Monday March 26 - Roger describes a very important day for Broadway South in New York City

8:45 AM
• Breakfast at Peninsula
I meet attorneys Bill Hines and Alex Trostorff from Jones, Walker Law Firm of New Orleans who working on pro-bono basis, came to New York City to promote Broadway South to both theatrical producers and potential investors. New Orleans best comes to the Big Apple to raise awareness for Broadway South!

10:30 AM
• Meeting with Tom Selz
Introduced Bill and Alex to prominent New York theatrical-attorney Tom Selz. Tom works for Broadway South as a liaison to the theatrical community and arranges some terrific meetings with prominent Broadway producers for this trip.

2:30 PM
• Meeting with Allan Williams of Allen Wasser Management
The group meets with Allen Williams, Broadway producer and executive with Allen Wasser management. This company has been behind the success of Broadway shows such as Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. After being originally skeptical that New Orleans could serve as a viable destination for shows on their way to Broadway, Allan warmed to the idea and agreed to write a letter of support to Gov Blanco for the Broadway South initiative.

5:30 PM
• Meeting with John Saer of KKR Private Equity
Meet with John Saer, managing director of world-renowned KKR private equity investments. Again, it seemed, after hearing the amazing opportunities that exist for investors via the Go Zone incentives and other available tax credits, Saer’s interest in Broadway South increased considerably during the course of the meeting. Attracting respected investment groups like KKR will be key to raising the necessary private investment dollars to rebuild infrastructure to house the new Broadway South offering.

8:00 PM
• Dinner at Leaver House
Bill, Alex, and I join Stuart Suna, owner of Silver Cup Studios in New York City, for dinner with the CEO of HBO. We discuss HBO’s ability to not only produce live productions via Broadway South but also to take advantage of existing film and sound recording incentives to make overall investments in live productions more profitable. We use the example of a Chris Rock comedy concert live on Canal Street as the perfect type of vehicle for this combination of incentives.