How do you assess a show before booking it into a small venue?

You've watched the trailer. The reviews are good, the company has a gap in its tour, and you have a Friday to fill. It looks like a booking you could agree over a quick call.

Then the technical information arrives. The set needs more depth than you expected, the audience layout loses a row, and the fee doesn't include accommodation. You still like the show. You're just looking at a different business decision from the one you thought you were making.

Before booking a visiting production, establish whether you can present the actual show well, reach enough local buyers at a workable price, and agree terms that leave the venue with an acceptable result. Assess those things together. A strong performance with an unsuitable layout or an unaffordable guarantee is still an unsuitable booking.

We'll work through that assessment for a small receiving venue, meaning a venue that brings in a production made by another company. You'll get questions to send the company, a worked booking comparison and a decision note you can reuse. The aim is to finish with a clear yes, a specific counteroffer or a useful reason to decline.

Start with the show your audience would actually buy

The first thing you want to understand is what happens during the performance. A touring pack can tell you that a production is funny, moving and acclaimed without telling a local buyer what their evening will involve. Before you judge the marketing, try explaining the offer yourself in ordinary language.

Is it a scripted play, an improvised performance, a concert with storytelling or a participatory comedy show? How long does it run? Is there an interval? Who is it made for, and what does someone need to know before deciding whether to attend? Those answers influence the audience, the start time, the room and the price.

Watch the work where possible. If you can't attend, ask for a full recording as well as the trailer, and confirm whether it shows the production being offered. An excellent clip from an earlier cast or a larger production can be useful evidence of the company's work without showing what you are about to receive.

That isn't an unreasonable request. Sheffield Theatres' programming policy asks for a tour pack with images, reviews and a short technical specification, alongside a trailer or recording of the proposed piece or previous work. Use that as a practical example of the information a programmer needs, rather than expecting the trailer to answer everything.

Write down what you like about the production and what a buyer would value. Perhaps the intimate storytelling suits your room, or a familiar subject gives an unfamiliar company a clear introduction. Keep that judgment specific. "It's good" doesn't help your team explain why this particular audience should pay for it.

Ask about audience participation, language, age guidance, sensory effects and subjects that need advance information. You need accurate descriptions, not a promise that nobody will ever be uncomfortable. If participation is optional, understand how declining works. If it is essential, that needs to be clear before someone buys.

For new work, separate what exists from what is still being developed. You may want to support it, but you need an agreed delivery plan and a budget for that choice. A development showing, a preview and a finished touring production create different expectations. Name the version you're booking in the agreement and on the event page.

Decide why this show belongs in your programme

A small venue can have several good reasons to present a show. It might serve a returning audience, introduce a new kind of work, deepen a company relationship or make a strong commercial contribution. Decide which reason matters for this booking before you start defending every part of the proposal.

If the main purpose is commercial, work out what the date needs to leave after its own costs. If you're deliberately investing in a new audience, agree how much the business can spend and what the experiment should establish. Calling something audience development doesn't explain who the audience is or how you'll reach them.

Consider the rest of the programme. Two similar shows close together may ask the same buyers for money twice. A visiting production could also introduce people to an established series, provided there is a credible connection. Look at the buying decision from their side. Your need to fill both dates doesn't increase their time or budget.

Derby Theatre's programming process considers programme fit, audience and the work itself before discussing dates and a financial deal. It also distinguishes a provisional booking from its later confirmation and contract stages. Your process can be much smaller, but those are useful separate decisions to preserve.

Don't let an empty diary date settle the question on its own. The room still costs money when closed, but opening adds work and spending. A show that loses money after those additional costs may leave you worse off than keeping the evening available. Our guide to running a profitable small-venue programme develops the wider monthly calculation.

Also check what else you would genuinely give up. A firm hire offer, a maintenance day or recovery time after another production can matter. A hypothetical full-price hire isn't guaranteed income, so don't invent an alternative just to reject a show. Compare the options you actually have and record their uncertainty.

It's perfectly reasonable to conclude that you love the production and don't have the right date for it. You can suggest a later season, a different room or a future conversation. That is more useful to the company than agreeing now and trying to repair an unsuitable booking after both sides have spent money.

Ask for local sales evidence, with enough context to use it

A company's national following tells you very little about how many people will buy in your town. Even a nearby sellout needs explanation. Was it a headline performance, a festival inclusion or a free event? How many paid places were available, and what did buyers actually pay?

Ask for recent, comparable dates. You want the venue and location, performance date, paid tickets retained after refunds, complimentary attendance, ticket price range and number of performances. Ask whether the company can share aggregate sales over the selling period. You don't need individual customers' identities to understand whether a previous show sold gradually or depended on a late surge.

Choose comparisons that resemble the proposed booking. A short festival set with an established festival audience doesn't establish demand for a full evening at an unfamiliar venue. A repeat visit after years of local work tells you something different from a first appearance. Both may be encouraging, but they support different forecasts.

Look at your own records too. Which related productions sold to people you can reach again? What price and weekday worked? Were the audience buying the subject, the performer or the venue's recommendation? If you don't know, avoid pretending that every customer for one genre is equally likely to buy another.

With Loopyah's event CRM, buyers have a record across your events, including their event history and email permission. You can build a relevant segment instead of treating everyone on your list as an equally good prospect. That helps you identify people you can contact appropriately; it doesn't turn the segment size into a sales forecast.

Now make a cautious estimate and explain it. You might expect a core group from similar shows, some company-led sales and additional local purchases. Check whether those groups overlap. The same person following the company and receiving your email is still one potential buyer, and they may buy more than one ticket or none.

Estimate a cautious sales case and a central case, then compare both with the maximum available paid inventory. These are planning scenarios that reveal how the booking behaves when fewer people buy. Record which evidence would make you revise the central case before signing.

If the company cannot provide previous sales, say the demand is uncertain and adjust the commitment. You could explore a lower guarantee, a different date or a smaller initial engagement. Lack of history doesn't mean the work has no audience. It means your business would be paying to discover one, and that deserves a deliberate limit.

Check the production against your actual room

Send the company your current technical information and ask for requirements specific to the touring version. The rider is the document describing what the production needs you to provide. Compare the two before agreeing the fee, with the person who will actually manage the venue's technical delivery.

Start with the space. Check playing width, depth, height, audience arrangement and sightlines. Then check how the set reaches the stage. A unit that fits in the auditorium may still be impossible to bring through the loading route. Ask about its packed dimensions, weight, handling requirements and where cases will be stored during the show.

Go through lighting, sound, projection, power, control positions and any special effects. Identify what the company brings, what the venue supplies and what must be hired. An item being installed in your building doesn't mean it's available for this booking, compatible with the show or safe for the proposed use.

Don't accept substitutions on someone's behalf. If the requested projector isn't available, describe the replacement and get the company's technical approval. If a lighting change alters the experience, involve the artistic lead too. Record the agreed version, including any new cost. Our technical rider review guide covers that conversation in more detail.

Include access for the people making the show. Ask about dressing rooms, step-free routes, breaks and any adjustments the company needs. Check the audience arrangements at the same time. Captioning, an interpreter position or a touch tour can affect equipment, preparation and the timetable. Agree what you'll provide before advertising it.

Great Britain's HSE event management guidance stresses coordination, competent staff and safe working across setup, public opening and breakdown. Your technical assessment should produce a workable plan with named responsibilities. Passing the visiting company's risk assessment to someone else's inbox doesn't coordinate the work taking place in your building.

Some requirements will be negotiable. Others are essential to the production or to safe delivery. Ask the company to distinguish them. If your room cannot provide an essential condition, decline that version rather than assuming the team will improvise on arrival. A small show still deserves to be presented properly.

Recalculate the tickets you can sell

Production fit and the sales forecast meet at the seating plan. Work from the safe, permitted layout confirmed for this production by the responsible venue team. A standard capacity from your website isn't enough when a deep set, a control position or a different audience arrangement changes the room.

For the rest of this guide, let's use a fictional venue with a standard approved seated layout of 120 audience places. After checking this visiting production, the venue confirms a different layout with 108 audience places. Six are allocated to complimentary guests, leaving 102 paid tickets. These are invented planning assumptions, not a safety calculation or a recommended allocation.

Staff, performers and contractors are accounted for separately under the venue's overall occupancy arrangements. The 108 figure is an audience allocation after those arrangements have been checked. You cannot add everyone working backstage on top of a limit without knowing what that limit includes.

Explain the change to whoever is pricing the booking. Losing twelve paid places at the example's eventual retained ticket income of $25 removes $300 of possible receipts. Some attendance costs also disappear, but the company fee and most opening costs remain. That can be the difference between a reasonable offer and a booking that barely works at sellout.

List every allocation. Company guests, press, venue guests and access arrangements need their agreed treatment. Don't sell a companion place as ordinary inventory while also promising it to an eligible buyer. Don't count a production hold as a paid sale until the person authorised to release it confirms that it is available.

If the company proposes a shallower set, have the technical team assess that version before using a higher capacity in the budget. Suppose a revised, approved layout could accommodate 118 audience places, leaving 112 paid tickets after the same six guests. That would be a new proposal with its own delivery costs, rather than ten extra tickets you can simply assume into existence.

Fit the whole visit into the diary

An evening performance can occupy your venue all day. Count unloading, setup, checks, rehearsal, breaks, audience preparation, the performance, audience departure, breakdown and cleaning. Include the time needed to return the room to its next use. The show duration is only one part of the booking.

Ask the company how long each stage takes with the actual crew and equipment proposed. A get-in time achieved by a large festival team isn't evidence that your duty technician can do the same work alone. Confirm who operates the show and what cover is needed while that person takes a break.

Here's a fictional schedule to test, not a recommended technical allowance. The venue opens for company access at 13:00. Unloading and setup run to 15:30, followed by technical checks to 16:30. A break runs to 17:00, rehearsal to 18:00, and audience-area preparation and staff briefing to 18:30. Doors open at 19:00 for a 19:30 start.

The performance runs for 90 minutes without an interval, finishing at 21:00. Audience departure is planned to 21:30, with breakdown and loading from 21:30 to 23:00. Cleaning and reset then run to midnight. That requires the building, company transport and relevant staff to be available for those hours, with lawful working arrangements and breaks established separately.

Now compare those assumptions with your diary. If a class occupies the room until 16:00, you haven't merely lost three convenient hours. You've removed time the proposed production requires. You need a company-approved shorter setup, earlier access elsewhere or a different date. Starting the show later may also affect transport, buyer expectations and operating permissions.

Discuss the previous and next tour stops. Ask when the company can realistically arrive, who drives and what happens if travel is delayed. Don't prescribe their legal driving or working limits from a generic schedule. Get a workable arrival commitment and check how a delay would affect the venue's own decisions.

Put the current schedule and crew responsibilities into the booking file. If extra access requires another technician shift or displaces a daytime hire, include it in the offer comparison. A fee reduction can disappear quickly when its conditions require you to pay for another day in the building.

Compare the complete cost with a realistic sales case

Let's cost the fictional show. All amounts below are USD assumptions created to explain the decision. They aren't company quotes, wage rates, tax advice, typical theatre deals or Loopyah charges. Replace them with current figures for your own venue. The result is the contribution towards ongoing venue overhead, before financing and business income tax.

Assume an average paid ticket price of $28 across the tickets actually sold. An invented $3 per paid ticket covers all relevant ticket transaction charges and ticket taxes, leaving $25 retained. Costs below include any assumed nonrecoverable taxes. There are no additional ticket-related charges, and the calculations use paid tickets retained after refunds.

The company asks for a fixed $1,400 fee. In this example, that covers its complete agreed delivery, including travel, accommodation and required creative permissions. Confirm those inclusions in a real quote. The venue's other fixed costs are $300 for technical staffing, $240 for front-of-house staffing, $180 for marketing, $100 for cleaning and reset, $80 for booking administration and $100 contingency. Together, those other costs total $1,000.

Those staffing allowances are assumed to cover the full agreed work, breaks and necessary duty arrangements for this fictional visit. They are not a staffing recommendation. Insurance and other standing venue costs continue in overhead; no extra show-specific premium is assumed. Any real additional cost belongs in the assessment before you approve it.

The contingency is an allowance for uncertainty in the forecast. At settlement, replace it with actual additional spending, including bills still due. Don't count the allowance as an expense and then charge the same spending again.

Allow another $1 per audience member for attendance-related supplies, including all six complimentary guests. No bar, merchandise or sponsor income is included. That keeps the decision focused on what the proposed performance itself can support. You can add other income later if you can substantiate the amount left after its own costs.

Each paid ticket leaves $24 after the $25 retained income and $1 attendance cost. The show needs to cover $2,400 in fixed costs plus $6 for the guests. Divide $2,406 by $24 and round up. It takes 101 paid tickets to cover those show costs, with only 102 available.

At 94 paid tickets, the show loses $150. At 82 it loses $438. Selling every paid place leaves just $42 towards overhead. So even a sellout produces little benefit under these assumptions, while your central sales case loses money. This is a proposal to renegotiate, not a booking rescued by the prospect of a busy room.

Our event break-even guide explains how to adapt the calculation when prices, charges or other income change. For this decision, write the low-sales loss and maximum possible contribution beside the fee. You want both visible before anyone agrees the booking.

If you're using Loopyah, add the agreed production and venue costs to the event's financial plan. Loopyah brings in ticket revenue, refunds and fees, and uses the costs you supply for profit and break-even planning. You still need to negotiate the show, confirm the available inventory and agree which deductions a percentage contract permits. Keep that contractual calculation clear even when the overall event forecast is handled for you.

Test a different deal without changing the assumptions

You could ask whether a $1,100 fixed company fee is workable for both sides. Don't assume the company can accept it or should deliver the same work for less. Explain the room, the available inventory and your forecast, then ask whether the date or touring route creates a genuine way to reduce cost.

With that fee and every other assumption unchanged, total fixed costs become $2,100. Including the guests, the show needs $2,106 from paid tickets. Break-even falls to 88 paid tickets. At 94, the venue retains $150 towards overhead; at 102, it retains $342. At 82, it still loses $138.

That is a better proposal, but you still need to decide whether the central contribution is worth the work and risk. A lower fee hasn't increased demand. If 82 is the more credible forecast, you need another change or a deliberate decision to fund the shortfall. You don't improve the forecast by choosing the number that approves the show.

What about a box-office split? Define which money is shared before comparing it. Suppose an alternative gives the company 65% of the $25 retained per paid ticket, with the venue keeping 35%. There is no guarantee and no deduction for the venue's other costs before the split. Those are fictional terms for this example.

The venue receives $8.75 per paid ticket, then pays the $1 attendance cost. That leaves $7.75 per ticket against its $1,000 fixed costs and $6 guest cost. It would need 130 paid tickets to cover them, although only 102 are available. At the maximum inventory, the venue loses $215.50. Removing a guarantee hasn't made this particular split affordable.

Another hypothetical offer is a $1,100 guarantee against 50% of the same retained ticket pool. "Against" means the company receives whichever is greater, rather than both amounts added together. At 94 paid tickets, half the $2,350 pool is $1,175. After that payment, $1,000 other fixed costs and $100 attendance costs, the venue has $75 left. At 102, it has $167.

Compare that with the $150 and $342 left under the $1,100 fixed fee. The percentage arrangement costs the venue more at those sales levels. It may still be the company's preferred condition, but it needs to be evaluated honestly. A percentage is a way of allocating receipts, not proof that both sides face an acceptable result.

The Musicians' Union's engagement booking guidance, written for unsigned and emerging musicians, says deductions before a percentage share should be detailed and understood when booking. Apply that discipline to the production deal you negotiate, using an agreement suitable for its art form and jurisdiction.

Check whether changing the production actually helps

Return to the possible shallower set and 112 paid places. With the original $1,400 fixed fee, the same six guests and unchanged delivery costs, selling all 112 would leave $282. That's better than the original $42 maximum. It still depends on selling the extra tickets, and it assumes the changed production costs nothing more.

Suppose the revised version needs another $350 of equipment and crew above the entire original forecast, including its contingency. The sold-out result becomes a $68 loss. A larger paid inventory has now produced a worse maximum result. You need the technical revision and its cost together before treating more seats as the answer.

Apply the same test to another performance. A second date might spread some setup costs, but it can add fees, staff hours, accommodation and sales work. It may also divide one audience between two performances. Ask for a complete revised offer and build a combined forecast, rather than doubling the first night's expected ticket sales.

Check what a discount would do too. If ten tickets in the $1,100 fixed-fee version sell for $5 less than budgeted, and all other charges and attendance assumptions stay unchanged, the central result falls from $150 to $100. Any claim that a promotion will pay for itself needs enough genuinely additional sales to cover the income given up.

Sometimes a different arrangement solves the problem more cleanly. A company might prefer a hire, taking the ticket-selling risk in exchange for a known room charge. That changes your role and your obligations. Work out what the hire leaves after the services you promise, and make it clear to buyers who is responsible for the performance and support.

Don't describe that change as a risk-free booking. You still have the building, service commitments and your reputation to consider. Assess the company's ability to deliver and pay, agree how ticketing and cancellations will work, and verify that its proposed use is suitable. A hire agreement doesn't make an unsuitable production fit the room.

Agree who will sell the show, in practical terms

"We'll both promote it" leaves too much unresolved. Before confirming, identify who supplies the approved copy, images and clips, who builds the event page, and when the material must arrive. Check that the company can authorise the material for your intended uses. A performance recording doesn't automatically come with advertising permission.

Then agree actual activity. The company might send a geographically relevant email, supply a performer introduction and approach agreed local partners. The venue might send to a suitable buyer segment, publish its listings and run a defined paid campaign. Name an owner and date for each action, along with any spending limit.

The Audiences on Tour guide treats the venue-company relationship, objectives and marketing responsibilities as connected decisions. That is helpful here. A one-off visit and a continuing partnership don't justify the same investment or promises, so discuss what this particular engagement is meant to achieve.

Be precise about what your venue includes. Jack Studio Theatre's programming information describes specific marketing support for visiting companies, including press work, email and social posts. You don't need to offer the same package. You do need an equally understandable account of what your side will do and what the company must provide.

Use the forecast to set the marketing budget, rather than approving an unlimited effort to save the booking. The fictional $180 is already included in the venue's $1,000 other fixed costs. Spending another $200 on top of the complete forecast would turn the $150 central contribution under the revised fixed fee into a $50 loss if sales didn't change.

Discuss sales reporting and checkpoints before launch. Choose dates when the evidence can still influence a permitted decision, such as additional promotional spending or a future booking. A low-sales checkpoint doesn't create a right to cancel a contracted performance. Know which choices actually remain available and who can approve them.

Keep customer information separate from the marketing promises. Agree what aggregate sales information the company needs, and establish an appropriate basis before sharing personal data or sending marketing. A promise to help sell the show should never quietly become a promise to hand over your customer list.

Settle the obligations that can change your answer

Confirm who has authority to make the booking for each side. Record the production version, performances, dates, access hours, agreed technical documents, fee basis, expenses and payment timing. Include the marketing commitments and how approved changes will be recorded. The agreement should describe the show you've assessed, rather than a generic production with the same title.

Check permissions for the work and the venue separately. Ask who obtains and pays for required script, music, image, recording or other creative clearances. Get confirmation that the proposed performances are covered for the relevant dates and territory. Don't assume a company's previous tour permission necessarily covers an additional booking.

Also verify the operating requirements for your location and activity. For example, the government's entertainment licensing guidance distinguishes different activities and circumstances in England and Wales. Check your proposed show and hours with the relevant authority where needed. A small room's capacity alone doesn't answer every permission question.

Agree how illness, travel disruption, an unavailable venue, postponement and cancellation will be handled. Who decides, who contacts buyers, who funds refunds and what payments remain due? Check the company's agreement alongside your buyer terms, supplier commitments, insurance and applicable law. Don't promise buyers a remedy that you haven't arranged the cash or process to deliver.

Payment timing needs its own check. Suppose the revised fixed fee requires a $550 deposit, and another $180 marketing payment is due before usable ticket proceeds arrive. Those are $730 of early payments already included in the budget. With only $400 of uncommitted cash available, you have a $330 funding gap, not an additional $330 expense.

Be equally clear at final settlement, when you reconcile what each party is owed. Agree the sales report, refund treatment, allowed deductions, guest records, expenses and credit for payments already made. Under the $1,100 fixed fee, the $550 deposit leaves another $550 due. Under a percentage deal, calculate the final entitlement first and credit the deposit against it if that is what the contract provides.

Send one enquiry that gets the missing answers

You don't need to ask for every detail in a long first email. Begin with enough information for the company to judge whether a conversation is worthwhile. Then collect the specific evidence needed for your booking decision. Sending a current venue specification early can prevent several rounds of questions about an unsuitable room.

Adapt this enquiry to your venue and the stage of the discussion. The figures refer to our fictional example; replace them before using it. It is a request for information, not a contract or an offer to book.

We're considering your production for one Friday evening at our venue. Our standard seated layout has 120 audience places, but we need to confirm the allocation for your production before discussing a final deal. Could you send the current touring pack and a full recording, or let us know where we could see this version?

Please include the running time, interval and participation arrangements, intended audience, age guidance and any sensory effects or advance content information. We'd also like to know whether the proposed cast and production differ from the recording, and what is still subject to development or confirmation.

Our technical specification is attached. Please send your current rider, set and loading dimensions, crew and operating requirements, access needs and proposed setup and breakdown times. Identify essential conditions and any possible substitutions. We'll arrange a technical conversation before agreeing the production layout or additional hires.

To assess likely local sales, could you share aggregate results from comparable recent dates, including location, paid tickets after refunds, complimentary places, prices and number of performances? Please identify any festival, group or other circumstances that helped those dates. We don't need individual buyer records.

Please quote your proposed fee or share arrangement and explain exactly what it includes, what costs fall to us, the definition of any shared ticket receipts and the payment schedule. Confirm who handles creative permissions, approved marketing material and the company's promotional activity. Please also send your proposed booking and cancellation terms.

We'll review the production, local audience evidence, technical plan and complete budget together. If it looks workable, we'll suggest a call to confirm the remaining conditions and a decision date. Please don't announce the performance while we're still assessing it.

That last sentence sets your expectation for the discussion. Follow through by agreeing how a date hold works, when it expires and what constitutes a confirmed booking. Don't rely on the wording of an enquiry alone to settle the legal effect of later emails, promises or payments.

Write the decision before you send the offer

Bring the evidence into a short booking note that someone else in the venue could follow. Attach the current production documents and calculations rather than copying every detail into the note. The purpose is to explain the decision and its conditions, not create another file nobody reads.

• Proposed booking: Name the production version, company, room, date, performances and intended audience.

• Reason to book: Explain why this work belongs in the programme and what the venue expects to gain.

• Delivery position: Record the agreed layout, paid inventory, schedule, crew, essential requirements and unresolved conditions.

• Paid demand: State the lower and central forecasts, the supporting local evidence and what remains uncertain.

• Financial offer: Show the complete costs, fee calculation, loss under the cautious forecast, central contribution, sellout contribution and early cash requirement.

• Responsibilities: Identify who owns marketing, permissions, buyer support, safety coordination, changes and settlement.

• Decision and authority: Accept, counteroffer, defer or decline, with the person authorised to commit and a date for resolving conditions.

For the fictional booking, the original $1,400 fixed fee is difficult to justify commercially. It loses $150 at the central forecast of 94 paid tickets and leaves only $42 when all 102 sell. The proposed $1,100 fixed fee improves those figures to $150 and $342, with a possible $138 loss at the lower forecast of 82.

You might counteroffer on that basis if the company can accept it, the forecast is supported and the contribution meets your venue's needs. You might still decline because the room needs a stronger return or the evidence points towards the lower case. The calculations make those choices clear; they don't make them for you.

Before confirming, resolve the conditions that affect delivery or money. That includes the final rider, layout, access hours, expenses and permissions. Assign someone to verify each one, then have the authorised people approve the complete agreement. If a condition changes, revisit the relevant part of the assessment before accepting the revised booking.

After the performance, return to this same note with actual sales, costs and staff observations. Record whether the production matched the promise, what buyers responded to and what you would change next time. When the company offers another date, you'll have evidence from your own room to discuss before you start negotiating again.