With the changing times, that kind of gamble is more difficult to justify. The competition within the community of emerging companies has become keener than in the past because there are an increasing number of companies and a decreasing demand. It is a glib and too easy an answer to a difficult series of questions. Moreover, Hollywood movies, particularly those from the thirties, forties, and fifties, portrayed impresarios, companies, performers, and the live theater experience in mythic images. Booking and arranging a tour was then, and still is, a methodical, time consuming, and long term proposition.
Popular culture stars notwithstanding.
Talent, skill, and luck play a very large part in the public image and promotion of any performing artist and company. The change in the artistic climate over the last decade has been very dramatic, but there are still plenty of opportunities for performing artists, and for emerging artists within that community. However it requires skill and a strategic marketing plan. The artist and manager need to plan carefully and strategize a marketing campaign, and then follow through with it and persist in the follow-up. A major concern of presenters is whether the company they have booked two years ahead will still be in existence, or available for the dates contracted.