I'm looking into producing a stage show at a theater near my home. I'm trying to work out a budget for it, and I am having a hard time getting a figure for programs. I need about 500. Can anyone recommend a good printer?

Thanks,
Chris

Check your local quick printer, they may produce free for advertising consideration.

Blair
"ShaZzam!"

(P.S. You do not indicate how large, or elaborate you want it to be)

Thanks for the quick reply. My initial thought is to have the programs done as professionally as possible and sell enough advertisements to make it profitable. I'm envisioning the type of playbill you might see on broadway, but significantly smaller - perhaps 10 to 15 pages in full color.

Chris-

A good compromise might be to get the covers done in full color/glossy stock from one of the online printers like Zooprinting.com or overnightprints.com, and get the inside pages done in b/w on regular paper at a local house. This way you get the look of color without the expense of 12 or 16 pages at that price. If a lot of your interior is going to be text anyway (bios, etc), why spend the extra bucks for color? Just a thought.

When I travel, I get postcards done up. One side is color, usually its just a sized down remake of my poster, the other side is B&W which has show info and a brief bio. It also has a faded B&W promo photo of me. They save space and are great for autographs after the show. It costs me next to nothing to get them done. For bigger crowds/theatres, I make sure 1 or 2 is distributed per family. Programs are great if you want to fill it with ads, but that is a project on its own.

Will you sell the programs or give them away? You may consider putting some easy magic trick/s in it. If selling will give the people a reason to buy other than just having a souveneir. If not selling would give the people a reason to look at it more than once.

Just a thought.

Shane

Thanks Shane - I like the idea. I plan on giving them away.

I use Kinkos for most of my printing needs. If you do enough volume you will get a discount. You also get a discount for setting up a buisness account. I do my own graphic design work and keep all of my files on a USB drive. If I am in another town and run out of something I can just go to the local Kinkos and have prints made. I can even submit my job online and then go in a pick it up.