Theatre

Our experienced team advises a range of stakeholders in the commercial theatre industry, including on rights acquisition, venue hire, international tours, licensing, corporate arrangements, investment and ticketing. 

The Covid-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect on the theatre industry. While performances have returned and are back to normal, the effects (particularly financial) are still being felt. CMS has specialists in the UK and around the world who represent clients including producers, investors, venues, rights holders and corporate owners. 

Some of the issues affecting the theatre industry include:

• Increasing use of ‘live capture’: As streaming services have grown in prevalence and scale, so has the demand for content to include on them. This has led to an increasing number of performances captured live for audiences to stream on-demand. While this may allow producers to monetise existing productions in a new and exciting way (and in potentially shorter timeframes than more traditional musical film adaptations), it presents many challenges including unique union considerations and the clash between traditional theatrical rights models and the rights expectations of streamers.  
• Ticketing: Over the past decade or so, dynamic pricing practices have developed rapidly and have become standard across a variety of sectors. Theatre is no different, with an increasing number of producers choosing to sell their tickets this way. This, coupled with ongoing developments in ticketing technologies and the rapid growth of the secondary ticketing market, requires careful consideration.  
• Immersive entertainment: Sitting at the crossroads between live events, music, theatre and film, immersive and experiential entertainment is a growing market. Developments in virtual and augmented reality promise ever more immersive experiences for consumers and are changing the expectations of audiences.

Highlights of our relevant experience:

• Advance on its purchase of Stage Entertainment, one of the world’s largest theatre producers and others, operating 20 theatres and partnering with world-renowned creative talent to produce shows attended by over seven million visitors annually. A CMS media team across the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Luxembourg supported Advance.
• A leading international theatre group on the licensing of its household name productions worldwide. Protecting the IP in these shows is paramount as they are exploited all over the world and we have advised on copyright infringement and enforcement action in various territories including in China and Spain. 
• On the sale of Secret Cinema to TodayTix for consideration of up to US$100 million. 
• Really Useful Group and Littlestar on the film adaptations of their successful West End stage productions including, Cats and Mamma Mia I and II. 
• A leading West End theatre owner on their producer agreements, ticketing software arrangements and on their customer contracting (including terms and conditions, returns policy and cancellation policy, including revisions post-pandemic).