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First off, let’s get one
thing straight; no-one
comes to Edinburgh to make money. It’s a PR exercise,
pure and simple. There
are those that do make
money in Edinburgh, but they are the
established acts,
normally promoted by
large production houses.
For the rest of us it’s
about putting on a good
show, promoting yourself
(or your act) and
minimising the financial
damage. Don’t get me
wrong – it’s a great
place get noticed, but
if you get it wrong -
not only will you end
up with a bruised ego,
you’ll also run the risk
of having a bruised
credit card.
This article is not
about ‘bashing’ the paid
platform and telling you
about how the ‘Free
Festival’ is so much
better. It’s about
giving you some hard
facts about my first
Edinburgh
as a producer and how
both platforms have
their merits and their
disadvantages. As a
performer, you need to
consider what is best
for you. This article is
about how the obvious is
not necessarily the best
option for you and how
the ‘Free Festival’
plays an integral part
in the Edinburgh
Festival.
 INTRODUCTION
As a reasonably
experienced producer, I
decided to brave Edinburgh this year with two acts I believed
were ‘green’ - but very
talented.
One was called Piff the
Magic Dragon and the
other act was a musical
comedy act starring a 22
year old called Martin
‘The Falsetto’ Milnes.
Both acts were
relatively new to the
circuit but had proved
that they had potential
– one had supported
Alistair McGowan at his
Stratford Edinburgh
preview and gained 4/5*
reviews in the London
press (Eve Standard and
Time Out) for his
various lead
performances in musical
comedies, the other made
the finals of the
Hackney Empire New Act
of the Year and had a
string of magic awards
to his name. Both acts
were at a similar stage
in their development.
As much as they were
very different shows,
I’d been informed that
both had a place in Edinburgh. As I contacted
numerous venues trying
to secure slots (this
process starts in
January) I ended up in
an unusual situation –
one act on a ‘paid’
venue and one on a
‘free’ venue. Both acts
had identical
capitalisation (i.e.
they would cost me the
same amount to take to Edinburgh) and they had similar venue
capacities. They were
both were new to Edinburgh.
My findings hopefully
will help you make an
informed decision as to
what options you have
available to you when
you contemplate taking
your act to Edinburgh. The last thing
in the world I want as a
producer is to watch a
future Eddie Izzard get
burnt financially in
Edinburgh and lose faith
in the festival.
Stick with what I’m
about to say, because
it’s worth thousands of
pounds (I lost this on
your behalf!), hopefully
thousands that you won’t
have to lose when you
think about coming to Edinburgh in the future. You think I’m joking?!
Read on…
Back to Piff the Magic
Dragon – after months of
applying to the big four
(if you don’t know,
they’re the Pleasance,
Gilded Balloon, Assembly
and Underbelly) I ended
up with two slots on the
table… both at 11am. Not
what I wanted. I tried a
few other venues (The
Caves etc…) and managed
to get offered early
afternoon slots. Then
someone told me about
the ‘Free Festival’. At
first I thought it
sounded bonkers, why
would I consider going
onto the ‘free’ platform
if I could get my act
into one of the big
four?
With the offer of a 50
seater ‘big four’ on the
table (11am) and an
unexpected offer of a
120 seater ‘free’ venue
just off the Royal Mile
(6pm) in the offing, I
threw caution to the
wind and thought, ‘sod
it’ – lets see what
happens. Besides, to
date the most
enthusiastic programmer
I’d spoken to was from
the ‘free’ platform.
Simultaneously I’d been
offered a 9:15pm slot
with Musicals@George
Square (who are kind of
part of the big four)
for my other act. I
already knew what I was
doing would be an
experiment and I wanted
to know how it would pan
out.
As for my team – I
general managed my acts,
had a press rep for both
and spent the same on
marketing and on props.
I had two brilliant
sales/flyering boys out
for the first 10 days of
the festival and another
couple of people lined
up for the final push of
flyering. I had one
operator/technician up
for the whole of the
festival opping both
shows. Same team, two
different shows… let the
experiment begin…
PREVIEWS
In short you NEED
previews. Your show
should be in good shape
as soon as you hit Edinburgh. You’ll have enough to get your head
around without having
the added pressure of an
unfinished show to
contend with.
Previews – previews for
both acts went well.
Piff secured ‘Best
Comedy’ at Buxton fringe
and my other act was
sold out for both
previews. PR wise, the
dragon was in the lead –
man in a dragon outfit
with decks of cards
seemed to capture the Edinburgh spirit. I wasn’t concerned for my
other act though – he’d
received standing
ovations at several
previews and was a 5*
show in my opinion.
Financially – I was
covering my costs. I was
up by £50 at this point.
WEEK ONE
Piff got ill. Very ill.
We got him through the
shows, but he wasn’t on
form and with a nasty
temperature it was a
struggle. His awarding
winning Buxton show was
slipping into the
distance. The press rep
managed to get some
great PR for him
including a slot on BBC
1 TV Breakfast TV.
It was tough going and
the show needed work.
Piff couldn’t do much
during the day. He
really was that sick and
bed ridden. Add to this
the lighting rig went
down at our venue ‘The
Hive’ and Piff had one
show where he was
performing in silhouette
(since only one spot
light at the back of the
stage worked). The venue
were really nice about
it and it eventually was
sorted out.
As a whole, the
technical support isn’t
as good at the ‘free’ as
on the ‘paid’ venues.
The same goes for the
‘front of house’. It’s
tricky trying to set the
stage when the audience
are coming in because
no-one is out front
telling them to take
their seats. We got
around this by me
assuming the role of
‘front of house manager’
and also because we had
some lovely staff at out
venue who would help us
out. It would have been
different had the venue
not been so
co-operative.
Finally, you need to get
your ‘donation’ pitch
right to get the money
in and also have people
with buckets at every
exit. In short you just
need to be organised.
That said – we did have
technical problems in my
‘paid’ venue. The only
difference was that they
had a support team and
front of house team to
deal with everything.
But as you’ll learn,
this doesn’t’ come
cheap!
Other act on ‘paid’… was
all going well at this
stage, perfect in fact,
They’d run it so much in
London, they stormed
their press launch at
their ‘paid’ venue and I
was in no doubt they
were at the top of their
game. Big papers came in
during that first week
while I struggled trying
to get the magical
dragon better with soup
and pain killers (upon
the advice of my doctor
friend!)
Sales were low for my
paid act, but I wasn’t
concerned. Then three
days in - my paid act
got 3 x 5* reviews in a
row –
Three Weeks, All the
Festivals and Remote
Goat. Evening News
came in and I thought
‘That’s it! The low
sales of 25 per night
will turn around’.
Piff on the Free
Platform had about 40-60
in per night at this
stage, not bad at all.
However, many of these
people were there
because of my demon
flyering team and the
majority were skint
students. They watched
and then paid very
little (or nothing). The
press avoided us for
week one
That’s the negative week
out of the way! Past
WEEK 1 it got a whole
lot easier (for one show
at least!)
WEEK TWO
Press started to trickle
in for Piff and by now
he wasn’t ill and had
got his act sorted. He
was also out on the
Royal Mile (for at least
2 hours) each day
selling himself (he had
a little dog/Chihuahua,
which helped!). Piff
also did a lot of
cabaret shows, averaging
one each night.
My ‘paid’ show continued
to get 4/5 * reviews.
However, their ticket
sales were dropping off,
we were down to 5-10
paid people a night,
even though we were
getting amazing reviews
and the word of mouth
(from the few people
that saw it) was good.
My flyering team were
sent to exit flyer
relevant shows. I paid
for ads in publications
etc… In London this is what you do
when something doesn’t
sell. I followed what I
knew.
Part way though WEEK 2
something started
changing… Piff was in
great shape and people
were beginning to pay
after watching the show.
The hype took off (why
pay when you can see a
good 4* show for free?)
and as he did well, my
other act was going in
the opposite direction.
WEEK THREE
My paid act was down to
5 paying people per show
and the flyering wasn’t
helping.
My marketing guy (a
brilliant young
entrepreneur who was no
stranger to selling and
flyering) seemed
defeated. The venue was
hidden, the time slot
too competitive, the
product ill placed for
Edinburgh etc…
Edinburgh
is a place for comedy
and new writing. If you
have a musical product
(that isn’t
sensationalist or sung
by a star) you’ll have
problem (as a rule). If
your act isn’t eligible
for any awards, you’ve
got a hard sell on your
hands.
Piff went from strength
to strength. On the free
platform he was now
packing the venue out
(at least 100 people
each night, 140 on one
occasion, standing room
only) and as time went
on, the people we had
watching the show were
there because they’d
heard that it was good
and our audience decided
it was a fine
alternative to paying
£10 a ticket. Some
people even put £20
notes in our collection
bucket.
As for my ‘paid’ act, I
ended up doing the usual
thing – putting tickets
on sale at the
half-price hut. One
morning when I was
outside the half-price
hut I handed a flyer of
my paid 5* show to a
punter with the pitch:
ME:
“5* show, half-price
tonight”
PUNTER: “half-price
means half the quality
darling!”
It hurt. Big time.
At least I didn’t have
to do that with my
‘Free’ show.
THE FINAL FEW DAYS
Piff was packed. The
Saturday before the
final week we took
nearly £300 in
donations.
Piff closed as a success
on all fronts. My other
show did not. It was a
critical success, but an
example of how
Edinburgh can go
wrong financially.
I should add at this
point that my other act
on the ‘paid’ platform
became ill on the final
week and we ended up
cancelling 5 shows.
Since his act relied
heavily on his vocal
ability, a chest
infection proved
disastrous. This said,
when I cancelled the
shows there were between
0-5 tickets sold for
each performance.
OTHER SHOWS
In order not to bias
this article too much
I’m going to reflect on
other shows I knew and
saw during the festival.
Like I said at the start
of this article, this is
an informative guide
regarding both
platforms.
Back when Piff was doing
some high profile
London
magazine shows at
Leicester Square Theatre
(chortle fast fringe and
the Frisky and Mannish
gala) there was a new
act I spotted and liked.
I won’t name them, but
they were new to Edinburgh as a double act, got a late night
slot with the big four.
5* review in Three Weeks
(on the same day as my
other act got 5*) and I
watched what happened to
them with interest.
Two weeks in I went to
their show. There were 8
people watching. I
estimated that only 5
had paid (the rest were
like me, they had venue
passes, which means you
can see the show for
free). The next night I
sent Piff to watch their
show and he reported the
same in terms of
audience numbers. These
were weekday shows.
Having spoken to them
since
Edinburgh it
appeared that they sold
well for the first two
weeks and then the
numbers fell rapidly.
They didn’t quite cover
their costs and had a
venue capacity of less
than half of The Hive
The stories of acts
performing to one man
and his dog are not
unfounded in Edinburgh. It happens – more often than not.
The problem is people
don’t tend to tell you
the truth, the only
stories you hear are
from people who did ok.
Those that got burnt
won’t talk about it
because it makes them
look bad.
On the other hand –
Frisky and Mannish – an
act on their third (I
think?) blitzed Edinburgh. Brilliant with
solid 5*. It was sold
out every night at the
Underbelly and
deservedly so. Here’s an
example of how the
‘paid’ platform can
work. It clearly did for
them. But…they are
established in terms of Edinburgh and brilliant to boot.
VENUE DEALS
If you go with a ‘paid’
venue, they make you pay
a venue guarantee.
Admittedly you don’t
have to pay this all up
front – but to think
that you’ll reach this
‘guarantee’ as a new act
to Edinburgh is naïve
especially if the time
slot is not suitable for
your demographic and
your venue hidden.
My ‘advance/guarantee’
for my paid venue was
£3,500. To put that in
perspective, that was an
87 seater capacity. On
top of this you also
have to pay the ‘shared
guide’ cost, which is
£500, something you
don’t have to do if
you’re on the ‘free’
platform. Piff’s free
venue was a 120 seater
cap (and we managed to
squeeze 140 in one
night). It is not
unusual for an act in Edinburgh to sell 5 seats per night (especially
if you are new). I
cannot emphasise this
point enough!
On the last week of Edinburgh I got talking to
someone who had worked
for several years as one
of the few full time
staff at one of the big
four. He told me a tale
about how (when he used
to work there many years
ago) he had three
up-and-coming acts who
were very good. They
were new to
Edinburgh
so they could only offer
these acts late slots
(past 10pm – 11pm etc…).
These three acts
struggled. He informed
me of tears and low
audience attendance (not
that dissimilar to what
I had experienced with
my act on the paid
platform).
These three acts are now
some of the highest paid
entertainers in the
industry. All of them
are millionaires. If I
named them – you’d know
them.
As economic times get
harsher – the luxury of
gambling in Edinburgh and losing thousands simply won’t be
an option. Instead you
have to think about how
you can gain a
reputation as a
performer without
haemorrhaging thousands
and keep your head above
water. Some acts make
money on the paid
platforms; you just need
to be smart enough to
know if you’re one of
those acts!
THE FINANCES
I didn’t meet my venue
guarantee with my ‘paid’
act. In fact not only
did I lose the cost of
taking them to Edinburgh – I also lost £2,100 of my guarantee.
As for Piff – takings
were disappointingly
slow in the beginning. I
couldn’t help but think
that the economic
situation had made
people thriftier – if
they could get away
without paying, they
would. However, as the
show went on people were
more generous. I had
numerous people give me
notes each night saying
that it was far better
than many shows they’d
seen on the ‘paid’
platform and therefore
they thought it only
fair to pay a similar
cost.
We took £2,400 in cash
over the course of the
month.
So the maths –
my free show was £4,500
better off than the show
I put on the paid
platform. Not
only that – when you
produce, cash-flow is
king. I still had bills
going out during August-
fees for my operator,
per diems for my act and
my London rent. By doing the
free festival, it meant
that I always had cash
coming in to pay the
bills.
 There
are various reasons why
my other act failed
financially – which I
could go into at great
length! Regardless, I
didn’t think there would
be a £4.5k difference
between the two shows.
Piff had over 4,000
people see him in
Edinburgh
(between his free show
and the cabaret night he
did). Nearly 2,000
people saw him at the
Hive alone (his free
show). My other act had
303 ‘paid’ people see
them, which I’d ‘up’ to
‘500’ once I take
papering and cabaret
into account.
As I said at the start
of this, Edinburgh Festival is a great platform and as a
performer you have
options. Both platforms
have their merits and
their disadvantages, you
need to consider what is
best for you and what it
is you’re trying to
achieve in Edinburgh.
Both platforms have the
capability of helping
you achieve great
results; you just need
to make sure you choose
the right platform for
your show.
I wouldn’t hesitate
putting another one of
my acts on at the ‘Free
Festival’. It was a
thoroughly enjoyable
experience and I also
felt that there was a
general camaraderie
between the acts, the
organisers and the
venues – which made even
the darkest days that
little bit brighter! |
The
fringe is supposed to be
for middle-of-the-road
performers and small
companies to take a step
upwards, put their shows
in front of audiences,
have their talents
recognized and establish
themselves as major
(rather than minor)
players in their
profession. Instead, it
has become a showcase
for people with mediocre
talent and large bank
accounts.