I just received my annual royalty statement from my publisher, Pioneer Drama Service, and I'm thrilled to report that I had another record-breaking year.
Actual comparisons to previous years are difficult to make as Pioneer Drama Service changed the way they reported productions. In previous years, they provided a hardcopy report of all productions that had been paid for through April 30. This year, they provided access to their online system that tracks productions as they're booked, whether they're paid for or not.
The system works pretty slick. I can get a running total of my royalties to date. I can see the location, date and number of performances for each upcoming production. I can even sort by title, production date or when ordered.
This is a fantastic development. For the first time, I'll know about each production before it happens, making it possible to attend local productions and to send good wishes to those that are further away.
The only drawback is that for this one year, it's impossible to compare apples to apples. I no longer know which productions have been paid for, so from this point on, I'll only include productions that were performed in a particular fiscal year. This understates the totals for FY 2016, but the year was such a good one that it doesn't matter too much.
My total number of productions for the year nearly doubled from 78 in 2015 to 150 in 2016. This was the first full year for Rumpelstiltskin, Private Eye and, as expected, this large-cast comedy was my big seller, with 63 productions--a new record for me.
You're Driving Me Crazy! was released in November, but it's already doing phenomenally well. It was my #2 title for the year with 27 productions. However, it didn't earn as much in royalties as the next two plays on my list because this short one-act tends to get only one performance per production while the full-length plays get two or more.
Million Dollar Meatballs came out in August, and that did almost as well, bagging 25 productions. As reported earlier, this play got me my 8th country, the United Arab Emirates, with a performance at an American school there in March.
The Butler Did It! was my #4 seller and showed a huge drop, with the number of productions decreasing from 34 in 2015 to 14 in 2016. However, it already has 9 shows booked for next year so I'm hoping that was an anomaly. The fun thing with this title is that it's been popular all over the world and this year added a ninth country to my life list: Oman.
Long Tall Lester was #5 with 9 productions this year compared to 14 last year. I'm excited to see how popular this one-act continues to be in Canada, with a really strong showing at the Sears Ontario Drama Festival for St. Peter's Catholic Secondary School of Barrie.
How I Met Your Mummy came out in December and was a little slow getting started, with just 6 productions in its first four months. I expect this one to do much better this fall as schools select plays for Halloween.
Finally, The _urloined Letter, my first play, also had 6 productions this year compared to 10 last year.
I have several more plays waiting for a response from publishers and I'm hard at work on another. I can't wait for you to see what's coming next!
No comments:
Post a Comment