The Scottish Comedy Forum

[Glasgow Comedy Festival]

Well it's that time of year again - time to start thinking about the next Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival!

The festival takes place from Thursday 12 - Sunday 29 March 2009 at venues all over the city. The deadline for submissions for the festival programme is 5pm on Friday 14 November 2008.

For more information on how to perform at the festival or for how to get your venue involved, contact one of the team in the comedy festival office:

admin at glasgowcomedyfestival dot com
0141 552 2070

look forward to hearing from you all soon!

The Festival Team

[Alan A]

Or you could get in touch with alan@hahacomedy.co.uk
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[Glasgow Comedy Festival]

actually, this might save a bit of time:

How to be involved in the festival

Option one: hire a venue and produce the show yourself.

If you already have a venue in mind, get in touch with the comedy festival office to see if it is a venue that has been used by the comedy festival in the past. If it has, then we should know if it has all the equipment required to put on a comedy show. If the venue isn’t known to us, it will need to be checked by a technician from the festival office to ensure it has all the correct sound, light and staging facilities. This is to ensure that people who attend any show under the festival banner can be assured of the same high quality experience and there are no dodgy mics or makeshift light arrangements! After this process is complete, you need to make sure that you provide us with a fully completed Show Proforma, a completed SECXTRA Setup Form (for our festival box office) and your registration fee in time for the programme deadline which is FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2008 for the 2009 comedy festival. You will be provided with these forms and information about the registration fee when required.

Option two: find a venue who will co-promote the show with you

This option means you and the venue share any production and marketing costs in return for a share of the box office. This means your costs are less and the risk of losing out financially in the event of low sales, is far less. In this case it is best to have a written agreement with the venue in advance of tickets going on sale. This should state what costs are involved and what the split of any profit will be. Make sure you know what you are getting from the promoter in return for their share of the box office. Deals vary, but for instance, when the Stand Out Comedy Agency directly co-promotes a show it usually offers an 80/20 split of any surplus after production costs have been paid for. With a co-promotion the registration fee should be treated as a cost and taken off before the split so that both parties pay a share.

Option three: find a promoter who has a venue and will produce your show.

In this instance you can expect to be paid in one of three ways:

a) an agreed flat fee for your performance.

b) a split of the box office between you and the promoter. As an indication the main venues on the Edinburgh Fringe, usually offer a deal where the box office is split 60/40 in the artist’s favour. The 40% pays for all venue costs but not usually for promotion or publicity. The deals do vary so it’s worth asking around. For example, the Stand Comedy Club splits the box office 70/30 with its performers.

c) a minimum guarantee with an agreement to split the surplus should the show do well. This is really a mixture of the first two approaches. Again, deals vary, so shop around. And again, this must be agreed in advance and in this case the promoter is the person liable for the registration fee.

Feel free to ring the office to ask advice on dealing with promoters or venues. We aim to keep a good relationship with everyone on the festival so sometimes we might be able to help get agreement.

0141 552 2070
admin@glasgowcomedyfestival.com

[Alan A]

The above is really good advice and info.

I'd add that before getting into any deal which does a split after production costs, make sure those costs are outlined in advance or cost capped.

IMHO straight box office splits are the easier to keep track of.
_________________
www.hireacomedian.co.uk
www.hahacomedy.tumblr.com
www.comedyclublistings.co.uk
www.hahacomedyclub.co.uk
www.thecomedyroadshow.co.uk

[Glasgow Comedy Festival]

it seems admin@glasgowcomedyfestival.com is not accepting any emails for some reason

please email any info requests to sarah@glasgowcomedyfestival.com

ta

The Festival Team

[jeffallen]

Thanks for the information.