The Art of Deciding
Colin Ingram - Award-winning theatre producer
Published: 23 January 2025 at 00:00 Europe/London
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Episode notes
“Be brilliant for ten minutes a day.” Is that enough? It’s worked for award-winning West End and Broadway producer, Colin Ingram who spends his life making multi-million-pound decisions about what audiences are going to like. Sometimes he’s right – his Back to the Future: The Musical is a smash hit. But sometimes he’s wrong – his Gone With The Wind crashed and burned. How does he get into people’s heads? What has he learned? What can we learn from him?
- "The only thing that doesn't lie is the box office." You’ve got to be realistic about whether something is actually working or not and make tough decisions – even if it’s your personal passion or your creative team promise they can save it. He talks us through the lessons he learned with his unsuccessful production of Gone With The Wind.
- "Success is as hard as failure." There are pitfalls involved in big successes – especially if you’re young and inexperienced. It can cloud your vision and so interfere with your decision-making .
- "Be brilliant for 10 minutes a day." There are those moments that make all the difference. No one can be 100% all the time - so don’t put yourself under that kind of pressure. But if you can be inspired just for a short time each day, it can make the difference between success and failure.
Chapters:
(00:56) One of life's big pleasures is deciding to go to a show
(02:42) Colin Ingram is one of the West End's most successful producers
(06:08) Colin’s early days working for Cameron Macintosh
(08:06) What decisions would you have made differently today versus the younger version of you
(09:35) Colin’s process, considering a theatre production from conception to execution can take a decade
(21:43) Making big decisions that are not always popular can be difficult
(24:03) Be brilliant for 10 minutes a day
References
Colin Ingram: https://coliningramltd.com
Back to the Future: The Musical https://www.backtothefuturemusical.com
Ghost the Musical https://www.ghostthemusical.com
Billy Elliot the Musical https://billyelliotthemusical.com
Cameron Mackintosh https://www.cameronmackintosh.com
The Art of Deciding has been charting in the top 10, and featured in The Guardian Podcast Newsletter, Podnews, The List, and the Podbible newsletter, amongst others.
The Art of Deciding is produced by Podcart - https://www.podcart.co.uk/
Series Producer: Jayne Morgan
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