Budget Values

Your budget - what you do (and don't) spend money on - is a reflection of what you value.

If you value writers pay for their work and some infrastructure to support them, even at the expense of other things.

If you value dancers, then try to pay them even if other production elements have to suffer.

Everything doesn't have to be funded equally.  You can spend more (or less) on certain things than your colleagues.

It's all about showing the world what you believe.

Comments

[Melissa F. Moschitto]

Adam - I've been thinking about your posts on budgets and paying for what you believe in. This also means putting a value on your art.

I recently had the experience where I was contacted by a producer interested in presenting two performances of a show that my company premiered last June and is now touring. I thought long and hard about a reasonable fee that would pay all the artists involved a good artist fee (cast of 6, lighting designer, stage manager), cover our costs and maybe even have some money leftover for the company itself. I also wanted to leave room for negotiations that wouldn't have me cutting corners or forgoing fees, etc. The producer wrote me back a nasty email saying that my fees were ridiculous (along with a host of other issues). Clearly, he wasn't interested in negotiating and although I think he's an exception, I definitely felt a little burned.

Subsequently, I recently booked a teaching gig for our company and the fee I proposed - which was on the lower (and safe!) side - was immediately accepted and I regret not initially proposing a higher fee. Nonetheless, I'm really happy that we are all getting paid a decent fee for this engagement that represents our time, skills & artistic craft.

So my question is, do you have tips for negotiating fees? How do we create an environment where we can put a dollar sign on what we believe in but still let people know that we are willing to make adjustments? How do we work with integrity but still get our art out there?

Ok, I know this is a little out of your field of expertise, but you seem to have good insight on everything, so...