What you should do to Open Your haunts in 2020 - Thread

[drfrightner]

image_21745.jpg this is a strict virus warning sign

[drfrightner]

Check out this story about stocks of theme parks... it clearly says at the bottom that amusement parks might suffer 50% reduction in attendance. Haunted Houses should plan on 50% reduction in attendance. https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/...cle&yptr=yahoo

[RJ Productions]

OK Larry!!!
Following your info and your lead....applied today for the PPP through my bank. Being a a unique business, a haunted
house and a Pirate Festival , I am on a first name basis with the bank manager.
Everything was done on line. She looked through everything, requested additional info and will send it off today!!!
IF you have that sort of re pore with your bank manager, utilize it!! I always drop off free tickets for her employees, they
recognize and acknowledge me every time I enter the bank even though I am only really active seasonally. Now when
I need help, those dividends are paying off as she personally handled the application and will vouch for it to her bosses!!

Two lessons:
first follow though when you are handed opportunities like those Larry is outlining,
second , always build those kind of relationships with other businesses and providers, you never know when they will bear fruit...
the only issues I am seeing is that base everything off 12 months. All my profit for the Festival was LOST because of Covid.
But their formulas take your total profit, divide it by 12 for a monthly profit and multiply it by 2,5 for the 2 1/2 months of profit you lost....
But that's not accurate for people like us, we have 12 months of expenses but only ONE month to make a profit. I will not be able to
run the festival in June or July,,, so I have NO chance to make anymore profit, but expenses continue.

So the reality is you will only get 2 1/2 months of what your yearly profit would be but no opportunity to make anymore money the other
9 1/2 months!!! BUT something is better than nothing!!!

Thanks Larry for posting (no you don't get a percentage...just a VERY grateful THANKS!!!)

[drfrightner]

!cid_2D2C8947-6CAB-4983-A8D7-6172D70922F8@hsd1_co_comcast_net.jpg

[drfrightner]

!cid_477685E9-9531-42EB-8451-9D5A7FF507D2@hsd1_co_comcast_net.jpg

[drfrightner]

You need something like this on your website and at your haunted house

[ATTACH=JSON]n515155[/ATTACH]

[drfrightner]

You can file joint companies in other words your pirate event and haunted house you take last years payroll added together, divided by 12 x 2.5

You must use 75% of the money towards payroll which can include yourself and 25% towards rent, utilities etc.

[RJ Productions]

I need to go into the bank, I also run a Pirate Festival that could not open because of the outbreak. I lost ALL the income because it is a one weekend event. I didn't lose 2 1/2 months of salary...I lost a whole YEAR's salary with NO chance to recoup it!...... how do they handle that???

[RJ Productions]

What about a Sole Proprietor ???

[drfrightner]

To the question about 1099... originally my bank told me you could use the 1099 as part of your loan application, then I found out later you couldn't. Its just payroll only. And when you pay out the money you better do it thru payroll company. So I'm putting everyone I need to pay on payroll... everyone!

Larry

[drfrightner]

I've always found it SMART to follow the lead of big companies. You will need a sign like this at your haunted house this year and your website. I'm developing them and will share them Monday.

Larry

IMG_0028.jpg

[RJ Productions]

Great info Larry, thanks for digging it up!!
I agree with NOT lowering prices. People will want to get back to normal. We saw this with 9-11 and other disasters.

Listen we had 1 October here in Vegas. The worst mass shooting in US history DURING our season!! Our attendance dropped immediately... a big issue would be some copy cat idiot
targeting another outdoor event. But then we started to rebound and we were only 25% down for the season. It was stronger the last week than the same time the previous year, so if
we had another week, we probably could have made up the difference. People WILL want to return to normal so the sooner we start opening up, the better our chances will be.

I too think we will have to take steps to put our audience at ease. Here's a couple suggestions:

Limit groups: you can let a larger group in if they came together, I wouldn't combine groups ie: if you just had one couple, you normally put them through with another couple.
perhaps you don't allow singles and you just put couples through with a little space between them. IF they catch up, really not your fault, actors should try and stop those getting too close.

Actor interaction: we may have to look at how close our actors get to the audience. A lot of times we keep a good distance just for the safety of the actor. Now it doubles as safety for the
audience too!!

Sanitize the audience: Spray the hands of everyone getting INTO your lines, like they do on the cruise ships, just a rubbing alcohol solution. Then maybe spray again at the door. We have
an Asylum theme so it works right into our storyline!! We'll just have to explain it entering Hotel Fear!!!

Waivers: I agree with posting warnings and disclaimers. Not sure about signing waivers???? In the past it has been stated that signed waivers are only worth the paper they are written on!! Are they
even enforceable??? If you do have a claim, how do you find the signature and verify it's even the right person??? You ever see a mass waiver? It's been signed by Freddy Kruger, Alice Cooper,
Ben Dover, and thousands of scribbles that make Doctor's signatures legible!!! I'd like to see some more discussion, maybe even a separate thread on the use of written waivers!!

I just started glancing over the info Larry provided. I think there is some very useful info there. Just saw info on the fact that outdoor events didn't really spread infections as you would normally think.
Remember we really are more of an OUTDOOR event, even those in buildings. Our audience spends MORE TIME OUTDOORS than they do IN THE HAUNT!! Think about it! And if they go in with
people they know??? We are not like a concert or sporting event where you sit next to people for several hours.

We ALL need to read and have all this info set to memory. While I also agree we should NOT seek interviews, we should be prepared of the media shows up on your doorstep. You should have waivers
you refer to , sanitizing procedures you have in place, audience distancing you have implemented...you need to show you took STEPS to protect the audience.

One of the (MANY) doctors discussing Covid-19 mad a good point. He said everything we do is based on Risk vs. Reward. You drive your car to the store, you risk getting into an accident, but the reward
of getting food {or that six-pak of Miller Lite (sponsor)} outweighs the risk. Even this Covid-19 will eventually be reduced to this Risk vs. Reward scenario. Hopefully we return to some level of a NEW
normal so this fall all we have to worry about is trying to buy advertising during a presidential election cycle!!!

[Brighton Asylum]

Im not following this. So you can use your payroll as long as they didnt qualify for a 1099? so anyone who made LESS than $600 you can include? I pay everyone by 1099. what about the money I pay my set and construction crew? They dont get a 1099. I just pay them by check.

[drfrightner]

Couple things ...

#1 I got my PPP money TODAY! I didn't get anything close to what I needed because I was paying a lot of my people directly by check. You can't use 1099 which sucks for me let me tell you! But the good news is I still got over 100k. This money is out there folks GET IT!

#2 Unit 70 told me he got approved yesterday. I talked to another haunter who said he got approved. GET THIS MONEY NOW! Hire your people back and get something done.

#3 Great question about lowing ticket prices... AHHHH NO 110% NOPE!

Why would you do that? I mean think about it so if you charge $25.00 lets say, and you lowered the price to say $20 dollars do you think that makes a difference to ANYONE? People aren't going to come because they don't feel safe, they don't have a job, worried about losing their job, not because the price is 20 instead of 25. I wouldn't raise your ticket price that is for sure!

See the video below ... this is NOT A CHEAP PLUG you need to get this video www.hauntedhousesupplies.com This is the best how to dvd I've ever made.

What you really need to do is WATCH THIS DVD then focus anything new you do around what you learn from this dvd. You need to put money into a retail store, 5 minute escape room, photo ops, etc. You will need to make more off the customers who do come which is why you need to build secondary attractions.

You might even want to REMOVE part of your haunted house to make way for attractions that are upcharges. At Creepyworld we're removing an ENTIRE haunt this year... why? Saving about 15 actors that is the main reason right there but at Darkness we're removing The Hive to make way for a new Dracula themed escape room.

Haunts are the best way to make money now, your haunt is the main draw then surround it with other opportunities.

you can get the DVD at www.hauntedhousesupplies.com

how to dvd 2020.jpg

[Demon House]

Larry do you think haunted houses should lower ticket prices this year? Saw your post on Facebook came over to check out the thread. Thanks for posting.