tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579942189410540830.post6654544710960518306..comments2023-09-29T13:51:26.578+01:00Comments on A Local's Guide to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: A View on the Big Four and "The Alternatives"Colin Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297025484429196815noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579942189410540830.post-23804943638897363392012-07-10T22:05:57.926+01:002012-07-10T22:05:57.926+01:00Thanks for the comment...
My view may be blinkere...Thanks for the comment...<br /><br />My view may be blinkered by spending too much time drinking with Free Festival comics who bitch about the big venues, so I'm happy for people to contradict me.<br /><br />Firstly, let me be clear. Not all acts at big venues are agency represented TV comics. There are some young acts at paid venues for the first time and they most definitely should be supported. (Doug Segal gets too many mentions on this blog but he is a good example of someone taking out a paid venue for the first time and who, like you, does all his own marketing).<br /><br />People should definitely not avoid him or acts like him (or you).<br /><br />Your comment in the first paragraph sounds like you are talking about The Pleasance - even if you are not, then they are a good example to use....<br /><br />I'm particularly biased to Edinburgh, I live here and don't have any involvement in the London bubble that more than 50% of people involved in the business side of the Fringe live in.<br /><br />I call it like I see it and what I see is a big machine arriving, setting up a money making enterprise, paying its staff minimum wage, taking on acts who all complain they lose a fortune, and send me tweets and e-mails the rest of the year about shows in London.<br /><br />They may well be losing money supporting up and coming London acts the rest of the year and if that's the case then they go up in my estimation. But I don't see that. I only see what goes on here.<br /><br />But I do think my post was balanced and some of the points I make are not inconsistent with some of the points you have made and I'll agree with you some more...<br /><br />The Pleasance (like the other big venues) does have an excellent infrastructure and they do give Fringe goers a good experience. I like them like I like my favourite supermarket. I like their staff, I like their courtyard and I like the acts they have on.<br /><br />I like that you can get deals during the previews. I will be going to see shows there, spending money there and I hope that everyone else will do the same...<br /><br />But I don't get the feeling that I am discovering the latest talent at the Fringe when I come to The Pleasance and I don't feel like I am watching "The Alternative". I feel like that has already been decided for me to a certain extent.<br /><br />When I go the The Stand or a Free Festival show, I do feel like I'm supporting the underdog more and that was the general theme of my post.<br /><br />I'm happy for more people to take me up on this. Am I being overly harsh on the bigger venues? Do the likes of Tommy Sheppard try to tarnish them with the corporate brush because they are competitors or is it a fair tag?Colin Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07297025484429196815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579942189410540830.post-81374105431294085402012-07-10T11:08:11.545+01:002012-07-10T11:08:11.545+01:00Interesting blog, but I beg to differ in some case...Interesting blog, but I beg to differ in some cases.<br /><br />As someone who worked for a Big 4 venue outside of the Fringe, I can assure you that MOST of the money goes towards rent and various licenses and fees. Certainly at least one of the Big 4 venues you mentioned hardly makes any money from the Festival and puts a lot of it back into supporting more up-and-coming acts throughout the rest of the year.<br /><br />In fact, many of the people behind the Big 4 were once "local butchers", which just happened to grow and expand as their reputation for "good local and imported meat" grew. I would go as far as to argue that the Big 4 aren't necessarily massive supermarkets, but just really successful local stores, which in many cases, put the money back into the community.<br /><br />Yes, there is truth in some of your article that the money isn't always going straight to the performer, but smart, independent performers can still break even, or make money back if they spend it wisely. I work my arse off doing all my own promotion, admin, etc, rather than paying various companies to do it and this has made performing in a Big 4 venue affordable.<br /><br />To suggest all the acts in the Big 4 venues are from the telly, or with agents, is an incredibly big mis-interpretation and disrespectful to those of us who work really hard to perform in a good venue with good staff, support and facilities for the sake of our audiences.<br /><br />I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the smaller venues, but just wanted to set the record straight that many of us are all struggling - no matter where we are. If you steer away our potential audience by suggesting their money is going to some big, evil corporation, how else will we ever make our money back if that becomes the general attitude?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com