Running an independent theater company is an incredibly rewarding experience – one that so many creatives spend their lives dreaming of. If you’re the kind of person who is happy wearing about a hundred different hats in a day, tackling some of the weirdest problems you’ve ever had to tackle, and coming up with masterful solutions on the fly, then it’s probably right up your alley.
But it’s also way too easy for people to jump in shoulders deep before they understand the risks they’re taking on. However dynamic and fun the working day is, it’s also as serious as running any other business.
Here’s what you should know.
Business Insurance
The idea that an independent theatre company needs business insurance can sound a little incongruous at first. This is a form of coverage that sounds far better suited to corporate settings – large offices with highly organized hierarchies, HR departments, and predictable daily routines. That’s a far cry from the creative (and some might say organized) chaos of the theater.
But business insurance covers a lot more than suit-and-tie offices. It’s actually a highly comprehensive form of coverage, offering protection to your business premises, your property on that premises, and other things like lost income as a result of injury, and legal expenses.
So many of the things that can derail an independent theater company are covered by business insurance, so don’t skip this vital step.
Clear Codes of Conduct
An independent theater is a wonderful environment to work in. It’s exciting, dynamic, unpredictable and fuelled by the combined creativity of so many different, brilliant minds. Immerse yourself in it for a week, and it’s hard to go back to any other job on the planet.
But the trouble with workspaces like this is that, without proper codes of conduct in place, it’s all too easy for casualness to devolve into something more harmful. You don’t need everyone walking around in business attire, making small talk about the weather (and nothing any more controversial than that).
What you do need, however, is clarity on what is and isn’t appropriate. It’s the only way to avoid unsafe backstage practices from causing injury or offense, or for clashing personalities to turn into workplace bullying. Don’t assume everyone will mesh all the time. That’s an easy way to cause major problems down the line.
Performance Licenses
This is something that trips up so many independent theater companies, whether they’re non-profit or for-profit. The assumption is (usually) that they are too small or obscure to need to obtain a license to include copyrighted music or put on a big performance.
The reality is that royalties apply to everyone, whether it’s Broadway or an amateur dramatics group in rural Michigan, and any transgression can open your company up to major fines – and a big hit to your reputation.
Public performance rights and paying royalties on copyrighted songs or plays is not something you can afford to skip, no matter how big your audience is.