This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi, everyone. I am Martín Acuña, and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:19] Martín Acuña: Hello, and welcome back to a new episode of Backstage Talk today. I always say I have the honor because I really do feel honored to have a lot of guests over. And today I have the honor of having Bonnie Comley here at the podcast. She is the founder and CEO of Broadway HD, but I'm going to let her introduce herself more deeply. So, hey, Bonnie, how are you?

[0:50] Bonnie Comley: Oh, I'm doing great. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for supporting my theater. All those things, you know, keep it going while we're in pandemic and, you know, and look to the future for when we can gather again in person. So, as you mentioned, my name is Bonnie Comley. I am the CEO and founder of Broadway HD, which is a streaming platform. It's kind of like a Netflix, but we have exclusively theater content. So it's full length plays and musicals. And right now we have over 350 full length plays and musicals to stream on demand. Our annual subscription is a hundred bucks a year or $9.99 a month, which gets you, you know, as long as you're connected to the Internet, you get everything.

So, and we celebrated our fifth anniversary at Broadway HD back in October. So we were, you know, in front of the live streaming and video, you know, theater and video on demand for a number of years. My husband is my business partner or life partner. And the two of us have been involved in what we call digital capture, which is bringing cameras into the theater and shooting what's on stage, which is very different than a movie where you take the same, you know, possibly take the same scripts and the same songs and do, you know, open it up as we say, in like film terms of, you know, you're, you're not just on that one stage as a playing field. But due to COVID, we sort of pivoted and we're getting some other content that's being created, you know, innovatively because of the pandemic, because of restrictions with gathering, with singing, you know, indoor and camera and, you know, just all of the restrictions that have been put on the whole world.

So that's pretty much us is that we're, we're heading into our sixth year. We're not a startup anymore. We're just a new young business that's growing. And, and we're excited to, you know, keep the spirit of Broadway alive while people are unable to gather.

[3:14] Martín Acuña: I love that. And I know for me, Broadway HD has been, besides Disney Plus and besides Netflix, a way to stay connected to the stage, not only Broadway, but as you said, with the other full length plays you have on the site. So it's been a way in which I've been connected to the theater. I wanted to ask you, how did you end up working in the entertainment industry?

[3:47] Bonnie Comley: Well, I mean, sort of, I'm older, so I have a very long history. If you want to hear all of it, I'll try and condense it. Like with our video, you know, you look at this video. It's, I have an undergraduate degree in business, but then my master's degree was in communications and TV production. And so I started off my career as an entertainment reporter and reported on theater. So I was, you know, working for a couple of different cable stations at that time. And so from there I took my, my love of theater and my knowledge of TV and film, and then was always looking to, you know, how could these, you know, I mean, because I, I grew up one of four children in a middle-class family and we just didn't go to Broadway.

You didn't go to the theater or the opera or dance or ballet. I just wasn't on the entertainment radar for a family of six. And, you know, so when I finally got to see a Broadway show as an adult, I thought, it's like amazing. Like everybody should see this. And as a TV reporter, I thought, you know, what I was doing at that time was bringing snippets or telling people about shows that they could go and see. But the thought was always there for how you make this accessible to everybody. So it was always, you know, that seed of, you know, what Broadway HD is, was always there, was accessibility. Because again, as I said, I came from a middle-class family and when Broadway was up in, at its prime, you know, January, February of 2020, the average price for a musical was $125.

So that was for one ticket if you were going by yourself. And so, you know, it's a, it's a luxury brand at that ticket price. Yes, the Broadway League and yes, you know, producers have always tried to make Broadway accessible and, and having a ticket, you know, a price point for everyone, but you weren't going to get it on Saturday night. You weren't going to get it, you know, you'd have to wait for it longer. It's going to be not the, you know, the orchestra seat, you know, those kinds of things. So they'd make it available, but you still have the barrier of geography. So if you can't get to New York City, if you can't get to one of those 41 Broadway theaters, even if you could afford it, then what?

You know, what if you have any other, you know, big challenge, like anything, any sort of physical disability? So what, you know, Broadway HD's baked in mission from the beginning was accessibility. So we're taking the barriers of geography, of economics, and of any other sort of physical limitations out of the question. And we're bringing the theater and that experience to you on the internet. So whether that's at your home or you're traveling with your tablet or your phone, you know, that's how you're going to be able to access it.

[6:45] Bonnie Comley: The other thing that I feel strongly about with Broadway HD is, you know, is another type of accessibility, which, so the type that I talked about is for the audience. So for the audience to have theater and Broadway and West End shows accessible to them. But the other kind of accessibility is whose shows get to be seen on a global scale. And so a couple of years ago, we created what we call the Trailblazers Rail, which was an opportunity to highlight and showcase underrepresented voices in the theater. So whether that's women as directors, composers, lyricists, or playwrights, whether that's any of the BIPOC community or any other underrepresented voices that, you know, we've seen, you know, Broadway is the pinnacle.

It is the height of live entertainment, I think, around the world. And the main ticket buyer, the Broadway League, which is the trade association for producers, presenters, general managers, theater owners, has been around for a number of years. And they have collected the statistics on who the ticket buyer is for this. And it's basically for as long as they have been collecting those statistics, it's been the same demographic. It is a white woman who's over 40 and has, you know, a further education in high school and a higher, you know, disposable income. And yet, when you look at who is creating the shows, it's not that woman. So, you know, so these women imagine that, you know, the economics that would unfold if you actually had, you know, if you broaden that.

And so there are more women out there directing and composing. And then again, take the, you know, the underrepresented, you know, voices within, you know, just the U.S. here. You know, if you open it up and you have authentic voices being represented on Broadway, in these theaters, to everyone, would that enable them? Would that encourage them? Would that get them to buy the tickets? So those were the questions that we were always asking. But if you don't know about it, then you don't know about it. And so with Broadway HD and with the Trailblazers trail, that's what we were doing. And what we're still doing is saying, this isn't somebody that either got to Broadway or they didn't last very long on Broadway.

So some of those were, you know, Indecent by Paula Vogel, who is, you know, Paula Vogel, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. And, you know, her show was a beautifully, beautifully done production that starred Katrina Lenk, who went on to win a Tony Award for the band's visit the subsequent year after being nominated for Indecent. And that was a beautiful show that just didn't last very long for whatever reason. And so we were able to go in and capture the show on Broadway at the height of its production values. And now that show lives on for a global audience to taste and to see. Another show that didn't last very long was Pipeline by Dominique Morisot. It was done at Lincoln Center. It's a mind-blowing look at the pipeline is black youth from high school to prison.

It's basically, and I hope I didn't spoil that for anybody, but it's a brilliant piece of theater and it didn't last very long on stage, but we were able to, again, capture it with Lincoln Center and stream it to a global audience. And I think when people see these productions, it not only is, you know, because Broadway HD is an entertainment streaming platform. That's what we are. But what is our core is in our DNA is this, you know, highlighting stories and voices. And I think to inspire other people to look at, you know, these playwrights, these women playwrights and composers, or these, you know, BIPOC playwrights, composers, lyricists, directors, and say, I didn't know that I could do that. I didn't, you know, I didn't know that was possible for somebody like me. And I think that that is so important in our mission that that it's just part of, it's part of who Broadway HD is.

[11:24] Martín Acuña: I love that you just named a lot of features and a lot of characteristics that I do feel that are so important for the world right now. I love the idea of Broadway HD being the highlighter of underrepresented work. I love the idea of making theater accessible, but I also love the idea of being a representation tool. Because as you said, when you open the theater world, worldwide, people start being related and they feel represented in an industry that through history has been like owned by certain kind of people. And I love that. So what, you stated that the core of Broadway HD was highlighting voices from people that weren't represented normally. What other stories do you have, or do you have an experience about someone that sent you a message saying, hey, thank you for doing this. I feel represented and I feel my work has value.

[12:43] Bonnie Comley: Yes. One of the stories that, you know, because Broadway HD is, it's a commercial entity. It's a, you know, we, we, you know, we survive off of subscribers. And so, you know, I think that being in the theater business, I've produced to the live stage as well as TV and film. And so I think that, you know, part of the struggle with, with theater is that it sort of, it lands in the art space. But even with nonprofits and even with, you know, government subsidized theater around and art, not just theater around the world. I think it's everyone around the world struggles with the idea that you have to sell art, you know, art should be in a perfect world. Art should be available to everyone. It should be there for free, but it costs money to make this art.

And therefore it costs money to sustain this art and present this art. And I am the first one to say, I think that artists should be compensated for the work that they create. I truly believe that. So it's a business. So as much as you want to, you know, and not to say that there's anything wrong with being an artist or being, you know, commercial in any way, but I think that the, you know, the theater and arts around the world struggle with that.

[14:15] Bonnie Comley: Because you want to give it away, you want to make it free to everybody, but it's just not done because somebody's supporting that museum or somebody's supporting that non-profit. So we'll get that one right there out of the way. So as a commercial entity, Broadway HD serves two masters, if you will. One is the entertainment streaming piece, which is like a Netflix that we're selling subscriptions to watch these shows. And the other thing is that we are a member of the Broadway League. And as I mentioned, the Broadway League is a trade association. So in addition to being a streaming platform, we are a service business to the theater industry. And our obligation, our honor in that is to promote the live theater business.

And so that's another piece that there's always been this constant struggle with digitizing theater is that a lot of rightly so producers of the live stage shows feel that if there is a digital version of their show available, that it will cannibalize the ticket sales, which means that if there is a video version living somewhere that somebody could watch, that person might not spend $125 at the box office for the live show. And that is still a concern. It will be a concern when we go forward. It is a valid concern because at Broadway HD, even though we've been involved with these captures for years, there's no definitive proof that everybody that sees the digital is then going to go out and buy the ticket.

You know, there's going to be people that are going to say, well, now that I've seen it, I don't need to go see it. I'm not going to spend that hundred dollars or I didn't like that show. So, so now I'm definitely not going to buy the ticket. You know, so, so that's part of it. So we're a commercial business. We're serving the entertain, you know, the people that want entertainment. And if you are the destination for full length stage plays and musicals, we're basically the, you know, the, the 24 seven engagement platform that if you're a theater fan, you can't get to theater anywhere in the world right now. So we're the only outlet for that. And then when theater comes back, we'll be still a 24 seven platform that you can, you can go to the theater eight o'clock at night and at six o'clock in the morning, you can be watching Shakespeare digitally.

So, so it's not one or the other in my, in my opinion, and my experience with Broadway HD, you can have a digital world of theater and a live stage world that are both healthy and additive to each other.

[17:03] Bonnie Comley: So when Broadway HD launched five years ago, we tried to be smart with our marketing dollars and our social media outreach. So we went after just us English speaking, but within days of launch, we had people reaching out through customer service and through our social media saying, Hey, I'm trying to watch your shows, but you don't take my currency, which was an eye opener of, okay. I wasn't, I didn't know I was talking to you. We didn't know about it. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, the power of the internet. And again, because Broadway, he was the first destination to aggregate all this content into one place. It got, it got international attention. So when in days we had to change our payment collections, like, okay, let's open it up to worldwide currency here because we've got somebody out there that wants to watch.

Six months later, we were thrilled to be working with the Roundabout Theater Company to present She Loves Me as a live stream. We all made the Guinness World Records with being the first ever live stream of a Broadway show from the theater while the show was up, which was really exciting. And during the live stream, what happened again was we were marketing to English speaking us, but at the live live of this live stream, we had 84 different countries that were tuned in. So I don't know how they heard about us. I don't even know what time it was when people around the world were watching. And, and, you know, I mean, I, I wanted Broadway HD to make theater accessible to people, but I also, I also need to make a living, you know?

And so I needed to work commercially because it's, it has to be sustainable. And so I think part of our challenge from the very beginning, because there have been digital captures that have been filmed. Broadway didn't invent going into a theater and shooting shows the PBS here in the States, the BBC has done it and different arts, you know, different TV, broadcast companies and, and, and outlets around the world have tried to capture and broadcast their own, whether it's opera ballet dance, um, around the world. So we didn't invent that, but what the legacy that we will leave is being the aggregator to put all this similar content into one place. So if you want to watch theater on a screen, you're going to Broadway HD.

There are other shows, there are other shows that have landed on other, you know, as you mentioned, Hamilton's on Disney plus, um, Nickelodeon has SpongeBob because that's where SpongeBob was born. Um, you know, but that doesn't mean that those things at some point, maybe it's 50 years from now, maybe it's two years from now could end up on Broadway HD because they will become a point where those shows aren't attracting subscribers to Disney plus or to Nickelodeon. And it will make more sense for them to license those shows to Broadway HD and say, Hey, you have it and give it a home for a while because we've, you know, we've tapped it, if you will, for everything that we have.

[21:00] Bonnie Comley: But the live stream that we did for She Loves Me, one of the things that I didn't expect was the outreach that came after that with these 84 countries and people watching and the things that, you know, these, Oh, I'm so getting emotional. But, but people wrote to us and said that this was something that was life-changing because they had heard about Broadway and they would never experience, they knew that they would never get inside of a Broadway theater. And so to have access and to watch something while somebody was doing it and to, to, to see what that is for them was, was in their words, life-changing. Um, we had, uh, teachers that were watching it with their students and then it was a homework project that they had to write a review, uh, or write their comments about, um, after.

And, you know, those kinds of things that I didn't see coming were the things that were like, Oh, you know, not only am I, you know, doing well, I'm doing good, you know, and that is, you know, that was one of the pumps, one of the huge things that came out of it that I said, we need to really be mindful of that from the beginning because I thought, well, I'm the only one that thought that, you know, I live in New York, can't everybody can go to theater. In fact, when we launched Broadway and we were talking to other, uh, you know, colleagues within the Broadway community and saying, Oh, we're going to do a streaming platform and we're launching and, you know, 2015 and, you know, people were like, you know, there's a tri-state area and other people in the community, you know, what, what do you need that for?

Why don't you just go to the theater? And, you know, Broadway HD, still, if you, you know, we're based out of New York City where, you know, the Broadway community, Broadway, 41 Broadway theaters are right there in Times Square. If you draw a circle, you know, for a hundred mile radius around New York City, up until a year ago, our main subscriber base fell outside of that circle because they just didn't have access to those Broadway shows.

[24:00] Bonnie Comley: So the Broadway shows that tour go to, you know, there's about 200. So we have the 41 Broadway theaters in Times Square. Then it's about 200 touring Broadway theaters that present these Broadway shows. So whether it's Hamilton or Lion King, you know, Book of Mormon, those ones I do not have. So don't ask me when those tours go out or even if it's, you know, Memphis or Bodyguard or whatever, you know, show is out there touring, those shows will go to those 200. And they don't always go to those 200 theaters in the first year that they swing around the country. They go for about a week or two. And if you're not in that city at that time, that tour goes through Dallas or whatever it is, you missed it.

So, you know, even if you live in, you know, California, there isn't a Broadway tour of every show available to you. So you're going to have to get to New York City, or you're going to have to see it in some other way. So this making these things accessible is huge. I mean, so as I said, so when, you know, when people ask, you know, what are those kinds of stories I can, you know, go through, or you can just go scrolling through my social media and see when people look at these things and say, Oh my God, I've always wanted to see that. Thank you. You know, thank you for making this available. We just got, you know, the global rights to Slava's Snow Show, which was on Broadway in 20, I want to say 18, but maybe it was no 2019, 2018.

I believe it was 2018. And this is a show that has been around the world. It was off Broadway, just in New York that had over a thousand performances. It's not a traditional Broadway show. So again, it didn't last very long on Broadway, but internationally recognized this show is like the pinnacle of, you know, of clowning this type of clowning and it's brilliantly done and it's beautifully produced and beautifully captured. So for people that, you know, as Slava, Slava himself and his show toward the world, not everybody got to see it, but other people would say, Oh my God, this was an amazing show. This was really great.

[26:00] Bonnie Comley: And the other thing that I love about Slava's Snow Show as one example is that that particular show, when you see the digital capture, you want to go to the theater. I want to be there for that. I want to be there for that show because you see the audience reaction. You see the, you know, the, the, the, the players and Slava and his Snow Show, you know, it becomes part of the audience. The audience becomes part of the show. You know, so those sorts of things are just brilliant and theatrical and I love that they're digitally captured and I love that we can stream them to a global audience. So those kinds of things, those stories of making things accessible, as I said, even for a show that's toured, you think like everywhere, not everyone got to see it when this show toured around.

So here's your opportunity to see that one. So, so those sorts of things just really, you know, are my, my, kind of what I live for is to be able to do that and, and say this, you know, there's brilliant theater out there. Go see it, go see it live when we can do that again. We're not about trying to replace the live experience as a producer of the live. It isn't even a question, but it comes up a lot. You know, like, oh, you know, Liz, if we're trying to kill live stage, you know, business, and that's never been the case. And I think that one of the things that we'll, we'll all talk about more after we come back into the live shows is how the digital is additive, how the digital is creating an appetite for the live stage experience, because that was an argument before of, well, if they saw the digital version, why would they need to go to the theater?

And I think that for all the people that saw Hamilton on Disney plus, I'm now saying, you know what? I, I really liked that and I can't wait till I can go see it live. And if that show isn't available, they're going to want to go see something else until they can see Hamilton. So it creates an appetite.

[28:29] Bonnie Comley: For the live experience, which I think encourages, you know, we're in the Broadway League, we talk a lot about, you know, the new audiences and the next generation. Because we see what happens with, you know, art forms like the opera, that it seems to have an older demographic that supported it, not just in the US, but around the world. And if that audience, that generation is not going to the theater anymore and or literally dying off, there isn't another younger generation that is replacing it to the same pace that is going to make it sustainable. And I think that's, you know, with Broadway HD and with other digital theater that's out there, it's creating an appetite. It's ensuring that there will be another generation that will go to the theater, because they said the Broadway League has been taking the demographics of the theatergoer.

And there's a reason why somebody that's over 40, you know, that's really the main audience. If you sort of look at it logically, because we've been trying, we've been trying to get younger people. So younger people go to the theater if they're with their parents or grandparents or an adult takes them basically. So because they don't buy tickets. And then if you're a young person and you're going to college, you're possibly not in New York City or where there's a touring theater that's presenting a Broadway show or you're too busy doing homework at eight o'clock at night. So, you know, then you have that and then you could be early career that you either don't have one hundred twenty five dollars for your single ticket to go or you don't have the time at eight o'clock at night, you know, and that's another reason.

Or then you could be have a young family. So, you know, anybody who's ever had a young family or young children in the house at eight o'clock at night, you're probably asleep yourself if you're lucky, you know, so going out at eight o'clock for something that's not going to be over till 10. And by the time you get home, it's ten thirty. And you've got to get up and look at somebody and feed them or whatever else you have to do. And like maybe five, six in the morning, even eight o'clock in the morning, you know, so it's not till people get to be over 40 that it's like all the stars align that you have the money, the time, you know, like you're awake at eight o'clock at night and in the mood for a, you know, a two hour show.

So there's this kind of a built in reason for that. And I think that will always be there for the Saturday nights. But other people, you know, that's why the dynamic ticket pricing is fabulous for those other nights of the week for those other shows that might or the seats that you might, you know, those second balcony tickets that somebody that, you know, is just happy to go see the show and is less concerned about where they're sitting. You know, because it's more about the economics and the timing of it. We are. I mean, again, pre-COVID, we were a, you know, it was a ticket buying community that you like to plan. Very few people just sort of like, hey, it's Wednesday night. Let's go to the theater.

We didn't have a lot of that. There was some of like a walk up business or the TKTS. Yeah, exactly. It was like people that are your age, you know, that they that they can just wing it and go, you know, a lot of other people, you know, need more planning in their timing for that. And, you know, and some of them have the money to be able to buy the ticket exactly when they want it and what's what section of the theater they want it in. So I think that, you know, when we come back again, there'll be there'll still be some of those things that are still going to be there. But I think everyone will have put to bed the argument that the digital is going to kill the live space because people are watching live streams of things all over the place now, you know, in the pandemic, we all shifted.

I mean, I didn't shift because I was there, but the live, you know, you were asking organizations that produced live theater to suddenly become a TV studio overnight. You know, it's huge. You know, it's a massive undertaking for anybody if you're planning it. You know, I plan these shoots that I do sometimes years to get something. So if you just what we were going to do a show on Saturday, you know, oh my God, how are we going to do this? And at Broadway HD, you know, last year in March of 2020, what we did was we really did share resources with a lot of regional theater companies that, you know, New York City and Broadway shut down first. But they saw it coming. So they had time to say, we want to capture these shows.

We want to live stream. We want to be able to give this to our audience because we've already rehearsed it. It was just about ready to go or it was going. And we still had other subscribers or other ticket buyers that we want to not have to refund the money. So what we did was that we actually, you know, to everybody that reached out, we tried to provide resources of, you know, this is how you do it. This is, you know, make sure you have number one, make sure you have the rights to all of this stuff. You know, tell everybody that that's what you're going to do. Don't go into the camera, you know, don't go into the theater with cameras and surprise people because, you know, it's all Broadway is entirely unionized.

You can't do that as much as it sounds like it's doing someone a good, you know, it's a good service. You're taking advantage of somebody there probably. And even if it was unintentional and even if the intentions were that it was going to do good or, you know, but so we did that and we started off with a couple of theaters. We were able to help them. We were able to build a, you know, a rail, if you will, you know, a row of content to help them to for their subscribers to temporarily host the stuff. But we had so many reaching out that we couldn't do all of it and we couldn't do it right. So we gave everybody that as much help as we could and much suggestions and advice that we could. And then said, you know, here's kind of who the people are out there in the unions that you need to speak to or that, you know, anti eyes and the as caps and the BMI's and the seasons and all these other of like where you have to go to get all the rights to these things.

And, you know, we wish you luck. And so, you know, and so a just enormous amount of, you know, digital theater has been screened, live streamed, captured over the past year. And it's become in some ways easier to do. But, but, but, but, you know, this most of these captures and live streams are. And I was trying to describe it to somebody else. Basically, what it is, is these. They're supposed to be temporary. So the unions have made concessions and the publishing companies that represent these creators have made temporary concessions to say in a pandemic. Yes, we'll allow you to live stream this and do within. It's usually within two weeks, two weeks that that person can a subscriber can then access this show off of some protected, you know, video sharing platform.

And so in that sense, I was trying to describe to somebody, it's kind of like Snapchat. So these live streams and these, you know, they're recording it. It's supposed to become inaccessible. It's supposed to disappear or be deleted or erased afterwards. And the reason for that is. Because, well, let me, let me start with what, what, what we see, what our challenge with doing a digital capture has been and what the permanent captures that are that are on demand somewhere that are these videos on demand. But what, which is what Broadway HD has, you know, 350 on demand streaming videos, which means you have to be connected to the Internet right now. You cannot download these there. You have to be connected to the Internet and you stream it.

So if you only watch half of it, you can go back and watch the other half at any time while you're still a subscriber. But the transactional videos, which is what these live streams with the subsequent. Oh, if you didn't get to watch it while it was live stream on Friday night, you have two weeks to access it somewhere. These videos are when Broadway HD would try to do our captures. There were discussions about what version of this, because if you're capturing it for, we're going to say forever for our purposes. The creators and the authors, the rights holders want it to be the best production because quite possibly they're not going to be able to license another one. You know, you're not going to do give 50 people permission to do whatever, you know, whatever your show is.

Let's say she loves me. You're just going to say this one production is going to be the digital version that lives in eternity. So with the Broadway productions and the digital captures prior to COVID, the authors or the rights holders really wanted to see what the production looked like in advance. Like I want to go and see the show. So you would have to wait until opening night, usually to see what it looks like. So you have all this stuff planned and then the authors could go there and say, you know what, I didn't like it. This isn't the one that I want captured. So the whole thing, like a house of cards, just just all falls down on top of itself. It's their property if it's their intellectual property and they created the show or they have the rights or they have the obligation to make sure that whoever wrote this, this is the version that everyone around the world should be able to see.

Yes, you absolutely should have that right to say, no, just because you have a camera doesn't mean you can record this and show it to the whole world. But and so that has been the the the way to do business prior to COVID. Those are the ones that are these permanent digital captures. So these transactional pieces that have come up in the last year in COVID with the concessions with the unions are basically this is sort of a Snapchat version. So it's theater organizations trying to keep their audiences engaged or trying to not have to refund tickets that they already sold to somebody from being refunded. It's like, please just let me do this digital version. And so the licensing companies and all the powers that be around this have said, you know, what will allow this for a temporary transactional period of time is to live.

You know, so people will see it and hopefully it works out that the audiences are happy with it, that there's digital engagement within their theater, you know, their community there and that they need money that they or at least made their money back with it or that it was worth it for them for the awareness building that they were doing with that piece of digital video. And those are supposed to, as I said, they're supposed to become inaccessible and it's usually two weeks. So I hope that that's what's happening with those is that they are becoming inaccessible because that was the deal that was made and the creators of that allowed it. So I hope that their concessions and that they're, you know, what they wanted is honored in that.

So that's really the difference between the permanent digital captures is that everybody wants to see it first or they know it's already, it was another production that's being replicated someplace is the other thing. So they already saw a version of it before that's going to be basically done with the same cast or the same, you know, and the same sets and the same costumes, the same choreography, whatever it is. So it's, it's, there's a lot of digital engagement going around. And I think as a media tech company CEO, and as somebody that is a live theater producer, digital engagement.

[43:15] Bonnie Comley: The internet is here. What, you know, some of my things that I think that we're learning after a year of streaming this stuff is, you know, it's time to sit down and reevaluate, you know, is this really working for us? Because as I said, we at Broadway HD, we did all sorts of planning for this. We were marketing to a global audience for six years, you know, so now with a temporary piece of video, do you need to do the whole show? And then what do you charge? You know, so, you know, a year ago, nobody had any idea, you know, how do I charge for this? What do I charge for this? You know, is it? And so it's that, you know, with digital businesses, there's always a sort of a motto of, you know, think global and act local.

And that's what these theaters were, if they had the right marketing and the right leadership we're doing, is that they're thinking, you know what, I'm going to put this up on the internet and the whole world can see it. But if I'm a theater in Kansas, do I really need the whole world to be aware of me? Or is it more important that the community that I was serving pre-COVID is aware that I'm still here and I'm going to open back up. And then after I open back up, you can still use that community, that digital community that you built to keep them like, hey, we're open, the doors just flew open. And now you've been engaged with us online, now come and see us. So I believe that it really isn't necessary for everybody, every theater producing organization out there to digitize live stream and or digitally capture these permanent things their entire season.

I just don't think it's necessary. It wasn't what you were doing before. And that, you know, all of a sudden you felt like you needed to do it. And I'm going to get all of this. I'm going to go digitally with, as I said, I believe in digital engagement. I don't believe in giving away things for free. So this idea of, oh, it's a tip jar or it's a whatever, you know, like, don't just pay what you can kind of thing is, is a lovely sentiment and thought. But for everybody, even if you're a nonprofit, you need to act entrepreneurially in order to sustain yourself. And so the ones that don't do that are not going to open their doors again after the pandemic is over, in my opinion. So I think that giving stuff, you know, give away some of it, give away pieces of it, show snippets like we did with B-Roll with Broadway shows.

You know, there's a way for people to get a sense of what you're doing and then have a meaningful engagement with your community. So if you're a theater in Kansas, you can either talk about the shows that you were doing, show, maybe you can get permission to do some archival video or something that you have, or bring in the actors or the creatives that were going to be working in your season, your, you know, maybe they're local or now everybody can get to you with Zoom, you know, is to host something like that and capture that and say, have them talking about why this particular show was going to be done in this theater in Kansas at this time. Why was this important for these people in this community?

And then it's more meaningful for them because you're putting it on the internet, which is thinking globally, but you're acting locally because the community that you really are there to serve is that local community in that theater in Kansas that are going to be the ones that you're going to have to serve when the pandemic is over. You should be, you know, that's what your audience was. That's who your audience should still be. You know, if you happen to grab somebody's attention that's in a foreign country someplace, then that's wonderful. You, you know, but the chances of them coming to your theater in Kansas to watch a show later is not great and not a good spend of, you know, marketing or brand awareness, you know, dollars in my opinion.

And I think that's what it's all about. So I think there's ways to digitally engage with short form videos, with other things that are less expensive than the full out production of shows. And people are, are happy because you've customized it to them and told them why that show was relevant to your theater in your community with these actors or these creators. We're taking, you know, whatever it is, she loves me or Oklahoma or whatever show it is. And we're going to, you know, we're going to do some sort of revival or re-envision it for our community. And that's why it's important to us here, because I think if you try and, you know, everybody keeps trying to live stream every full out production that they have to the entire world, it's just, you're just blasting stuff out there.

And that's not going to be your community when the, your, your physical doors of your theater open back up. And that's not because I feel like, Oh, somebody's competing with me with Broadway, HD, because, because, well, they are, but so is everybody, you know, I'm Netflix is, is I'm competing here. Netflix is competing with me, you know, Disney plus is competing, but so it's like, you know, TikTok videos and, you know, walking the dog is competing with you because it's something else you could be doing instead of going to the theater. So everything is competition to you. So why is that meaningful to your people in your community to come to your theater? And I think that's what people have to really focus on.

And if you can localize it in that way, it's really meaningful. And it's the money is well-spent to, to speak and to speak digitally. And your digital engagement for your community is really meaningful and it's a good stand. I want to go back to one thing you mentioned, because for me, digital capture is all about giving shows an afterlife being on stage. You mentioned that a digital capture is a way to immortalize shows. And I love that thought because there are a lot of shows that have been on Broadway, off Broadway, on the West end that I cannot see because of their productions were five years ago, 10 years ago. And they're not going to get a revival soon. And I do think that a digital capture is a way of preserving that show with the original cast, with the original creators, the original choreography.

And that is just something that inspires me a lot because there are a lot of shows that were young or they're targeted for young audiences, like Be More Chill or The Lightning Thief that closed, both closed early in 2020, that we are not going to be able to see them. We only have the production photos or the archive videos for marketing, but we won't be able to get the whole idea of the show. Like it's happening with the shows you have on Broadway HD or pro shots like Hamilton or Newsies. And that relates to making theater accessible because these shows were successful, even in their short runs, but now they are just back in like oblivion and we only have the cast recordings. So, yeah, I think that there lies the power of digital capture for me.

[51:59] Bonnie Comley: Well, let me speak to that because I mean, that's the whole, I mean, the magic of theater is that shared experience, that sitting next to people in the theater and they have these studies where everybody's heart beats at the same rate, you know, all these sort of wonderful, you know, outcomes of being in a shared space. And I buy into all of that. I believe that. I believe in the magic of theater and shared experience. I really do. And part of theater, that magic of theater is that it's ephemeral and that it's there and then it's not there anymore. Like it's gone, totally gone. And that's part of the magic of it is that it was like only there for that, like that little kismet of like, oh, there it was that minute.

And then we're gone. And I think that, you know, that is part of what makes Broadway HD successful is that we captured one of the magic moments. We captured the one, you know, well, the truth is we sometimes always capture just the one night because what we do is we shoot multiple, you know, we shoot the show multiple times. So we go in, I mean, I don't think we've never used less than four cameras. So we go in with from four to, I think we've used up to 16 cameras in HD and or 4K. And we ideally shoot three times. So it's the same cast and we try and shoot it three times in a row. So it's usually like Wednesday matinee, Wednesday evening and then Thursday night, you know, or when we were live streaming some things, we're trying to do it, you know, whatever.

And then that third one would be the live stream. And the reason for that is, which is sort of funny when you think about it with the magic of theater and like, oh, you never know what's going to happen. Somebody could forget a line, trip over the rug with somebody's cell phone, you know, like those kinds of things like, oh, I was in the theater the night that, you know, whatever it is. But when we talk about immortalizing these productions on video, we want it to be perfect. We don't want to have those like, we don't want the cell phone going off or the person who stood up in front of the camera and walked out to use the restroom in the middle. You know, like you just, you want to edit those things out.

But we've actually done a couple that were, you know, and most of our shoots, we do so much pre-production planning and planning with the cameras in advance. The TV directors that we use plan out every shot with every camera, like way in advance. And, you know, so we capture something like, if they just, if we just put together one show, it's basically perfect because everybody on Broadway is perfect. They are at the heights, heights, heights of their game, you know, from the lighting to the sound, to the costumes, to the sets. So, I mean, just the actors, everybody is just spot on perfection. And that they do it eight times a week is mind blowing to me. But we have at times, you know, with She Loves Me in the live stream, Laura Benanti is eating out, if you're not familiar with the show, she's, she's, it's like a breakup song and she's so sad and she's eating ice cream, but she's eating ice cream and it falls off the spoon and she's in bed in her pajamas.

And the ice cream falls off her spoon onto her pajamas. And she went with, because she's a pro, she eats the ice cream because that's what you do if you were in your pajamas at home, she eats the ice cream, uses her spoon, she scoops the ice cream off of her own pajamas and she eats it, you know, and we were like, oh my God, you know, she's done this show a hundred times already. I can't believe she just dropped the ice cream in her lap. But it was so real and so charming. And she was in character the entire, that it was so believable that it was a magic moment that we caught that never happened before, never happened again, but we got it on the digital capture. And then we kept it, you know, cause we sort of looked at it and she was like, go ahead, keep it.

You know what I mean? And we were like, we have to, we kind of have to, you know, um, a similar story. Um, but on the other side of like, you know what, take it out was, um, we did a Romeo and Juliet with Orlando Bloom and the guy was, I mean, it's Orlando Bloom and he is doing his Romeo to Juliet scene and it's sort of a fire escape looking ladder. Um, we did it in

[56:59] Bonnie Comley: So, and I love that you brought that up. But here's the other thing that me and the BroadwayHD team as being these tech people that are more innovative and more forward thinking than other people but I kind of have to be. And so one of the things that we look at with digital assets, we call them, which is either cast recordings for musicals or digital full-out digital productions that we capture, is how additive they are to licensing the shows in the secondary market. Which means that after a show has been on Broadway, there's 41 Broadway theaters pre-COVID and probably, you know, so the post-COVID will be a little bit different. But basically the pre-COVID, there was on average 30 new Broadway shows every single season.

So the rotation of shows that came through meant that there was, you know, constant renewal of the shows that were there. So if there's 41 shows, if you get to the point that you're a Broadway show, you're guaranteed that you're going to get licensed. MTI or Concord, somebody's going to license your show and make it available to other producers and other organizations to be able to do that show at another time. They might hold on to the rights till they're done with their Broadway tour, but they're going to make it available. So you're guaranteed a license. Then you have the off-Broadway just in New York that there's, again, post-COVID, there was about 150 off-Broadway shows and theaters. Then add in the off-off-Broadway shows, which are harder to track because some of them were these like auditoriums that weren't really a theater, but we have, you know, sort of an auditorium kind of setting.

So we're going to sell tickets and so it's theater, you know. So you're talking about 30 new Broadway shows that get licensed every year. So I'm not talking about the regional theaters that also develop shows that and get done and licensed and might not make it to Broadway. So you're talking about there's hundreds, hundreds of new shows that are published and are available to license and do in other theaters from, you know, middle school through amateur, you know, community theater productions or other regional, you know, big time regional theaters are going to do these. The thing that sets these shows apart and gives them more chance, a better chance of being licensed is digital assets, which means you have a cast album if you're a musical or you have a cast album and a digital capture, or if you're just a play, just a digital capture.

Because that piece of digital video, digital, digital asset is going to make you stand out than just the, I say printed because I'm old, just the, just the text version of a play. Because if you went into a, you know, theater bookstore, even if you're going online, it's like, you know, you have to read all this. So we break it down of like, well, how many, you know, how many people in the cast, where is it set? Is it, you know, how many different set changes, you know, sort of the basics about it that you look at and say, am I going to be able to do this in my theater? What's the most enjoyable way is you listen to a cast album or you look at a digital capture. So those things have popped to the top of the list of things that get done, but because they have digital assets.

And so it's undeniable the additive value that these digital assets have to these Broadway brands, I'll call them these Broadway shows, because it is a, you know, you wrote it, it gets published. It's a, it's a, it's something that's for sale. It's a product now. And so the digital piece helps it is added in that way. So here's the Broadway HD innovative part is that we are looking at and talking to theater makers on their way to Broadway. So you mentioned Being More Chill. Being More Chill was done at a regional theater in New Jersey. They recorded the cast and put the cast album on the internet and it received so much attention that it warranted a Broadway show. That was not done in that way before ever.

And yet when the show got to Broadway, it couldn't sustain itself for whatever reason, because it's, you know, $125 a ticket. And you know, who's the audience? Are you trying to bring five kids with the two parents? You know, like how expensive is that? And I don't know that it was just price. Again, it's that most shows are at eight o'clock at night, even if they're at seven o'clock at night and you're bringing people that have to go to middle school or high school the next day, you know, you're all looking at Saturday night, Saturday afternoon, or a Sunday matinee, you know, to bring your, to bring your family to that show. And it's hard to flip that, you know, take out, you know, take out five nights of the week and only do the show on the weekends or whatever it is, you know, to make the economics work.

So it's, um, I think that in the future, because we're working on it now, we're looking at, like, you know, in the, in the spirit of, in the business plan of a being more chill, of putting the digital assets out into the world before the Broadway version and, and, and getting people familiar with that show and having it stand out so that by the time it gets to Broadway, people are, oh my God, I can't wait to see that. I know all the songs, you know? And I think that that is not, um, it's not unrealistic. And it's something, as I said, we're already looking at that. We're looking at that, um, in other countries at this point as well of, um, you know, shooting things. And then because we have an internet company, if needed, we can geo-block things, meaning, okay, so we shot this show in the UK and, you know, everybody's watching it on video.

We want to bring it to Broadway so we can geo-block the tri-state area. You know, if you live in the tri-state area and that's what your emails are, it tells us that you're basically, that you're living in that area. You're not going to have access to it, um, you know, and see how that works or take it down temporarily. But, you know, it's a big world. So even if we just take it down US while it's on Broadway and the rest of the world can watch it, it's still, you know, it's still creating and perpetuating a, uh, promoting a brand while tickets are sold somewhere else. So I do think that, you know, to your point of, um, it preserves shows, but it also is going to, uh, promote brands going forward and, and let, you know, build awareness before, before it gets to that $125 ticket and people can't wait to go see it.

[1:06:59] Martín Acuña: Well, Bonnie, thank you so much for being here. I have two last questions for you.

[1:07:09] Bonnie Comley: Sure. First one, um, top five favorite musical theater shows. Um, my top five, um, uh, you know, I love stuff that's on the Broadway HD platform. I, you know, and it's so hard when people ask me to pick a favorite of anything, cause I also have five children and I can't pick a favorite child. So things that I really love. And for whatever reason, I love, she loves me because, because it was such an exciting evening to be able to, you know, live stream that for the first time ever to the world. I love Holiday Inn because Laura Lee Geyer is amazing. And the choreography of these people that sing and jump rope, that was actually like a piece of Christmas garment is, is, is beyond, is beyond, beyond talent.

Um, I love the Hugh Jackman, Oklahoma that we have because it's a classical presentation of Oklahoma. Um, I also loved the Broadway version that just, you know, won a Tony award a year or two ago because it was a re invention revisit of that show. But I love this one because it is traditional. Um, I love, love, love 42nd street. Um, it was a cast of 52. Um, the talent in that, that you could sing and tap dance like that at the same time is, is just awe-inspiring. Um, what is that for? Um, and then I need another one. I really, for whatever reason, I love cats. We have cats. You know, whether you, you know, I just think it's one of those shows that lasted so long. It's still, it's going to go out and go on tour again.

When Broadway, you know, when the touring Broadway reopens, cats is going out again. There's a reason why people watch that. It's just really, again, it's the talent that's on stage. It's, we have a lane page and it's so heart-wrenching for Grizabella. Um, you know, it's, it's, so those are, I would say like, I have to pull the five. Those are, those are them that I love for music. I'm going to say, Oh, I forgot to mention that, but those are, those are five.

[1:09:35] Martín Acuña: I love that. And last question. Um, where can people find more about you and Broadway HD besides broadwayhd.com?

[1:09:43] Bonnie Comley: Um, I think, you know, does anybody need to know more about me? Um, that's kind of scary. Um, well, it's broadwayhd.com. And then, I mean, if you want to Google, I guess you can Google, you know, you want to see what my Broadway credits are. You can go to ivdb.com, which is, uh, the, the Broadway leads database for Broadway, uh, credits. Um, and I, I think that's it. I mean, what else do you need to know? All is purple, which you can see. Um, but I guess that, you know, anything else I don't think you need to know about me. I love theater. I love live theater. I, you know, it is my honor to present all of the Broadway HD digital versions that we have streaming around the world. Uh, I love it. I love live theater. I can't wait for everybody to get back. Um, and, uh, I think that's all anybody needs to know about me. And I thank you so much for having me.

[1:10:37] Martín Acuña: Thank you. It's been a lovely chat and I know it's been super insightful. Uh, and I know our audience will love it. So thank you so much for being here.

[1:10:55] Bonnie Comley: It was my pleasure.

[1:10:58] Martín Acuña: Thanks everyone for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.