MONEY AND FINANCING

We owned the box-offices in our primary markets and NRC attractions were most always marketed on a multiple choice series (an annual season of shows).  Some of the artists were booked more than a year in advance and when the contracts were signed we always began at once to market these shows on our series through mailings, theatre handouts and box-office or marquee displays.  Advance ticket sales provided us with enough cash flow to cover the fifty percent deposits that were often due when signing contracts. Deposits to bind artist’s contracts were always payable before the attractions went out on tour.  We also had a substantial line of credit with our bank which enabled us to access large sums of money on short notice without the use of cumbersome security agreements. The marquee value of Northwest Releasing Corporation was very large when Bill Owens and I purchased the company from Zollie Volchok and Jack Engerman.  I was amazed that many banks were vying for our business at that time but then again, show business was always mystically alluring.    

To sum it up we owned the Bon Marche Box Office and its satellite operations in Seattle and we owned the Meier and Frank Box Office in Portland.  The ticket offices in the Dayton/Hudson Corporation stores in Vancouver (BC) were owned by our partners at Famous Artists Limited and our partner, Doug Eisman, in the other Canadian markets, had access to the advance ticket sales in his towns as well.  Our partners most always put up their share of the deposits that were required to bind artists contracts.

 The advance ticket sales generated by our efforts to continuously market a series of shows in all of our towns was most always adequate to fund the contract deposits.

Later, when I moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul, I gave the Dayton/Hudson Corporation the exclusive rights to sell all Garrett Attractions tickets in the Twin Cities. The agreement gave us the privilege to withdraw up to sixty percent of the accumulated box-office funds for the purpose of funding artist’s contract deposits.  The agreement with Dayton/Hudson provided us with ticket outlets that were staffed at their expense while, at the same time, providing good traffic and new customers in all their stores.