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joe yang Loyal user Florida 296 Posts |
Did my first street show in nine years, a fifteen minute bit between a couple of other performers, in Stuart, FL. The "Season" is over and hurricane season is almost here, but it went well and looks good for a few, select, special events next year.
It seems sensible to go slow and see what works, what doesn't, what has changed and what is still the same. It's a long way from NYC, but in some ways Florida feels more like NY in the 70's, with more people looking for a cheap evening strolling around town. There is a little billing/booking trick that got me a lot of paying festivals in the 80's where I could pass the hat too. It looks like it might work again, after a few more shows and establishing a reputation.
aka Mike Booth
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troppobob Veteran user Crescent Head Australia 372 Posts |
G'day Mike
Great that you are out there again - all the best with it. Bob Latta (aka Troppo Bob) |
Chris Capstone Regular user Tulsa, OK 107 Posts |
Hi Joe Yang,
I'm sure you'll step right back into it. It's kind of like riding a bike. Quote:
There is a little billing/booking trick that got me a lot of paying festivals in the 80's where I could pass the hat too. Care to share your idea? I'm always open to learning something new. Chris
Chris Capstone
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joe yang Loyal user Florida 296 Posts |
You shared your rope bit, I'll PM you with this one.
aka Mike Booth
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joe yang Loyal user Florida 296 Posts |
I suspect my little "booking trick" isn't news to a lot of you and it really is just a little trick,no secret. I really didn't want to make a long post out of nothing. On the other hand, some of you are asking. Some of you do something similar. Here it is and please share your variations.
Not saying you have to do this, it's just what I did. When I got offered festival gigs, I found most of them booked acts to work the "performers area". Acts usually got booked for one or two 45 minute shows, usually for a day, the idea being to bring variety to the festival. Acts got paid a sliding scale, based on experience. As a known street performer, I always got offered top dollar, usually what I could make on a good day, working the street all day. I always offered to work some corner of the festival, away from the main stage and work all day, doing a real street show, working for what the offered to pay for a stage show. I would find a pitch near the food court, where there was a lot of traffic. I would do 15 minute shows, but never work as hard as I would on the street. I would take 15 minute breaks. I would knock off for lunch, chat with the spectators, get hand outs from the vendors. My family would get in for free. I would work all day for a guaranteed income and pass the hat. Working shorter shows made it feel more like street theater for the spectators. Mixing up half a dozen opening bits with half a dozen closers I could work all day and no one ever saw the same show twice. I almost always got booked the first day and invariably, before the day was over I would get invited back for the rest of the weekend and booked for the following year. I'd love to hear from some of you guys. I know Cliff could share.
aka Mike Booth
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solrak29 Special user NY Metro 936 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-06-01 13:01, joe yang wrote: Would you say that this is an important factor? I mean, for me (hypothetically, because I have not done it) you would have one great show that you would rinse and repeat...no? At a festival that I went to last year, the folks there did the same show over and over again...
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joe yang Loyal user Florida 296 Posts |
Solrak, variety worked for me. Mixing up a different opening trick with a different closing trick, doing short shows, anyone walking in on the middle of show only has to wait a few minutes to see a new and different show. If you add some heavy improve and clowning, playing off the audience, no two shows are ever the same.
I have to credit Philippe Petit for that format. I found that variety does well at festivals. On the other hand, I remember a kid who used to work Battery Park, where the tourists were all waiting to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. The kid did one trick, the cigarette into a necktie. This was back when you could find a necktie in a crowd. One show and the crowd was on the ferry and gone. The kid worked all day off that one trick. Now remember, this is just theory, from a wanna be guru and at no point have I validated myself by discussing the weather...
aka Mike Booth
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Chris Capstone Regular user Tulsa, OK 107 Posts |
Some will say it's not necessary to do different shows. Just develop your act and do it over and over. There's merit to that and you will "perfect" the act that way. I've mostly done it that way. In fact I've gone through periods when my act stayed the same for several years with very little change.
But sometimes other factors can determine which way you go on this question. For example, I work a lot of small festivals. These are in small non-tourist area towns. Depending on the schedule of events for the day, foot traffic patterns, other acts performing, etc... I may need 2 or 3 different sets that I can rotate. But even though I sometimes do this at smaller events, my closing routine when busking is almost always the cups because it gets the money. The ability to do different show sets throughout the day can be seen as added an benefit by the festival booker. They like it when I tell them I can do this so it's an extra selling point. If the festival crowd is small and turning over slowly you could get into trouble. Here's a possible scenario: You're at a small festival. It's early in the day and the festival crowds are still building. You draw a tip, perform your show, and pass your hat. It was a great show and a great audience. After a reset and a short rest period you start drawing the next tip. In this next group there are a good number of people who watched your last show. There's not much else going on (remember early in the day) so they think "we'll watch this guy again, he was good." You start doing the exact same show, same bits, same lines, same tricks. After a little while they think "we just saw this, he's doing exactly the same things, even the same jokes, let's go do something else." Maybe they verbalize this and other people who saw the previous show hear it and follow suit. So about one third to halfway through your show a large percentage of these repeats start walking off. Who can blame them? But of course you are the luckiest guy in the world because who is standing by observing these walk offs? That's right, the "nice" lady who booked you. And of course she didn't see the previous show and doesn't know why these people are walking on you. Can you tell I'm speaking from experience here? Some say "NOBODY should EVER walk off, if they do then there's something wrong with your show." That's bull. There are all sorts of reasons people walk off during a show. Of course if this is happening consistently or if they're ALL walking off then YES you got a PROBLEM! At a giant festival it doesn't really matter. In these situations I do the same same thing over and over because there's so many people. But you might want to think about it at smaller events.
Chris Capstone
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