THE PRODUCER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Spring 2009
Table of Contents
Vital Information……………………………..…………………………………………………………………….3
Producer’s Responsibilities………..………………………………………………………………..………….4
Paperwork…………………………..…………………………………………………………………..…………....5
Using the Budget…….……..……………………………………………………………………………..……....6
Promotion.………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…7
Programs……………………………………………………………………..…………………………..…………..9
House Management………..……………………………………………..……………….…………………….12
Producing Tips………………………………………………………………..……………...………………...…14
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Vital Information
Treasurer Contact Information:
Ryan Impagliazzo
Cell: (267) 210-7913
BU E-mail: rimpag@bu.edu
GMail: ryan.impagliazzo@gmail.com
AIM: ryeman87
SAO (Student Activities Office) and SABO (Student Activities Business
Office)
1 University Road, Boston, MA 02115
SAO Hours: 9:00am – 6:00pm
SABO Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Stage Troupe Account Number
26025
Official Name for the Student Theater
 Boston University Student Theater at Agganis Arena
 In some cases it may be necessary/appropriate to drop the "at Agganis Arena" part
Producers’ Keys
 Blue: Theater Lobby Key
 Pink: Producer’s Booth
 Orange: Display Cases
 Yellow: Public Restrooms Key
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Producer's Responsibility
Duties
 Paperwork
o Purchase Orders (POs) Request Form
o Funds Transfer Request Form
o Allocations Board Funds Transfer Form
o Check Requests Form
o Small Dollar Reimbursement Form
o Requisition Request Form
o Cash Collection Form
o Kinko’s Job Request Form
 Budget
o Ensure show stays on budget and uses all AB (Allocations Board) funded
money
 Promotion
o Posters
o Flyers
o GSU Link Table
o T-Shirts
o Other
 Programs
 House Management
 Weekly Meetings
o Meet with the Director(s) and Technical Directors weekly to address concerns
and ensure everything is running smoothly
Chain of Command
The Producer reports to the Treasurer and is on equal footing with the Director(s) and
the Technical Director. The only crewmembers that report to the Producer are the
Assistant Producers. The role of the Assistant Producer is to assist with any duties of the
Producer and learn how to act independently as a Producer.
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Paperwork
Types of Paperwork
 Purchase Orders (POs) Request Form
o Used to purchase goods for a production
o Take five days to process
o Use with vendors
 Numerous vendors accept Boston University POs. These vendors are
listed in the Vendor Book in SAO or online at www.bu.edu/sao. Using
these vendors is easy and fun!
 If a vendor you would like to use is not in the Vendor Book call the
vendor and ask if they will take a Boston University PO. If the vendor is
willing to accept a PO, you must include the vendor’s address and
phone number on the PO Request Form.
 If a necessary vendor cannot accept a PO, you may seek a check request
or a reimbursement through the Treasurer
 Funds Transfer Request Form
o Transfers money from one University group or department to another
o Takes five days to process
 Allocations Board (AB) Funds Transfer Request Form
o Transfers funding from the AB to Stage Troupe
o Must be submitted with any PO Request Forms using AB funding
 Check Request Form
o Used for vendors unable to accept POs and for reimbursements.
o Must be approved by the Treasurer and SAO
 Small Dollar Reimbursement Form
o Used for immediate cash reimbursements
o Must be approved by the Treasurer
 Requisition Request Form
o Requisitions for University services
o Two week deadline
 Cash Collection Form
o Needed for at-the-door ticket sales
o One week deadline
 Kinko’s Job Requests
o Used to print programs, flyers, tickets and any other printed materials
o Takes two days to process
General Procedures for Paperwork
Step 1:
Select the appropriate form
Step 2:
Ask the Activities Consultant at SAO for the appropriate form
Step 3:
Fill out the form attaching any relevant documentation
Step 4:
Have the Treasurer sign it
Step 5:
Pick it up from the Student Activities Business Office when ready
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Using the Budget
Working with the TD and Crew
The TD should have weekly tech meetings that encompass at least the master carpenter,
the lighting and sound designers, and the costumer. The TD may have all money
requests routed through him/herself, or he/she may instruct all technicians to go
directly to the Producer. All of the crew should be made aware of how much money they
have in their respective budgets, as well as the turnaround time for processing a PO
request. Encourage people to plan ahead and start working as early as possible.
Allocations Board Funding
It is the Producer's discretion as to whether he or she informs the crew of what portion
of their budget is AB funding. It is always preferable to spend AB funding first.
Technicians who have AB funding may use it for their own show or may consult the TA
as to what would benefit Stage Troupe. AB money must be used for its original
intention, i.e. money allocated for costumes must be used for costuming materials and
not for set-building materials.
Stage Troupe Policy on Quickie Purchase Orders
SAO allows PO Requests to be “quickied” for emergency situations. Each show is
allowed two quickie purchase orders per semester. All quickie PO requests must be
approved by the Treasurer.
Stage Troupe Policy on Reimbursements
Stage Troupe’s policy is that all items must be purchased with a Purchase Order unless
the vendor does not take purchase orders, for example Urban Renewal and other thrift
stores. The Treasurer must approve reimbursements, before any money is
spent. Reimbursements also require an itemized receipt and the social security number
of the purchaser. If they are not pre-approved and/or the purchaser does not have the
itemized receipt, the reimbursements will not be processed. Reimbursements will be
process after the production’s run at the discretion of the Treasurer.
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Promotion
Standards
All promotional material for Stage Troupe productions must include the following:
 Title of show
 Author of show
 Anything else required by the licensing agency (see Treasurer)
 “Boston University Stage Troupe Presents” in a font no less than half the size of
the largest font on the page
 Stage Troupe logo
 Dates of performances
 Times of performances
 Location of performances location (an address or "Boston University Student
Theater at Agganis Arena" is sufficient)
 Ticket prices ($6 General/$5 Members, unless otherwise noted)
 Location of ticket sales (GSU Information Desk)
 "Partially Funded by Your Undergraduate Student Fee"
Poster Reservations
 Reservations for poster space on the front of the GSU can be made at SAO
 Reservations for poster space on the front of Warren Towers can be made online
at http://www.bu.edu/alumni/warren/form.html
Poster Procedure
1. Design the poster
a. Poster size for the GSU and Warren Tower is 42” x 54”
b. For the sake of clarity its best to design the poster at full size
2. Have it approved by the Treasurer and SAO
3. Fill out the Poster Form
4. Fill out a Funds Transfer Request Form to the SAO Printing account (#61150)
5. Have the Treasurer sign these forms
6. Take forms and electronic copy of poster to SAO
7. Wait for your reservation and watch your poster appear
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Flyers Procedure
Use a Kinko’s Request to print the flyers. Kinko’s turnover is two days, but give yourself
a buffer in case anything goes awry. To have flyers distributed to dorms, bring 359 of
them to the Office of Residence Life at 25 Buick Street (have to have stamped approval
from the SAO). The flyers must be divided and labeled as follows:
10 Buick Street:
1019:
575 Commonwealth Ave:
Danielson Hall and Area:
Myles Standish Hall:
Shelton Hall and Area:
South Campus and Area:
The Towers and Area:
Warren Towers:
West Campus:
CELOP Office:
ORL Office:
30
10
22
18
21
31
80
50
50
42
1
3
GSU Link Table
A GSU Link Table may be reserved for handing out flyers and general publicity through
SAO. This is a very effective method of advertising if enough manpower can be found
within the cast and crew to man it.
T-Shirts
Most directors and TDs like getting t-shirts. It is a great way to promote the show. You
may use any vendor you like. Cast and crew members are generally expected to pay for
their own shirts. My recommendation:
Andy G Screen Printing and Embroidery
Tel.: 617-820-5151
andy@AndyG.com
729 Boylston St. 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02116
He is pleasant, efficient and the shirts are usually less than $10.
“Other”
I encourage you all to take advantage of all the resources at your disposal and
implement promotions that aren’t typically done for Stage Troupe productions. This
could range from working with the BU Office of Marketing & Communications
(http://www.bu.edu/marcom) to get a story published in BU Today (Editorial
Department) or press release written (Media Relations Department), to partnering with
other student groups whose members might have a particular interest in your show, to
doing something fun and “out of the box,” such as holding a “Opening Night Party” to
increase attendance at the Thursday night performance. Brainstorm to come up with
promotions that are effective, appropriate for the show, and, if possible, FREE!
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Programs
General Purpose and Requirements
Programs produced by Stage Troupe have two purposes: to inform the audience of
important information about the show they are seeing including production and safety
information and to form a piece of the Stage Troupe historical record. Therefore, when
designing a program, you should include information that you'll want to know ten years
from now, like the year the production occurred and where it occurred.
The program must include:
 Title and author of the show
 Anything else required b the licensing agency
 “Boston University Stage Troupe Presents”
 Stage Troupe logo
 Date (including the year) and location of the performances (“Boston University
Student Theater at Agganis Arena”)
 A warning about strobe lights if they are used in the production
A program should include (not optional, but you can control the format):
 A full list of the cast in a format fitting to the show
 A full list of all of the crew including their position
 A special thanks section that includes:
o Student Activities
 The Student Activities Office
 The Student Activities Business Office
 Mindy Stroh, Director
 Linda Keltner, Executive Secretary
o Kenneth Elmore, Dean of Students
o The Stage Troupe Executive Board
 Optionally, list them by name and title
o Eric Jacobsen, Student Group Advisor
 A list of remaining Stage Troupe shows and events for the season including the
dates and location
A program may include (entirely optional):
 Director's notes (but keep them short, no one wants to read two pages)
 Cast and crew bios
 A summary of scenes or acts
 An approximate runtime of scenes, acts, or the show
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Prior to printing, a program must be:
 Approved by the Director(s)
o Reviewed by the Technical Director for accuracy and completeness
 Approved by the Treasurer
 Approved by the Stage Troupe Group Advisor for Parent's Weekend shows
 No changes should be made after obtaining these approvals other than minor
typographical changes
Bios
 If it is decided to include bios for the cast you must also include them for the
titled positions on the crew
 Have the cast and crew give these to you 2-3 weeks before the show
o Directors Notes: Make these due the same time as bios. Directors are usually
the worst in regards to getting these in on time.
 Must include name, role/position, school and year of graduation.
 You may edit bios for length and for content at your discretion
o Be sure to indicate in advance that you reserve the right to edit the bios for
length. Providing good guidelines at the outset, e.g. "75 words or less", is a
good way to avoid having to edit for length.
o Avoid the urge to edit for content. If you feel the content is inappropriate,
start by discussing it with the author. If that doesn't work out, bring in the
Director, and lastly, the E-Board.
 You should determine, in advance, guidelines for the cast and crew for writing
their bios
o Parent's Weekend show bios must be professional in nature
o All other shows may use a more informal format, however, it is advised that
you do not insult or offend your audience, which may include parents,
administration and other guests
o It's considered bad form in the theatrical world to "dedicate this performance"
in the bio (as that's something the company does, not something an individual
does), but saying "thanks for your support" is fine
 If you collect bios for a program it is highly suggested you provide an opportunity
for the author to proofread their own work after it is typed. This opportunity does
not have to be in the final format of the program, but if you may have to edit for
length it would be easier to do that first. Allowing people the chance to edit helps
avoid spelling mistakes, typographical errors, etc. A common approach is to ask
the cast and crew to look over the program, read their bio, and initial next to it
that they saw it. When everyone has initialed it, you're good to go.
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Sample Bio
Ryan Impagliazzo (Producer, SMG '09) is thrilled to be producing The Graduate,
although he secretly wanted to play the role of Receptionist/Stripper. He has produced
Lend Me a Tenor and Rumors with Stage Troupe and Urinetown: The Musical with
Hillel's JTG, as well as performed in West Side Story with BU On Broadway. Ryan
would like to thank the entire cast and crew for yet another fabulous theatre experience
and his SMG Core team for being so willing to meet around his unreasonable schedule.
Formatting
 When laying out a folded program allow enough space between your columns of
text that you can still read the program easily when its folded over. This space is
called "gutter space" by most publishing programs.
 You can use a unique program format but please first consult with the Director(s)
and the Treasurer.
 Consistency of style gives you that extra 10% of quality. If you abbreviate Boston
University as BU in one place you should do it in all places. If you call US
"Troupe" in one place, you should call us "Troupe" in all places, otherwise call us
"Stage Troupe" in all places. If you capitalize Executive Board in one place,
capitalize it the same way in all others. If you print "13" as "thirteen" do so in all
places. For numbers, a common rule is spell out the numbers one through ten
and use digits for 11 and greater unless the number is the first word of a sentence
in which case it is always spelled out. Finally, everyone has their own idea of
when to use theater and when to use theatre, but a standing tradition in Troupe is
that theater is the building and theatre is the thing you do on stage, so "Join us
for an evening of fine theatre at the theater". Make up your own rules here, just
be consistent.
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House Management
Ticket Printing Procedure
1. Design the tickets
a. Follow the instructions and template listed on the Ticket Order Form
b. In addition to promotion standards listed above, include the following phrase:
“Non refundable – Unredeemed tickets will be resold at 8pm (or whatever
time the performance is scheduled to begin). We reserve the right to refuse
seating to latecomers.”
2. Have them approved by the Treasurer and SAO
3. Fill out the Ticket Order Form
4. Fill out a Funds Transfer Request Form to the SAO Printing account (#61150)
5. Have the Treasurer sign these forms
6. Take forms and electronic copy of tickets to SAO
7. Tickets will be printed and sent to GSU Information Desk to be put on sale
a. Make sure not all tickets are put on sale immediately
b. I recommend holding about 20 tickets for each performance to satisfy
requests for complimentary and reserved tickets
Ticket Sales
 During the week of the production tickets are sold at the GSU Information Desk
on the second floor of the GSU
 On the first day of the production’s run, the Producer must pick up a cash bag at
SABO and bring it to the theater for at-the-door sales
 Two hours before curtain, the Producer must pick up any unsold tickets for that
performance at the GSU Information Desk and bring them to the theater for atthe-door sales
 The Producer is responsible for contacting crew members not involved in the
running of the show, Executive Board members and Advisors to determine which
nights they are coming and reserve their complimentary tickets
 The Producer has the authority to accept ticket reservations, but should do so
prudently. I strongly recommend that the Producer reserve tickets only for use
by those who are unable to purchase them in person at the GSU during the week
of the show (e.g. family of cast and crew members, alumni, etc.). Reserving an
excessive number of tickets can be dangerous because it may give the appearance
the performance is sold out although there is no guarantee that those that the
tickets are reserved for will claim them. If a cast or crew member asks you to
reserve tickets for BU students, encourage him or her to instead purchase the
tickets himself or herself and leave them with you at the Producers’ Booth and
have the BU students pay him or her back later. If the cast or crew member is
sure that the BU students will come, than he or she should have no problem
following this rule. Inform those that reserve tickets that all reservations will be
released a half hour before curtain if there is a waiting list.
 If a performance is sold out, the Producer may start a Waiting List two hours
before curtain. Unclaimed reserved tickets can be sold to those on the Waiting
List a half hour before curtain. All tickets can be resold if not redeemed by curtain
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House Count
The Producer is in charge of the house and must be aware of the seating capacity of the
house and how many people are in the house at all times.
 The seating capacity of the Student Theater is 101 seats, plus two spots for
wheelchairs. The Light/Sound Booth may be occupied by crew members only.
 Make sure tickets (or at least ticket stubs) are taken at the door as people are let
in to keep an accurate house count
 No one, including the Producer, is allowed to stand or sit in the aisles or back of
the house during the performance
YOU HAVE TO, HAVE TO, HAVE TO OBSERVE THE FIRE CODE!
House Maintenance and Management
 The Producer is responsible for ensuring that the house is clean before opening
the house. This includes the seating area, the lobby area, the counter, and the
bathrooms. B&G should clean between productions but night-to-night it is the
responsibility of the Producer to ensure the house is clean.
 It is recommended to open the house fifteen to thirty minutes before the
scheduled performance for the Student Theater and other comparable theaters.
Communicate with the Stage Managers and the Booth concerning opening the
house and starting the show.
 Absolutely no food or beverage is to be permitted into the house at any time
 The Producer is responsible for handing out programs
 One Producer should stay in the Producers’ Booth to deal with any audience
member that arrives after the performance has started or, for whatever other
reason, tries to enter the house during the performance
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Producing Tips
1. Do everything way in advance. We’ve had problems in the past with rushing to
deadlines and using too many quickie POs. Try to lay out a plan so most of your
POs can be submitted a week in advance. Save the Quickies and reimbursements
for emergencies.
2. Be available at all hours. This is not to say that you shouldn’t have a life outside of
Troupe or not be able to sleep, but respond to requests from the crew within 24
hours at most.
3. Make friends at SAO and SABO. They are wonderfully helpful and have a ton of
useful information. The better you know them, the easier it is to work with them.
4. Get involved in the show. Most of the work you do can be conducted
independently and only interacting with the Directors and TDs. The cast and
crew appreciate seeing you around at rehearsals and set buildings and it’s a great
way to connect with the world of Stage Troupe. Don’t be the strange person
handing out programs at opening night, be an old friend of the show.
IF AT FIRST YOUR DON’T SUCCEED…
CONTACT THE TREASURER!
(Really. Call me. We can do lunch. I really like Panda Express.)
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