Once founders appreciate the value of Business Audio Theatre, they typically ask three important questions: “How is it valued?” “How long does it run?” and “What is the production time?”
Like ghostwriting, the financial investment is based on the number of words. The number of words is based on the duration of the performance. And the duration of the performance is based on the story the founder wants to present.
The actual process goes through three main phases that require the participation of the founder:
Playwriting
A big influence on how long the playwriting takes is the playwright’s access to the founder and contributors. The playwright not only needs to get the story down but needs to get the founder’s approval and contributor’s signoffs. That’s a function of the founder’s and contributor’s time commitment to the playwriting and approval process.
And again, the time involved is based on the length of the production. For instance, for every hour of performance play time, the founder and contributors may have to commit to up to two hours of interview and approval time. The more compressed these interview and approval event are, the shorter the playwriting time.
Obviously, if the story is already written and just needs to be adopted to an audio play, that would significantly reduce the time commitment by the founder. But a pre-written story is not required and in many cases, going direct to script may be more desirable and efficient.
Casting
Once again, the founder will have to set aside time to review, adjust, and approve the actors who voice the characters. This involves the founder’s decisions and suggestion about style, delivery, and emphasis. But once that’s done, the audio play can go into production.
Production
Now that the script is complete, approved, and casted, the actual production can take place. This is a relatively straight forward process executed by a professional director, actors, sound effects engineers, editors, and musical score composers.
Once the initial production is complete, the founder will have to commit to a review process where any adjustments can be made followed by final approval and the ultimate deliverable.
Investment
The word count is estimated based on the duration of the story. The value is based on the word count. But the investment is more than the cost of writing and production. The investment is also an investment in time to get the story down, approve the script, make key decisions, approve the actors, sound effects, music, and the final approval.
The result is a living story that lasts forever, a story the founder is proud of, a story that conveys the founder’s principles, and a story that listeners can identify with …recall and apply.
Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.
Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.
They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.
Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.
To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.
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