Steven Rayner, 27 January 2013

Attendees were Steve, Clara, Annie and Vicky.

We discussed pros, cons, experiences and expectations of taking shows to Edinburgh.

One good sounding piece of advice was that even though you might go up there

well-planned and with big expectations, do treat it as a try out and be ready for

anything - including disappointment. It seems that people's experiences are often at

the extremes of feeling v positive or vowing never to return. Main reason for being

down is ‘nobody came to see the show’.

A happier story included elements of:

scouting for locations the previous year, hiring someone to take care of PR (this

helped to get those early reviews), putting the cast up in decent accommodation, when

letting cast's friends stay for free asking them to do a couple of hours flyering per day

in return, using friends with prior Edinburgh experience as source of insider advice

before and during.

Bringing own tech rather than relying on venue's tech was also recommended.

Just going for the last week not recommended as the reviewers tend to have slacked

off. Though the last week is apparently when many of the producers make their visits,

scooting round the ‘hot’ shows. So don't leave early either if you are hoping for this

kind of exposure..

EdFringe do good, informative road shows in the lead up to the festival. These take

place in London, Edinburgh, New York(?).

Consider the Free Fringe. A collaborative environment where you provide assistance

on other shows and get help with yours. Plus, you can take collection at end of show

so it's possible to make money too.

Work out why you are going to Edinburgh. One Canadian comedy duo came over for

just two nights so they could put ‘sold out Edinburgh show’ on their website.

There are other festivals in the UK. Brighton, Ipswich, Camden, Buxton Fringe as

examples.

Tags:

Edinburgh festival, Edinburgh, edinburgh