unsolicited fringe advice
Following a conversation with a friend who’s heading (back) to Edinburgh this summer, here’s some unsolicited advice to venues at the Edinburgh Fringe – with advice ranging from the steamingly banal to the suprisingly specific. I am, as you’ll discover, happy to run the risk of being obvious. If you’ve staged work on any fringe circuit, you may wish to skip to eye-rolling and grandmother-egg-sucking-education style comments. So, here we go..
You should:
a) know the reputation of your prospective venue.
Virtually every venue has a website and some kind of self-description – do some homework. You won’t get very far pursuing a space in for your Restoration comedy in a venue with a reputation for experimental dance work. To be both obvious and cunning: pick a venue where the audience demographic for your show is shared by other companies in the building.
If the venue isn’t promoting a particular vision or genre, take the time to look at last year’s programme. Has the venue administrator changed or remained the same? Is there anything in last year’s line-up that even faintly resembles your project? Will you be the only sketch-show in a venue filled with stand-ups?
Perhaps more importantly, spend a little time online (particularly at Scotsman.com and ThreeWeeks.co.uk) – how many shows at the venue were reviewed? If you want broadsheet reviewers, do any of big name journalists even know the venue exists? Is there anyone in the venue who will manage press relations?
b) know why you’ve been offered a slot
The larger, more established venues will make (varying efforts) to programme and may only offer you a slot on the basis of a preview or existing reputation; smaller or less high-profile venues will offer you a slot primarily on the basis that you a) asked for one and b) can pay for it. There’s plenty of territory between those two camps but a portion of cynicism is healthy.
If a venue is genuinely interested in you and your show, then there’s room to negotiate in your contract. That said, don’t be afraid to pay-to-play – proving you do so consciously: you will, after all, be in the majority of companies at the Fringe. The only error is in assuming that the apparent love of your venue will be echoed by the general public, to whom you have probably not written a huge cheque.
c) know that no venue is perfect.
There are a series of trade-offs to be made: a high-profile venue in the middle of town may have great audience potential, but you’ll have to sell a much higher percentage of seats to break even.
Similarly, an early morning slot at a great venue may represent poorer value for money than a prime-time slot at a less well-known one. Be pragmatic and embrace negative-thinking: every venue has draw-backs, not all of which can be cured by having a great show, positive reviews or by pouring money into your publicity budget.
d) know what you’re paying for.
The physical stage space and box-office split might be the big ticket items on your
contract, but find out if you’re going to have to pay extra to appear in the venue programme, how much it’ll cost to increase the size of your entry, if the venue offers (or presumes to bill you for) an in-house publicity service.
Paying for a larger entry/advert in your venue’s programme that’ll be circulated around the city in multiple venues, for example, is nearly always better value for money than attempting your own postering campaign.
e) assume that the description of the venue contains one or more lies of omission.
What do I mean? There are a tiny, tiny, minutely small number of venues which are not uncomfortably hot and humid, where the noise of the street and other venues cannot be heard, and where you have anything approaching exclusive use of storage or dressing space.
Perhaps unsuprisingly, venues will not go out of their way to point this out, not least because it’s the de facto reality of Fringe life. While most venue managers will do their best to balance the needs of different shows (negotiating volume levels so your music doesn’t drown out their soliloquy) there’s a limit to what they can do (re-directing major roads not being on that list.)
f) assume that you’re going to make a loss.
Even with a fair contract for a good show in a good venue you’re probably not going to make money. The average fringe audience is spectactularly small; even great shows with well-above average audiences in good venues can lose money. Aim to make a small profit or to break even; plan for a calculated loss.
That’s more than enough. Prepare to see this post edited, re-written and then eventually scrapped.