Theatre
How do you fund a theatre play with crowdfunding?
Price the run, from venue and rights to set and cast. Set the deadline before the deposits fall due, and offer rewards like opening night seats.
Short answer
Crowdfund one production: a play on a stage, with a venue and dates. Add up the real lines, from venue hire and rights to set, costumes and the cast, and set the deadline before the first deposit falls due. Offer rewards an audience wants, like opening night seats and their name in the programme. If the goal is met, you claim the funds; if not, every backer takes their pledge back.
Key facts
- One campaign, one production: a goal, a deadline and up to 5 reward tiers.
- Start with email or Google. No company, no bank account, no approval queue.
- Add your town as the campaign's location, so local theatregoers find it.
- The funds reach you only after the deadline, and only if the goal is met.
- Each pledge pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99.
What goes in a theatre budget?
Everything between the first rehearsal and the last night. Write each line in the campaign, so backers see the show behind the number.
- Venue: hire for the run, plus the tech day.
- Rights: the performance licence, if the play isn't yours.
- Rehearsal space: a room for the weeks before opening.
- Set, props and costumes.
- Lighting and sound: equipment hire, and a technician.
- Fees for the cast and crew.
- Printing: posters, flyers and the programme.
How big should the goal be?
Big enough to open, with the box office as a bonus rather than part of the plan. Tickets sell after most of the money is spent, so the campaign has to cover what comes first.
For example, a run of 6 nights in a small venue: venue and tech day $900, set and costumes $400, lighting and sound hire $300, printing $150, and a share for the cast of $750. That makes $2,500, and about $2,800 with the rewards and fees.
Then check who will back it. The cast, the crew and their friends and families are the first backers: 15 people in the company, each bringing 6 backers at an average of $30, makes $2,700. The goal planner runs the sum.
What rewards work for a play?
Rewards that bring backers into the theatre, or let them keep a piece of the show.
- A ticket for opening night.
- Their name in the programme, under a thank you.
- A seat at the dress rehearsal.
- A script signed by the cast.
- The poster, signed.
- A workshop with the director and the cast.
- A private performance for a group, for the top tier.
Each ticket you give as a reward is a seat you can't sell, so count it as a cost. The reward tier planner shows what each tier leaves you.
When should you launch?
Two or three months before opening, with the deadline before the venue deposit falls due. The money only reaches you after the deadline, and only if the goal is met.
If the deposit is due sooner than that, ask the venue for a later date, or fund an earlier stage first, like the rehearsal period.
How do you get people to back it?
Start with the people in the show. Each member of the cast and crew asks their own circle first, and the wider audience follows.
- Give everyone in the company the link and one line to post.
- Share rehearsal photos and short clips as the total moves.
- Ask the venue to share it with its own audience.
- Leave flyers with the link where theatregoers already go.
You can also set a share reward, from nothing up to 18.5% of each pledge, paid by the program to whoever shared the link. How to share your campaign covers the first week.
What does it cost?
Writing and previewing a campaign costs nothing. Opening it costs $5 on the free plan.
Each pledge then pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99, and the share reward you set comes out of the pledge too. The minimum pledge is $10.
The percentage fee on a pledge follows the plan of the account making it. It's taken when the pledge is made, so it isn't returned if the campaign misses its goal. Paid plans aren't on sale today, so the published fee is the free plan's fee.
Every plan is on the pricing page.
What if the goal is missed?
If the goal isn't met by the deadline, you take your pledge back from escrow with one tap, and nobody has to approve it. What comes back is the amount held for you: your pledge minus the fees taken when you backed (the platform fee, the flat fee, any tip and any share reward the campaign pays).
You still have the script, the cast and a list of people who wanted to come. Shorten the run to what they covered, or move the dates, and launch again.
How do you start?
- Sign up in the app with email or Google.
- Write the play, the dates, the budget, the goal and the deadline.
- Add your town as the location, and your reward tiers.
- Set the share reward and publish.
- Send the link to the whole company on day one.
How to raise money for your idea, from the free course, covers the basics. Everything you can fund has a guide for each kind of project, and every other question is in the answers.