As Jim has written before, “A ticket to a great show or game is not just entertainment — it’s a personal upgrade.” Seeing a live show can — and often does — inspire your own personal creativity. Here’s another interview with an inspiring, creative person from Goldstar Pulse. It’s time to meet Brad T. Gottfred, the man behind a couple of the juiciest titles ever to grace Goldstar: Marry, F**K, or Kill and Women Are Crazy Because Men Are A**holes...

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Jim has written about the importance of making your content (whether it's a show, game, etc.) available in multiple forms. In this post, he presented a challenge to entrepreneurs in theater and the performing arts: "Find ways to distribute the content to as many people as possible, as easily as possible. Build that fan base. Create those secondary revenue streams to create the profit that allows a cycle of building on success." Paramount Films recently created a YouTube channel, the Paramount...

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At the Oscars this past weekend, Jack Black sang about the demise of movies, how people are only watching "the screens in our jeans." But as Drew Harwell at The Washington Post reported, that's just not true: "Analysts expect that box-office revenue this year in the United States and Canada will soar past $11.5 billion, outpacing the record $10.9 billion set in 2013, when blockbusters such as Frozen and the second Hunger Games movie debuted." Turns out people are seeking in-theater experiences more...

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If you want to charge more for tickets, then naturally you need to offer more to audiences. Jim touched on this subject in an earlier post and said the following: "One of the most powerful things you can do in many cases is to charge more. If you’ve got any kind of audience at all, part of that audience likes you and is willing to pay you more if you have something more that you can offer them. ... The lesson...

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Of course, there are many differences between watching a movie and experiencing live entertainment, but that doesn't mean the two industries can't learn from each other -- or that it's not worthwhile to pay attention to what the other is doing. A few new innovations have popped up in the film world recently that caught our eye. First, in China, theaters are experimenting with streaming live comments from audiences onto the screen. The reception has been lukewarm at best (see...

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Fans of the Tony-winning musical have another reason to be excited: Walt Disney Pictures released teaser photos of the film adaption. These vivid images of Meryl Streep, Chris Pine and Anna Kendrick will surely get people talking about the movie, but do you think they might cause some increased interest in the play as well? Check out RopeofSilicon.com for the full lineup and a trailer, or take a look at a few of our favorites below. Photos Courtesy of Walt...

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Stage and screen star Mickey Rooney passed away this weekend at age 93. Variety put together a superb obituary for the actor that details his life in the spotlight. We also wanted to share this video of Rooney playing Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream as well as this quote from the man himself: “You've got to recognize, there will never be another you. It has nothing to do with ego; it happens to be the truth. There will never...

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Each week we’ll share a collection of articles we think are well worth reading. And now, in case you missed them … • The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra successfully completed its $5 million emergency fundraising drive. Find out the breakdown of how they got it and their next steps for fiscal health. • The Canadian Museum of History, formerly the Museum of Civilization and Canada’s largest, most-visited museum, is launching a fundraising campaign, but it has set the bar very low for...

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