WHERE CULTURE IS CREATED

SYNOPSIS

Everyone remembers their first concert. The lights, the sounds, the smells; they travel with us through time. But what happens on stage contributes to more than just the music we know and love. Stage Left, a docu-series in conjunction with the maker of The Last Blockbuster, invites people to consider the past, present, and future of live entertainment.

From their nostalgic past, to their current fight for survival, local venues are being faced with two visions for the future: One in which they close their doors for good, and one where the value of saving these stages starts to become recognized. Full of familiar faces from bands like Foo Fighters, Peter Frampton, Vince Gill, Jason Mraz, Jason Isbell, Fitz and the Tantrums, UK's #1 chart-topper Frank Turner, Pepper, Atmosphere, and more, mixed with the off-the-wall venue characters from these temples of art, Stage Left explores the often overlooked impact of live music and entertainment as told by the people who help create it.

a four part limited series

EPISODE ONE - THE SHUTDOWN

In 2020 live entertainment as a whole grinded to a halt along with the rest of the world. Independent music venues and promoters were on the verge of closing their doors for good, with COVID plunging over 90% of them into near bankruptcy.

A disaster was narrowly avoided as the independent music scene rallied around each other like never before, forming NIVA, a lobbying group with one sole purpose - to help write and pass the largest government funded program for the arts in America since the New Deal in 1933. But even after this bill passed, the problems still remained. Application demand consistently crashed the relief program website, grants were slow to pay out, staff left the industry, bills were left to be paid, and venues still struggled to operate after being over one year dark.

EPISODE TWO - THE IMPACT

Live entertainment and music venues have a massive impact through three essential pillars; they act as community hubs, they are huge contributors to their local economy, and they serve as proving grounds for the next generation of artists and venue staff.

As communal centers, live venues create safe spaces for people from all walks of life to connect with their community, becoming meeting grounds for people to find friends and romantic partners. As economic drivers, every single independent venue has a wide financial reach reach, contributing up to $12 dollars to the local economy for every $1 spent on a ticket. And without musicians and entertainers being able to get on these small stages, the next generation of hit-making artists would never be able to fully develop the craft the way artists have throughout history.

EPISODE THREE - THE CONFLICT

Margins in the independent entertainment space have always been slim. However, since COVID, the music industry has found itself in an even more complicated dichotomy: industry profits have soared since the return of live music in late 2021 and throughout 2022, but most of those profits stem from A-list acts, playing at mostly large and corporately owned venues.

This has created a situation where corporate monopolies have kept on thriving at the expense of small music venues - who are continue to close their doors post-COVID and SVOG funding. A current example can be seen in the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster disaster and the viral testimony to The Senate of indie-pop band Lawrence, who shared the plight of trying to break through as an independent artist, the industry is now desperate for relief and attention to keep the spirit of the independent artist and venue alive.

EPISODE FOUR - THE FUTURE

The path forward shows two different futures for live arts & entertainment: one dominated by corporate monopolies and large agencies, with little room for a blossoming "artistic middle class". The other, a world where we learn to place a greater importance on live music and entertainment during an increasingly contentious time in America.

These smaller stages allow for something to be ignited in us that reminds us who we truly are to the core. Those moments can stick with us all our lives and change it for the better. Mankind has been connecting and storytelling through artistic expressions since the dawn of human existence, and without our attention shifting to the problem these spaces are facing, will lose an integral part of society that allows us to continue to connect, grow, learn, inspire, and so much more.

Government grants and programs need to be better funded, more organized, and equitably distributed for arts & entertainment spaces and their performers. And most importantly, people need remember that one of the only things they can do to prevent this unwanted future, is to go down to their local venue and buy a ticket.

MORE INFO

For more information on Stage Left please email: zach.hunter@gmail.com