I've learned something new about the community theater economy.
Increasingly, theaters seem to be using projections, in place of sets. These are basically just stock images that you download from the internet.
A theater that wants to use projections just needs to put up a scrim (a kind of translucent cloth) and project these images onto it.
I had a planning meeting with the director and producer for our next show last night, and they got to talking about the projections they want to use and how expensive they are. The director complained that she was already blowing through part of her budget just because of the projections.
"How expensive could these things be?" I wondered. I asked them for the website they are getting these things from.
They gave it to me and I took a look. These projections are anywhere from $75-150 apiece! And most of them just shitty stock images. A lot of them are things I could find Creative Commons equivalents for. And a lot of them are even AI generated.
I told them to hold off on buying any projections yet and to show me the ones they are interested in. I'm confident I can get or make us usable replacements for free.
I am a set builder, so I don't like projections anyway. I think it's a lazy way to do a show, but now that I know they are such a rip-off, I am really against them.
To make matters worse, the publishers that license the rights to produce shows are starting to push these projections as part of their licensing packages.
What a scam.
P.S. A lot of the projections are AI-generated, which adds insult to injury.
