The Sheep in Show Biz

We’re all in this business to make people happy, right? Not me! I want to make them sheep

Happiness as a goal is pretty crappy. Happiness is an emotion. As my therapist told me, “Emotions come and go in 15 seconds, please pay with cash.”

Let’s get deep in this one!

Let’s Flow

I want to give my audience a sense or a narrative of fulfillment. Flow is the state when all else disappears and you’re fully engrossed in what’s happening. It’s a highly rewarding experience that’s so good, sometimes people forget about their basic needs for survival like food. I don’t want to kill people with circus, but I do want to give them the chance to be in the zone. Check out this chart…

Think of a game that’s fun for you. The challenges that arise are at the level or close to your level of skill. When it gets to be too hard, or too easy, a game loses the fun. Performance is the same way.

An audience member is using skills. Sure there’s the bottom left of the chart where there are few challenges and few skills needed. Like, maybe the performance is asking you to clap at a certain time. Easy, cool, and fulfilling; but not maximum fulfilling.

The way shows get challenging is when you have more to do. You have to figure out when to laugh. You try to get the joke before everyone else. You try to figure out what the heroine in the story is going to do next and you put yourself in her place. If you don’t know enough to make a plan for her because the story isn’t clear, you feel anxious. If you know what’s coming next (because your ability has exceeded the difficulty of the storyline), you feel bored.

But, Sheep?

Sheep are following the flock. They know what their job is and they are pumped to be able to do it. They are flowing. They don’t have to figure out if they’re going to stay with the others, they don’t have to make up their own path, they don’t have to look for water, because they are safe in the group.

This sense of safety, direction, and rewarding challenge is exactly what an audience wants. Get too weird or get to boring and they won’t feel safe to follow you to the flow state.

Seems Demeaning

Being a sheep is very underrated. According to this paper from Auburn, we are only conscious of 5% of our decisions and thoughts. We’re buzzing along without thinking. Who would want to be aware of every decision, like “how am I holding this sandwich?” or “which way do I need to move my eyes to see the traffic light?”

It’s wonderful to be a sheep for a while. We get to escape all the decisions that are outside of the flow world — the anxiety and the boredom.

Safety vs. Comfort

Safety means the audience feels they can stick with this show until the end. They don’t need to protect themselves or their time. They don’t need to make the decision of whether to leave or pull out phones or just tune out. The show is a worthy shepherd. We want that. We don’t want comfort.

Comfort is going straight down to the bottom left of the chart. There’s no challenge, no engagement, no fulfillment. Comfort is what people seek naturally, but it’s not what they want all the time. They don’t need an entertainment expert for that. It bothers me when hosts say something like “…So, sit back, relax and enjoy… Shamu!” Audiences want fun — not a spa day… Hopefully soon, they won’t want #blackfish entertainment, either.

Like a good shepherd

How do you you get people to follow you like sheep follow a shepherd? They won’t. Sheep don’t. That’s why every show needs dogs. Put a dog in a show and you’re cool. Or, here are some random things that help…

• close the doors to theater
• admit when something goes wrong
• deliver awesome whatever
• come thru on marketing promises
• have a full house
• have other people who trust your show
• if the show is crazy, don’t make people sit in straight rows
• do bold things to establish that you’re the leader

There are a million things you can do to put your audience in sheep mode. Keep looking for ways that entertainment can lead and provide safety.