Fringe Wrap Up! By Rebecca

So, I’ve just wrapped up my small portion of the world’s biggest arts festival.  And as per usual, I’ve learned a lot along the way.  Overall, the run was a GREAT success.  I had full houses the majority of my run with a few light ones here and there while doing my show at a terrible time slot (1130pm) and with little to NO FLYERING on my part.  That’s a huge success.  Here’s what I’ve learned:

Time slot matters
While you wouldn’t think that people would go to a comedy show at 430pm in the afternoon at Edinburgh Fringe, they most certainly will.  In fact, my opinion is that the most choice time slots (at least for what I’m trying to do) are between 430pm – 730pm.  1130pm at night people go and see something raucous and randy or at the very least a stand up compilation show or worse yet – they’re too drunk and too tired to focus on any thing.  Not everyone, but I would say the great majority – think about it – they’ve been out to see shows all day, which in Scotland involves lots and lots of pints.  Mmmmm.  So, that’s two years now that I’ve done a super late show.  Time to bump myself to a better time slot.

Are they paying for a ticket?  It matters.
I do think that everyone should do the free fringe if they’ve never done the festival before.  There’s the PBH Fringe and the Laughing Horse Fringe.  Both are solid.  Both are CLOSE to free.  I say close because really none of these are totally free.  They are however way cheaper for the performer than doing the paid fringe.  What I like about the free fringe is the ease for performers to get an idea out.  That’s the biggest thing that this year’s fest did for me.  What I don’t like — absolutely no tech help, no seating help, no a/c and often super, hot, rooms.  AND my biggest issue – people will go and see anything.  This is a plus and a minus.  The plus is if you’re a stand up comic with some legs and a good time slot, the people will come out in droves.  The minus – people will come who aren’t necessarily the right audience.  When the shows are paid shows they investigate their choice a little more.  This is good for both performer and audience member alike, which leads me to my next thought…

Tell Them What the Show is About
I learned this one from Imran Yusuf – a comic who was nominated for this year’s Foster’s (used to be the Perrier) Best Newcomer Award.  I went to Yusef’s show and at the start of his hour he tells the audience, “I typically do stand up.  But, this show is slower and more personal…”  It’s interesting.  Before seeing him, I never would’ve thought to do that, but afterwards it made perfect sense.  Once everyone is on board and knows what they are going to see, they go along for quite a nice ride.

Bilingual Comedian Wraps Up!
So, in short, I accomplished what I wanted to.  I got my idea out with very little cost.  I got people very excited about the idea and I teased them about next year’s concept.  AND I scored a couple of very good reviews.  Done and done.

All of this accomplished with little to ZERO flyering.  This is important, because if you’ve ever seen the fringe, people flyer all day long.  Now, that’s not to say that I never flyer-ed.  I flyer-ed pretty much every show that I attended and I did a lot of social media networking.  That’s what worked for me.  You need to find what works for you.

So, how does the Snowball become an Avalanche?

What will I do my next fringe?

1. Put my show in a mid-level paid venue – so that I can land some tech help and make my audience more comfortable.

2. Enlist some producers.  Because my idea has such a great tie-in, I already have some media lined up and some great teachers and producers chomping at the bit.  Very exciting.

3. Raise the funds.  For fringe, the more money you start with – the more money you’ll finish with and often money helps you to better execute your concept, unfortunately.

4. Better time slot.  See above.

5. Rest.  Rest A LOT.  And don’t think about this until at least December or January.  (Impossible, of course because true comedic performers are always thinking.  We perform, write, joke, sing, dance, rehearse, tech, shake hands, fund raise, and accomplish for ourselves.  If you benefit while sitting in the audience, well, then that’s just a major bonus.)

For my American subscribers and readers, I’m thinking of putting together a UStream (live video chat) to discuss the Edinburgh Fringe for FREE.  Basically covering – how to do it, how much it costs, what you get out of it, etc.  If that interests you – hit me back at coffeeandshowbiz@gmail.com.  Let me know what times work for you, I’ll gather a consensus, and we’ll make it happen.

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