Ticket Sales

I concur with Sue on this one. Jeff, I would like to add that JCS was the first production that Marloo Theatre used BOCS so the situation you described was probably part of their learning process. With regards to publicity, not many amateur theatre companies have megabucks to allocate to it, after paying for venues, overheads, utilities, bar licenses, bar stock, royalties ,insurance (Yes! We have that to pay too! Public liabilty is something we need to worry about like everyone else!) and other expenses to simply put on a show,(and yes, in lot of cases only just scraping through.)there isnt usually much left over to have paid publicity...if at all! Free advertising is out there, but often in obscure places. Most clubs have posters, and send media releases etc, but remember that it has to compete against the overload of information that people providing free advertising are bombarded with. Most clubs tackle advertising from several different angles, but keep in mind most of the members of clubs that do this are doing it "after" everything else AND unpaid. One of the most frustrating things is thats after YEARS of having advertising out there, many people in the community STILL do not know we exist - go figure! Jeff, you say that the $6 fee is a bit steep,and yes I can see your point, but then I can't remember the last time a show in amateur theatre charged over $100 for a show. There is another added bonus of BOCS, we are becoming visible to Joe Public, theatres that might have been a quarter or half full(or in some cases much less than that) are now near or total sell outs - BOCS very well may be the saviour of community theatre in Perth - financially at least. So the fee may be distasteful to you, but I am sure you don't begrudge theatre groups the opportunity to use a service that has had so many added benefits than simply being a ticket bookings provider. Of course if you could suggest some faithful individual, that prints tickets, has their own website that is high profile reaches the community at large and can take bookings online, and has a flair for publicity - please let us know their name! BOCS takes the headache out of bookings, and instead of having to bank several cheques in small amounts (for those companies brave enough to risk the dishonour fees!)at the end of the season, you get a nice big one that isnt going to bounce! I doubt that an individual could provide the same service for a 6 dollar booking fee - it would be substantially more. I think the benefits of BOCS far outweigh this fee, but look at it as a donation to keeping our art alive, as an avid theatregoer I am sure you dont want to see us disappear!