen to as part of the Families On Demand part of the #SparkFestival programme. I am unreservedly glad I saw them performed live.

A hat tip must go also to the zoom operators Helen Raw and Katie Bosomworth.