IN BRIEF . . .

The Motion Group has the exclusive stage rights to The Wicker Man in the UK.

BIG NEWS: We have been invited to open the show at the Assembly Rooms as part of the Edinburgh Festival 2009!

The first development workshop was in March this year and the second will be in the autumn. Many of our investors attended the private presentation at the end of the first workshop and all investors will be invited again to see the second workshop.

You can be an investor too.

We are selling “pieces” of the Wicker Man to you! Each “piece” (like a share) costs and could earn you a return on your investment based on later ticket sales; as well as access to the workshops and tickets and stuff.

There were 400 “pieces” available; now only 200. If you move your cursor over the image to the left you can see who already has a piece of the action.

Tell me more!

The facts:

It is easy:

You give us: £100 (via paypal or credit card).

We give you: a return on your investment when the show opens (see below), an invitation to the private workshop presentation; a pair of seats to the initial production (provided it is at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh); a pair of seats to the West End Previews (pending transfer) and regular updates on the show’s development and casting.

What’s the plan?
We are working on the script, casting and music now and will hold a second, two week workshop in the autumn to work on the show. Then we will finalise the text and music and start rehearsals in the late spring or early summer to be ready to open in Edinburgh at the beginning of August 2009.

What does making an
investment actually mean?
With your investment we have paid for the rights and are funding the development of the production. We then produce or co-produce the show in Edinburgh and in the West End.

Even though we wouldn’t necessarily fund the West End production we would be regarded as the “original producer”.

We earmark between 1% and 2% of all the ticket sales in Edinburgh (minus VAT and ticket commission) and put it in a pot called the “Original Producer’s Royalty.” If and when the show transfers to the West End (and/or on tour) we negotiate with the producers to earmark a similar “original producer’s royalty”. This would be like the above but may in fact be a higher percentage of a smaller “royalty” or “profit pool” (which is based on the show's profits). This doesn’t sound like much but remember… “Slowly slowly catchy monkey!”

We give you all of that “original producer's royalty” until you each have back the amount you invested. There are 400 pieces and your return is calculated as a proportion of the “original producer’s royalty” based on how many of the 400 pieces you buy.

Then once you have done that (we call it recouping) we begin to divide up the “original producer's royalty”: 60% to you the investors (divided proportionately) and 40% to The Motion Group (to develop new shows). As an investor you will be sent a high-level summary of the accounts each year so you can see what is what.

You should know:
Some shows never make it to the stage or, once there, do not succeed. When this happens everyone loses their investment.

But other shows run and run and make their investors a tidy little income thank you very much. Think Cats, We Will Rock you, Rocky Horror or Woman in Black. We are offering extra perks to people who buy more than 5 or 10 pieces. (See the window below the image to the left)

We believe:
We’ve got a good chance of success. We think that Mr. Shaffer’s script and Mr. Giovanni’s music is brilliant and we plan to use them – adapted for the stage. We’re working on the final script with Robin Hardy who made the film in the first place and with Gary Carpenter who was the original music director (and is the handsome man playing the lyre on the hill-side at the end of the film). There is even a member of the original cast in the show. We have a great creative team and we are coming from a place of sincere belief in the brilliance and theatrical potential of the original movie.

So:
Do you want to get involved? Do you want to be a theatre investor? It’s easy and you can do it over the internet. Just pick the pieces you want from the image to the left….