Welcome to Scene by Scene LV! Rent, Buy and Sell your Theatrical Creations!
The Idea
After years of research and working with various theatre houses, we came up with this idea: “Let’s set up a company that helps theatre groups get their sets, props and costumes rented and/or sold”. Why hadn’t anyone done this before and why can’t we make better use of the ”no longer needed” staging pieces (sets) when performance seasons come to an end.? The answer was simple; space and time. So, here we are, years later doing exactly what we talked about. We help theatre companies make their products available for rent or sale because there are some things you just can’t throw away.
The Backstage
Great sets can be either complex or simple, but they must fulfil two basic functions: relevance and ease. Of course, the problem for set designers is that we only tend to notice them when we dislike what they do. Great sets, however traditional or disruptive, often seem to somehow spring from the play organically; we forget that the actors are not simply conjuring the imaginative world in which they play. But if you tread carefully and don’t fall flat, any performance will rise to the occasion.
100%, it comes down to cost
First off, what is the story about? Everything flows from that. Every decision has to come back to what the play or musical is about. A stage production with an amazing set has the power to take an audience member completely outside of themselves. This is no easy undertaking. The requirements and construction needs vary between productions, but there are some components to set design that are relatively universal: design and construction. Theater set design and construction can be both incredibly difficult and even dangerous, so in an effort to educate potential customers, heres a quick peek into the costs of a custom design/build. The cold truth is that roughly 30% of any budget goes into preparations and operating costs, and this is before anything is built. In the end, the set consumes roughly 40%-60% of any budget, so it had better be good AND reusable.