[belleboi80]

I was having a discussion with some people tonight about this and thought I would see what you think.

Do you think it is more difficult to mount a good movie or a big, good musical (more large scale)?

Obvioulsy movies tend to cost more, but I am talking about everything else.

[wicked_diva]

I'd go with a musical. Movies seem like if everything goes fine with special effects, costumes, and actors, etc... Then the movie will turn out okay.. But musicals, it's getting more and more expensive to put one together, and the target audience is much smaller than for movies... I can't imagine trying to put together a musical because it really is such a risky business...

[Chi]

I think that it is harder to mount a successful musical. Why? Because a musical has such a short window of time in which to succeed. I'm going to use "In My Life" as an example, not because I think it's anything other than horrid, but because it's the most recent Broadway Flop I can think of.

So, "In My Life" somehow reaches the point where it is able to be produced on Broadway. It flops. No more "In My Life". No cast recording. No money to be made. Wait three years, and I'll be surprised if anyone even remembers the show once existed. The end.


Now, even if a movie that doesn't do well in movie theatres. It's still going to be released on video. Even if a movie flops once, it is pretty much assured this second chance to find it's audience. Even some really terrible movies which were never lucritive in the least when they were first made are still being sold today. Heck, some of them are cult classics.

Granted, some shows do have revivals, but it's a lot cheaper to just release an unsuccesfull movie onto tape or DVD than it is to revive a Broadway flop, and ultimately more lucritive.

Chi

[The REAL Ciaron]

Movies are easy as hell!!

Even "Gigli" made back its investment thanks to DVD

[RainyCrystal]

Some movies can be crap as hell, yet there'll always be dumb teenagers who like them. Yet how many teenagers actually want to watch musicals these days and actually pay close attention to everything?

~Sissi

[LaurelDP]

[Nudelkopf]

Musical all the way. Im not going to say my reasons because everyone hates a repeat.

[Annie]

Yes, musical. People are willing to pay $8 to see a terrible movie if there's a chance someone may take their top off. No one in the right mind will pay $100 for some eye-candy.

(obviously not the primary reason for my opinion that musicals are harder to mount than movies...just an observation)

Annie

[jcstar]

As a writer myself, I can definetly attest to the fact that getting a musical off the fround is very hard.

This year alone, I approached 15 theatre companies to produce THE FORK as a musical for 2005, the year of the veteren.

Here's how one conversation went:

Me: I'd like to propose a new musical for your company to stage this year.

Them: What is it?

Me: It's a musical or rock opera that my friend and I wrote. It's called THE FORK, and takes place during WW2...

Them: We don't do original musicals. You're not Andrew Lloyd Webber or Stephen Sondheim...

Me: But we're local tralen trying to get into thise classes of composers, and trying to earn a living.

Them: I don't care.

Me: Excuse me?

Them: You're not famous. People don't care about your ambition to become the next Lloyd Webber...

Me: I never said...

Them: If you're not famous, pepoople won't care about you or your show.

Me: Hold on a second...

Them: Good-bye. (click)

See? That's a small example of what I had to deal with this year. Think of the effort... trying to get them to highten their sights.

Andy.

[Fogeyman]

And in a musical, you don't get extra takes.

[Fontinau]

Al I can say is that, between the hack aspiring film makers and hack aspiring playwrights/composers I know, the hack playwrights/composers have a much better track record in getting their projects off the ground.

But that's just within the warm squishy confines of academia.

[actor05]

Also, you have to look at location. To see broadway, you have to go to New York, Chicago, St. Louis, any of the big cities. A movie is shown in movie theatres around the globe!!! It's one thing that no one has said yet.

[purplepolkadot]

Well, Broadway shows in general are harder to make popular. For the fact that more people go and watch movies, then people who go to the theater to see musicals and shows.

[ErikProuvaire]