Thinking patterns in entertainment and business are similar. Yes, you read it right.
The thought process that goes into creating works of art/entertainment and those of companies trying to pitch/sell a product or service or brand are similar. Choreographers or scriptwriters try to present a work with the intention of keeping their audience engaged and making a production economically viable. A good story has to engage but a good story also has to sell tickets and bring in repeat audiences. For that you need the audience to relate to those characters and to live and experience the story with you.
Typical concerns that choreographers or scriptwriters have when they approach a story are – How do you start the story – go chronological or flashback – which one of the two helps tell the story better? What should be the opening sequence? A high impact start goes a long way in creating great first impressions and sets the tone. The opening sequence of Aladdin the musical for example, tells you its going to be a riot of color, grandeur and dancing as opposed to the Opera Turandot which immediately brings in the seriousness the story needs.
A story has characters so the next concern is how do you introduce lead characters, negative characters and supporting characters for example, the leading lady in the Sleeping Beauty ballet does not make an entry until a good 40 minutes into the show while the negative character (the wicked witch) enters on a carriage drawn by rats. How do we give each character its due to keep the story balanced and well rounded? What are the choreography high points, how and where do you fit them in the story?
Set and lights add so much to a story so how do we use it? Does set property become an active participant or just remain in the background – plays and dance theatres have used one single prop in multiple ways, thereby enhancing audience curiosity on how the prop will be used next. How do you light the characters? How do you use stage space to create wow moments for example, Christian Spuck’s Nutcracker and Mouse King has a Johnny Depp-esque mad hatter meets Willy Wonka meets magician Uncle Drosselmeier taking centre stage blowing out smoke from his cigarette. How do you direct audience attention to specific things on stage. How do you use symbolism to add to a character? In short how do you create an experience that keeps your viewer glued to his/ her seat irrespective of age, knowledge of the dance or art form?
How does all this relate to business? These are pretty much the same questions you would ask if you were to pitch/sell your product/ service/brand – how do I tell my story in a way I appeal to every prospective client? How do I open the story? What is important and what is not? How do I deal with the negatives if my company has had a bad run or faced some issues and got bad press recently? What are the high points in my story? How do I use media (set property) – PPT, videos, handouts, charts, graphs and data. Do I make them active participants or do they just remain in the background? What are the aspects of my company/product/ service/brand I throw light on? How do I use the time I have to create wow moments for my prospective client? Are there points or issues I can direct my audience attention to, while taking it away from something else? Is there any symbolism I can use to add depth to the character (product/service offering) like actions taken, sustainability measures, lessons learnt to show accountability, etc. In short, how do I create a story that tells my prospective client that they are in for a good business experience when they do business with us?
These similarities are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much the entertainment world has to offer to the business world in terms of cross industry learning. In this day and age of Corona induced Zoom conferences or online meetings where the advantage of a face to face connect is lost, it is even more important to work on the pitch in order to be successful. It is the artist’s job to tell stories and if the businesses can use a few lessons from the entertainment industry to tell the stories of their products or service or brand more effectively, then why not!
If this interested you, please do take a look at our website and what we do and do let us know if you would like us to work with you to help tell your story better. https://skrentertainment.ch/what-we-do/
