A lucrative panto contract, potentially worth £1m in ticket sales, is up for grabs. The four-year deal for Blackburn's annual pantomime at King George's Hall could generate £250k annually in ticket sales, according to local officials.
The current agreement concludes after this year's production of Cinderella, which stars Blackburn-born former Coronation Street actor Alex Bain and runs from 5 December until 31 December. The existing contract for the show is held by Shone Productions but ends this year.
The Liverpool-based company has produced over 50 pantomimes across the º£½ÇÊÓƵ in the past decade. Now, the council's deputy leader, Cllr Quesir Mahmood, has announced that it is going out to tender for a new four-year-deal for 2025 to 2028.
In a report to colleagues, he states: "The council intends to tender for suitably qualified and experienced production company to undertake the delivery of King George's Hall annual pantomime. It is proposed a production company will bring all the necessary facets to King George's Hall as a receiving house and manage the performance including stage and set construction, performances throughout the run and then removals."
He added: "The council last tendered for the rights to produce a Christmas pantomime at KGH in 2019. This tender arrangement will expire in after the 2024 pantomime season, therefore, it is timely to make preparations to seek a production company to provide our Christmas pantomime for the period 2025 – 2028.", reports .
"The council will be looking to appoint a suitably-qualified and experienced company to bring a full production into KGH for the next four years. This will include but not limited to all cast, set, scenery, props, costumes, technical provision, stage production, script, musicians, and joint marketing provision."
"The successful production company will be incentivised to help maximise income for the council with a profit share agreement (after all costs are accounted for). KGH will sell all tickets from its own platform, provide the crew to help with access and egress and provide marketing support to the local area."
"The pantomime at King George's Hall brings the venue significant revenue which has shown growth over the last number of years. It is important this trend is maintained, and a quality provider is selected to continue revenue growth and maintain or improve venue reputation."
"Each of the last four pantomimes has had a gross box office total of circa £250,000. There are sufficient organisations in the market, who can meet our requirements and can respond to this invitation to tender. We encourage applications from a broad supply base."
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