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The Future of Booking Comedy

 

 

If you’re a comedian, or if you organise comedy gigs regularly, you will be delighted – nay, over the moon – to discover that there is now a substantially easier system to do it online. And what’s more, not just one but TWO service providers have come along to help.

The Gig Market describes itself as “a booking hub where comedy bookers and promoters can list available gigs and acts can apply for those gigs”. The process, as described on the site itself:

…provides complete management of the entire booking cycle, allowing bookers to view applications and make offers. The system also automates the process of confirmation, and even sends reminder emails.

And there are additional features, like finding drivers for gigs, viewing act profiles, and receiving alerts when there’s something the system thinks you need to know about, like a declined offer.

According to Tony Tinman, comedian and founder of the site, in their first week they registered more than 600 acts and over 50 UK bookers.  He says:

All we’re asking for is that bookers just give it a try. We’re confident most people will see the potential for improving their current booking process. We’re getting some great feedback and we’re adding to the available features all the time.

Cost-wise – it’s free for acts to register and promoters/bookers get a 120 day free trial, after which they pay just 1% of any gig fee that is organised through the site (so unpaid spots are free).

And with a similar system there’s WhatComedy.com, set up by former Jongleurs Head of Marketing; Bob Slayer.  He defines his site thus:

WhatComedy.com
= Online Tools for booking Comedians
With bespoke functionality for managing entries for Comedy Competitions / Gong Shows wtc
> Reduce Admin + Improve Communication = Increase Efficiency

Although officially still in Beta mode, the site has been up and running successfully for a while.  Bob explains how they first developed the system to manage entries for the Laughing Horse New Act Competition:

They previously used to receive hundreds of emails that all needed to be processed – now entries go straight into an online database and all sorts of other tasks managed. This has meant that Alex spends a lot less time on admin and can also more easily delegate and oversee the task. We are developing this functionality further and working with other competitions and gong shows around the country.

We then used that as a base to develop bespoke functionality for Crack Comedy to manage gig bookings – this soft launched a few months ago and we are adding functionality all the time. We are now opening up to select bookers across the spectrum under the same basis.

Like The Gig Market, signup at WhatComedy.com is free for comedians.  For bookers, basic signup is – and will remain – free, and they are hoping to add some premium subscription services along the way.

Is this the future of comedy administration? It certainly makes a lot of sense. So bookers and promoters, take some of the pain out of the booking process and sign yourselves up to these sites. And comedians – it’s a no-brainer – sign up is free and could lead to more work – so what are you waiting for?

947 total views, 1 today

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Stand-Up Student Documentary

MA Student Ben Lowe enlisted the help of many of this country’s most successful working comedians in his search to discover whether he can make the grade as a standup comic.

Great clips, great advice; this is a gem of a piece, fascinating and invaluable for all those interested in the world and work of a standup comedian in the UK today.

944 total views, 2 today

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5 Ways You Are Sabotaging Your Comedy Career

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Working your arse off and still no progress? Not getting seen for those projects you know you’re perfect for? Watching other “less-deserving” people leapfrog you to the glory?

Perhaps you’re concentrating on the wrong things.

Instead of trying to impress the powers that be – something in the end you have no control over anyway – maybe you should take a look at yourself and your behaviour, make sure you’re not actually hindering your own career.  Self-sabotage – so easy to do it without realising.

Here are 5 of the most common ways we let ourselves down. See if any apply to you:

Sabotage 1: You can’t let go of dead weight.

You keep material or “schtick” that you know and feel safe with but which is getting old and tired. The audience like it, and you can always fall back on it, but it doesn’t impress employers if they see you perform identical material every time. Try out new things and don’t be afraid to lose the older stuff.  Feels scary but you know it’s the way to move things forward.

Sabotage 2: You’re not changing or developing.

Obviously you know your strengths – if you’re a standup that’s where you’re the most comfortable, or a sketch writer or character comic. But why not expand your career frontiers? Try submitting material to other formats, or other performers.  Perhaps try a different style of performance – from sketch to standup.  This increases your creative output, exercises your creative muscles, helps you keep a fresh and different perspective, and also increases your sphere of influence and connection.  You never know where it may take you.

Sabotage 3: You haven’t consolidated what you have.

In apparent contrast to the last point, if you are always chopping and changing then you will be good at nothing.  Make sure you have something solid.  Don’t give up on perfecting your main strength because you get bored and want to try something new.  You need a solid foundation to build confidence and credibility.

Sabotage 4: You take things too personally.

This is a big one. The nature of the job makes it very difficult to do otherwise. You’re not selling a car you’re selling yourself and if someone doesn’t like the product it means they don’t like you.  Well, that’s not strictly true but that’s how it feels. Remember if someone doesn’t choose you or doesn’t laugh, it’s not about you, it’s about them. People have different senses of humour. If you don’t get an audition it’s because someone else better suited their brief. Move on. It’s important to learn from mistakes and improve but don’t dwell, it gets you nowhere. And don’t waste time and energy getting angry or resentful – it’s boring, destructive and unpleasant to be around.

Sabotage 5: You’re ruining your health.

You’re not at your best, you’re too tired, you’ve put on weight, you feel unfit…. Ah, the rock and roll life! You need sleep and you need to be healthy.  Your brain has to be at optimum speed to create and to react.  The social side of the business and the hours make it difficult to keep control of health issues, but it’s still possible.  You work at night? Meetings and auditions are in the daytime. And if you’re a performer your appearance is extremely important – people can be cast on looks alone.  So forget the idea of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.  If you’re serious about getting ahead, getting wrecked regularly does you no favours on any fronts.

1,183 total views, 1 today

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How To MC

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This useful post about working as a compere, was written by standup comedian Paul Savage who has kindly allowed us to reproduce it here. Over to you, Paul…

“I have had a lot of requests for this one. I’ve taken some advice from an excellent thread on the Manchester Comedy Forum. Remember, this is not gospel, it’s just a summary of things I have learnt from doing a lot of MCing (I’m resident MC for 5 different promoters), and summary of the advice given to me by other acts.

What is an MC for?

An MC (or compere – both are used interchangeably) introduces the acts. Only a few comedy clubs (most notably Alexander’s in Chester and Jester’s in Bristol) do not have MC’s.

The function of the MC is to be halfway between the audience and the acts. Remember, your job as MC isn’t to be the funniest. Or the loudest. Or the most memorable. It’s to make sure everyone has a nice time; welcome latecomers, politely shush noisy people, offer people to heckle you rather than the acts, lay down the ground rules, make sure you signal the breaks properly.

The MC should, with the promoter, ensure the smooth running of the night.

Before You Start

Get there early, try the mic and do a mic check. Some sound engineers love to wrap the mic cable round the mic stand to keep it tidy. Nothing kills an audience like watching the compere struggle with the mic stand at first. Get it out of the way and get the show started.

Get the running order sorted. Some promoters will do this for you, some won’t. Make sure you can pronounce everyone’s name, and get them to spell it phonetically if you can’t. Try to learn who is on and when. Sometimes, with things like gong shows where there are 5 acts per half, it’s simply not possible, but make an attempt. When the running order is being sorted, make sure that the people who need to get away are on earlier, unless they are specifically booked to be on later.

Standard MC practices

Some standard MC practices that you might want to use as a first time MC:

  • Introduce yourself, and the name of the comedy night. Ask people to give a cheer if they’ve been to comedy before. Ask people to give a cheer if they have never been to comedy before. Cheering is an essential function of comedy nights. by getting people to not feel embarrased about cheering, they are less likely to feel embarrased about laughing aloud or clapping. Many a time an act will feel they are doing badly because the audience isn’t being as vocal in their enthusiasm as the act likes.
  • Banter with the audience. Make sure the questions you ask are open ended. (ie, questions that have something other than a yes or no answer). Common examples of these include: what’s your name, what do you do for a living, where are you from,etc. The idea is to spring off what they are talking about into something funny. (It doesn’t have to be though. It’s a chat, settle them in for comedy.) You can also find a question that people don’t generally ask, which will invigorate audiences who have seen a lot of comedy. (Dave Twentyman’s question is “what’s your favourite planet?”. Mine is “what do you do for a hobby?”). Try to keep your banter from being mean spirited. it can be funny to describe someone’s appearance, but you do not want to hurt their feelings. Some people clearly don’t want to be involved. if their body language says that, leave them alone.
  • You should have some material for the gig. Some MC’s chunk up their act into small sections and do it throughout the night, whereas some just riff and talk about stuff in the room. Most will do a combination of these things. For instance, if someone says they work in an office, and you have a suitable bit of material about working in an office, then do that bit of material. You may find it useful to flip trough a local and a national paper beforehand, and jot down some jokes. “Funny stories from around the world” generally only need a couple of things added to them to become jokes. Same with topical or local references. people are more impressed you went to the effort.
  • Keep an open mind about what you are going to do. If you are halfway through a piece and you get distracted by something funnier do the funnier thing. Relax into it.
  • Explain the format of the night. “We’ll be having 4 acts, one in the first section, then a break when you can go to the bar or have a smoke or use the loos, then a 2 in the middle doing shorter sets, then another break and then your fantastic headline act”. By telling these things early, it is less likely you’ll have the disruption of people getting up and moving about whilst the acts are on
  • Do the rules. The basic rules are: face the front, sit still, no talking, turn your phones off, no heckling, if the acts ask you a question, do respond. To make it seem like less of a list of “Don’ts”, feel free to add jokes in there. If you feel paticularly confident, invite the audience to heckle you rather than the acts.
  • Get them warmed up to cheer for the acts. There are a selection of cheering games you can do for this. One is to give names to various levels of clapping and cheering (from golf clap, to cricket clap, to football clap, to wrestling and a midget has just hit someone in the head with a chair) and make them do each one. Another is to give a number to the claps and get them going up through the cycles. Another way is to split the room down the middle and get them to cheer off against each other in a who can be louder contest. Some clubs have music to walk on to, but make sure you impress on the audience how important it is that they cheer the act all the way to the mic.
  • Go with the flow. The other day, half of the audience disappeared after the first act as I was about to bring the second act on. I called a break. that is of course much more preferable than bringing an act on to less people, even though I’d said there would be a break after the second one.
  • GOLDEN RULE: If you ask a question, and the room is large enough that not everyone can hear, repeat their answer back to them to confirm. Same if you get heckled. Repeat what they said and then say what you were going to say. Not only will it help if people can’t hear their response, it also will give you a couple of seconds thinking time. Which can sometimes be the difference.
  • Tailor your act to the gig. Early on in my comedy career (5th or 6th gig) I watched the MC, just before he went on to start the show, whip himself up into a frenzy of energy, ready to take command of a noisy, drunken, stag do filled Friday night Christmas do at Jongleurs. Except he wasn’t playing a noisy, drunken, stag do filled friday night christmas do at Jongleurs, he was doing a Monday night at an open mic night where all the audience were the friends and family of the acts. I remember with horror as he came out with the immortal opening line “hello you comedy fucking monkey cunts”, which he roared at us. I was sat with another act and his mum, and none of us could make eye contact. Over the course of the evening he then spent 5 minutes showing us a vibrator he bought from the toilets, he bared his enormous arse, and he berated some latecomers who’d been offered some free seats after the football had finished downstairs. After he wiped the flecks of spit from his mouth, he said “and now your headline act”. The first 3 minutes of everyone’s act that night was getting the audience back to a friendly point to start again.

Whilst the act is on

Go somewhere close by and watch. Sitting in the view of the audience dicking around on your phone is not only rude to the act, it subconsciously undermines the act in the audiences eyes. “If the MC doesn’t want to watch it, it can’t be very good” they might think. 

There are other reasons why you should watch the acts as they are on. Firstly, if an act is struggling, they will sometimes come off stage before their agreed time. This only happens very rarely (it tends to be new acts having a complete memory blank, an act getting frustrated with an audience, or an act getting booed off) but it is important if that happens that you come on quickly and take control again. Most acts will have a wrapping up spiel “well, you’ve been a lovely audience, and I’ve got one last story before I go” which helps signal for the MC to come back on. As they come back on, repeat their name. “Ladies and gentlemen, give a round of applause to Steve Steverson”. If you are going into the break, ask that they give a round of applause to all the acts in that section. Tell them how long the break is.

What acts want to know from MCs

If there have been persistent hecklers, or audience members who are fond of joining in, make acts aware of this. Also make acts aware of any audience members with learning difficulties so that they do not take the piss out of them (Needless to say, this one actually happened to me).

Ask the promoter if he has timings for the evening. Tell the act how long you are going to do in front of them. Most MCs load their bit at the start, so they will do 15 minutes before the first section, 10 minutes before the second, sometimes only a joke or story between acts (sometimes not even that. You can just go “and keep that applause going for the next act in this section” ). Towards the end of the night, when people are slightly drunker and their attention span is lessened, it’s not uncommon for the MC to just get them facing the right way and get them to clap for the Headliner. Make sure the act knows how long you are doing in front of them. Twice in the last few months I have had MCs when I am opening say “I’ll just do a little bit in front of you at the start” and I had assumed between 5 and 10 minutes, and they had said “please welcome to the stage your first act Paul Savage”. If you can give an accurate time estimate, that really helps an act.

If an act has mentioned something in their set, and you have a complementary bit of material, do that in the next section (“Steve was talking about going on a barge holiday there. I went on a really weird bicycle holiday a few years back…”).

Ask an act if there’s anything that they’d prefer you not to mention. A clean act may not want to go on after you discuss the finer points of coprophagia. A music act who changes words in songs may not want to go on after you have done whole rant about how it’s cheating. A one liner merchant may not appreciate you doing your stock of one liners. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but it is better to be polite and ask.

What to do if you are struggling

Many people do not know that the MC an important part of the night. In many ways, MCs are like referees in football: people only tend to notice you if you aren’t having a good time of it. Acts who do a lot of MCing will have heard at some point from a punter “eh, you’re pretty funny. you should try giving stand up a go” not realising that at some clubs the MC is the best-paid person on the bill.

If you are struggling, get an act on to some applause. Don’t be afraid to drop a whole bit and just do one punchy joke, get them laughing again, and bring on an act.

Don’t ramble on in the hope of lucking onto some funny. It may happen, it may not, but at some point it’s better to cut your losses for the good of the night.

If you are struggling to find enough material, and there is time, do a joke competition. Before the break get the audience to suggest a celebrity in the news and an object. Then get them to write a “what’s the difference/ similarity between x and y” style joke using those things. Offer a prize for the best one, even if it means buying a pint out of your own pocket. After the break, read out the best ones (you may want to go through beforehand and remove any that are hideously offensive).

What to do if you are Heckled

First, take a second and assess the heckle. scale it from 1 to 10. Then, respond in an appropriate way. A heckle that is only 2 offensiveness does not require an 8 putdown. Gary Delaney, who taught me this trick, has written a putdown for each one. I, being a lazy git, have not.

After the headliner has been on

Once again, ask people to applaud for the headliner. Then, say “that’s all we have time for. The next one is … (find this out beforehand) and you can get tickets/ reserve places at …”. Sometimes promoters or venues will want you to plug other nights, or to let people know that the bar is still open and they can keep drinking. Some promoters have an email list to sign up for more news, so let people know where that is. Then run through with “lets have a big hand for all the acts you saw tonight…” and read them off in order.”

Comedian Paul Savage has several other articles on the craft of standup comedy in his blog: HowToComedy which you can find HERE

881 total views, 2 today

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The Search Is ON…

Finally.

I may have already mentioned in previous posts that this site has been designed by a non-designer, and so there have been a few problems with functionality and… you know, stuff.

WELL. At last I have integrated a proper Advanced Search facility.  NO, COME BACK! This is INTERESTING! (OK, maybe not interesting, but USEFUL.)

What it means for Employers:

If you click on the Advanced Search page you can look for performers and writers using a ton of options:

  • Do you need them to look a certain way (gender, height, build, playing age, colouring)?
  • Or sound a certain way (accent, language, singing voice)?
  • Maybe you need them to live in a specific area, be able to play a particular sport or musical instrument, or work within your budget?

There are a ton of different choices and we’ve just made it easier for you to narrow them down to find the precise fit for your brief.

What it means for Comedians:

You know that long, complicated form you had to fill out when you created your profile?  The more fields you filled out and the more information you gave, the more chance you have of showing up in employer searches – whether by casting directors, promoters, events organisers, ad agencies or just the plain curious.

Log in to the site, click on My Dashboard (in the top right hand corner), then click on the pencil icon along from your Profile name to edit your page and check that you haven’t left anything out and most importantly, the right information is listed in the right fields.

Check out the Advanced Search page here and test how you show up in search results.

Any questions, feel free to get in contact by phone or by filling in our contact form.

939 total views, 3 today

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Look Who’s Talking – A Guide To Online Comedy Forums

In this post we take a look at online forums and discussion boards for and about comedians and the working world of comedy…

There are plenty of general entertainment sites where you can share your opinions on the latest Judd Apatow movie or argue about whether Monty Python was funnier than the Goons (they were), but here are some forums covering the mechanics and machinations of the comedy world, aimed specifically at those who work in the field and/or those for whom comedy is more than just a spectator sport.

The largest is probably Chortle, a site which also boasts the most comprehensive listings service on the UK comedy circuit.

Then there’s the British Comedy Guide, which as well as providing extensive UK comedy news, also has its own forum here covering standup, TV and radio etc, for comedy fans as well as performers and writers.

For discussions and news covering specific UK regions check out:

West Midlands Comedy Forum

Yorkshire Comedy Forum

North East Comedy Forum

Manchester Comedy Forum

Merseyside Uncut Comedy Kollective (MUCK)

and for comics and comedy fans in Scotland there’s the Scottish Comedy Forum

Across the pond we have:

Road Comics

A Special Thing

If you’re a member of LinkedIn there are several comedy-related networking and discussion groups you can join including:

Standup Comedians

Online Comedy

This is not in any way a definitive list, there are plenty of smaller forums and discussion groups for comedy professionals, and if you know of any that you’d like to recommend please add them as a comment by clicking the little speech bubble next to this post’s title.  Cheers.

1,732 total views, 8 today

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10 Tricks To Get More From Your ComedyCaster Listing

Great, you’ve signed up to the site, you’ve created your own online comedy profile. Here are some tips to make sure you squeeze every last drop of usefulness out of it:

The Secret To Self-Promotion

1. Check out the competition. This applies not just to ComedyCaster but to any area of marketing. In this case have a look through the site and see which profiles you like. Define why you’re impressed. Then make sure you do the same things they did, but better if possible.

What You Need

2. Have a great photo. And if you haven’t got one already then make it head-and-shoulders to work best on this site, as the image space is quite small. Even if you’re a writer (never in-vision) and/or look like the back of a bus. If you’ve ever visited a property or dating site, or anything where someone is trying to get your attention, you know that to choose between viewing the details of two similar items, one with a photo and one without? Exactly – no contest. If you think a photo of you is irrelevant or will in some way work against you, then at least have an image of some sort – a logo or comedy picture – a blank space is just off-putting.

3. Get a video clip. Really important. If you’ve got a clip – on a DVD or your own website – but it isn’t on youtube or vimeo, then GET it on there so you can link to it on your ComedyCaster page. If you’ve only got audio then stick it up on youtube anyway with a nice picture. There are plenty of simple video creating tools, there’s even one that comes bundled with Windows – Movie Maker. You simply drag and drop the audio into it, and then add a picture (or several if you’re feeling adventurous) and voila you have something you can upload to youtube which can be linked to on your profile here. Writers, that includes you.

Work Backwards

4. In your description/biog/CV, start by mentioning what you are doing now. List your credits starting with the most recent work first and work backwards, don’t list them in the order they occurred. Then when an extract or snippet of your profile shows up – as it can in various places, eg Google searches – it doesn’t read like you haven’t worked for 10 years.

Don’t Be Shy

5. Tell everyone about your comedycaster profile, link to it on Facebook and Twitter.  Perhaps ask for feedback – it’s a great excuse to remind employers and agents you exist.

Be Thorough

6. Fill out as many fields as you can* where applicable. If you are a performer give the details of your appearance and skills. Employers, especially casting directors, may search for specifics – only Asian for example, or only in a certain height category etc – and if that’s you but you haven’t filled out those fields then your name won’t show up when they search with those words.

*Except for the phone contact fields: if you have only one contact number there’s no need to fill out all the other phone fields, it just looks messy. No one is going to think “they haven’t put a voiceovers number down, that must mean they won’t take voiceover work”. Keep it simple with just “For all enquiries”.

Get A Little Personal

7. Reviews are great but don’t make them the only thing you put in your main description. After all, no one is going to include a review that says anything less than “he/she is very funny” so they don’t really add much – the fact you have them is great, but it’s not a lot of info for the employer. Add a few details – when you started, where you grew up, or what you do well – something that will give them a hook to remember you by.

Get Serious

8. Fill out the fields seriously. Putting “war-mongering” or “plays Albanian nose-flute” (if untrue) in Skills does nothing and is a wasted opportunity. We already know you’re a comedian. The fields are a chance for you to be found for the extra things that you are/can do.

Be Specific

9. Accents. Don’t put “all” or “whatever you need” or anything vague like that. If you really can do an accent well, especially if you’re native, list it specifically. If a casting director needs someone with a Birmingham accent they will probably use the words “Birmingham”, “Brummie” or “Midlands” to search for it, so if it’s not listed in your accents field you won’t show up in those search results.

And finally…

10. Don’t lie. Employers’ time is valuable and if they allocate some to meeting you because you said you can do something you can’t then it’s guaranteed you will never be called in by them again.

Most of the above is simple common sense, but the more of these tips you follow, the greater your chances of getting work from this site. Your profile on ComedyCaster is a great resource for placing yourself firmly in the spotlight. Take advantage of it.

776 total views, 1 today

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What Casting Directors Are Looking For

Having a chat with a pal who works in casting last night, we ended up discussing the sorts of things that casting directors are most often searching for.  Skills and abilities that are especially useful and valuable for film, TV and commercial work in particular.  She was chatting away, and pretty soon I had my iphone out, taking notes.

So without further ado, here are the top things that, if you can do ‘em, casting directors definitely want to know:

  • Licence/ability to drive any of the following:  HGVs, buses, and/or motorbikes.
  • Horseriding
  • Stagefighting
  • Ice-skating and ice-hockey
  • Circus-type skills including acrobatics, tumbling, juggling, backflips, unicycle
  • Yoga (really)
  • Diving and strong swimming
  • Specialist dancing such as hip-hop or tap
  • Doing anything super fast – eg shuffling cards

She also said that if you can speak a foreign language, or do an accent convincingly you should mention it.  And list any musical instuments you can play.

However DON’T claim to be able to do something that you can’t. Casting directors have a limited amount of slots to see people, and if you waste their time and exaggerate or lie about your ability  it won’t be appreciated and you can forget ever being called in by that person again.

Finally, it’s very useful to mention specifically where your accent is from.  If they’re casting a character who is described as coming from Dudley then mentioning you’re a native from there, accent-wise, rather than just the Midlands area, will push you to the top of that list.

So put it in your directory listing (ComedyCaster has specific fields for this when you create/edit your profile), your website, your agent’s page.  If you don’t share it, you can’t be found in a search for it.

1,194 total views, 1 today

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Comedian Market Thyself

Apart from a few clued-up individuals, most performer/writer/creative types are not renowned for being business savvy – too busy being fascinating or hilarious to tackle the boring slog of publicity or admin.  But these days, with information available at the click of a mouse, you need to be findable online to get work, and not everyone can afford to hire someone else to sort this for them. So with that in mind I present…

The Comedian Marketing Starter Pack

Presuming your act has been written, rehearsed and enjoyed, but you’re not sure how/where to advertise this fact, here are the 4 very basic necessities for getting started marketing yourself online.

1. The name’s the thing

The first thing to do, if you haven’t already, is buy your domain name on the internet. Even if you’re not ready for a website, google “cheap domain names” and buy your name plus all the main options if you can: the .com, .co.uk, .org and .net versions – you should expect to pay no more than a tenner for each. If you’re strapped for cash then the .com and .co.uk options are the most important (assuming you’re based in the UK.  If you’re based in, for example France, then you want to buy .fr instead of the .co.uk version).

If your name is no longer available then get yourself a domain that applies to your field and also has your name in it – so if you’re John Smith but www.johnsmith.com belongs to a python wrangler in Minnesota then buy www.comedianjohnsmith.com or www.johnsmithcomedy.com. You can create a domain that is interesting or memorable like www.thefunniestcomedian.com but for search engine purposes, having your name in the title makes you easiest to find.

We’ll look at the best way to build your website in a later post but for now you just need to grab your domain name. And while you’re at it…

2. You know I mentioned the name’s the thing?

It’s a good idea to secure your name on all the online social networks too, preferably the same or similar to your domain name. Regardless of whether you tweet, blog, or don’t know where the computer on/off button is, you need to own your online identity wherever you can. It costs nothing to register on these sites if you haven’t already. But the trick is to keep it consistent across all the networks. If you’re johnsmithcomedy as a domain name, make sure you’re the same on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn etc. (Those are the main ones at the time of writing, but there may be others by the time you read this.) And if you can’t list yourself as that exactly, make sure it’s mentioned or referred to on your page. That way if someone sees something they like about you on one site it’ll make it a whole lot easier to search and find you on all the others.  AND nobody else with the same/similar name can confuse the issue by being mistaken for you.

3. A picture paints a something words

So: photos. Vitally important. But proper photos too, mind, not something you held out your arm and took on your cameraphone (no matter how many pixels it has). Even if you don’t do performing just writing, you need to have an image for public presentation purposes – something for the book cover, the magazine article, the listings blurb etc. And if you’re a performer it’s doubly important.

This is where you don’t skimp on price. It’s really important to have fantastic, professional photos. Not because you need them to look good, but because other people have them, and when your photo appears next to theirs yours will look crap.

And performers, while you’re shelling out for the professional papper, ask them to take some straight shots too. Yes you need photos that promoters or journos can use to illustrate how amusing you are. But even if you’re not an actor, get the photographer to take a few shots of you looking normal, not smiling or pulling a face, just straight. Head and shoulders only. This is what casting directors prefer when looking for people to audition for film, TV and ads and as a comedy performer you’ll be of interest to them, so proper acting headshots will make you more credible as a casting option.  Black and white used to be the norm (still is to some extent), but colour is now becoming more widely accepted.

4. Show it off

Clips of your work.  Get ‘em as soon as you can, writers included.  If you haven’t got a clip then film or record it being performed by you, or comedy chums, whoever will do it the most justice. Video if you can but audio is better than nothing. If you’re a stand up get someone to film you at a club – if it’s a bad gig, get them to film you at the next one, until you’ve something you’re happy with. And if you have clips from you being on actual telly or radio, even better.

“I don’t have anything yet” will lose you gigs. So many others have clips of their work these days that if you don’t you’ll be passed over. Like houses. You’re looking for somewhere to live and the agent offers you 10 properties to consider but 2 of them don’t have photos? You may choose to view those 2 once you’ve exhausted the other possibilities, but if one of the other 8 fits the bill first, those 2 don’t get a look in. So get those clips, the more the better.

Ta daa!

And that’s your starter kit:

1. your domain name
2. your name secured on all the major social network sites
3. proper professional photos and
4. at least one video or audio sample of your work.

In the next few posts we’ll look at websites (do you even need one?), how to get the most out of the various social sites and how to best use the contents of your starter kit. In the meantime if you have anything to add to this post, please click on the speech bubble in the top right hand corner, or below, and add a comment.  Cheers.

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2

ComedyCaster – 5 Reasons To Get Listed

1.  It’s where the people you want to get seen by are looking.

ComedyCaster is the contact directory of comedy professionals. There is no other. You may have your own website, your details on your agents’ site, perhaps even a listing on various acting directories as well. But this is the central hub for contacting people who write and perform comedy. And when employers are looking for a comedian to audition or book, why would they trawl all the various sites when they can just check the one place that has everyone they need to consider? (Answer: they won’t, they’ll just come here.)

2. You’re in control.

You have your own page, the content of which YOU decide. It’s not subject to anyone else’s opinion or review. You can add one video clip, up to 3 photos, and as many words about who you are, what you’ve done and what other people say about you, as you like. And of course you can update it whenever you want.

3. You’re in good company.

Everyone applying to be on this site is vetted. Only proven professionals or newcomers with either professional representation or a reasonable CV are admitted. Click on View All to see who we’ve got so far.

4. Clarify your contact details.

Different agents for different types of work? List them all. Or just list one number. Either way, the person YOU choose will handle your enquiries, ComedyCaster doesn’t get involved or take a cut. And of course if you change agents, or get another one, simply amend those details on your page.

5. It’s FREE.

For a WHOLE YEAR if you sign up now. Eventually, once we reach a certain number of artists, this offer will be withdrawn and there will be a simple listing fee. But sign up now and for at least the next year it won’t cost you a penny. So you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

It’s simple. Click “Create Your Profile” and get started now. And if you have any questions or you get a bit stuck on the technicals get in touch here and we’ll sort it out for you.

1,141 total views, 3 today

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