Page 26 - July 2017 inLeague and Conference Program

CAsh is no Longer King (or

Queen)

By Ken stein, lhat presiDent & ceo (wiTh a liTTle help from his friends)

Back in my days with the Paramount Theatre in Austin,
TX, we would occasionally get requests from artists
to settle fees in cash the night of the show. Now you
would think a request like that might come from a
lesser-known artist who maybe represents him or
herself. In fact, the few times it happened, it was
from a really, really BIG star. Cash. And in one case
– BEFORE they took the stage. In this day and age,
where you can simply tap your phones together and
transfer the entire wealth of the European Union in the
cloud, I wonder if “cash up front” still happens? I know this much – a certain Queen of Soul
still performs with a locked, designer bag nearby on stage. I didn’t believe that story until I
saw it with my own eyes…

Recently on the LHAT CHAT, William Richards, General Manager of the W.L. Lyons Brown
Theatre in Louisville, KY, asked members to provide feedback regarding night-of settlement
protocol for shows. “Do you restrict the settlement to a wire transfer only or is providing a
check an option as well?”

Numa Saisselin, President of Florida Theatre Performing Arts Center, Inc. in Jacksonville, FL,
replied, “We pay by company check about 90% of the time. Wire transfers about 10% of the
time. Never by cash. We like a nice, clean, transparent paper trail for the accountants to
follow.”
Dennis Sankovich, Executive Director of MSU Riley Center in Meridian, MS, had a different
perspective because the Riley Center is owned by a State University. “MSU Riley never settles
anything by cash and has to have a check cut for all settlements. Sometimes wire transfer
funds can happen on the next business day.” Sankovich adds, “We include buyouts in the
settlement check when agreed to. All of my company checks have to come from the main
campus which is 90 miles away, so we make sure everything is spelled out up front and way
ahead of time.”

Also from a university setting, Roy Blackwood, Executive Director with Columbia Theatre
for the Performing Arts in Louisiana, follows strict rules as well. “We also must use contracts
generated by the State with appropriate elements from the artist's agent included,
and in doing so we weed out all of the goofy elements (cash for whatever) and illegal
elements (alcohol, etc.), so we have a crystal clear paper trail. As many of you know, state
promulgated contracts are quite cumbersome and time-consuming.”

In Oregon, Randy McKay, Executive Director for Jefferson Live!, is pretty straightforward: “We
redline EVERY artist contract to amend the payment terms. As a nonprofit organization with
very strict financial controls, we only pay by company check and only pay sums that can be
calculated in advance and go through our regular check writing procedures in advance

PAGE 24| INLEAGUE League of Historic American Theatres