From: Christopher Hudert <heyhoot-AT-mindspring.com> Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 15:38:20 -0400 To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Free shows On Jun 1, 2008, at 6:21 AM, Kismet wrote: > We often get asked to provide someone to do a gig, not always a > puppeteer > and I love the "Good opportuity for them to promote themselves" logic > for > doing shows for free......promote to who? People that are looking for > free > entertainers? Yep. And when you get on "the list" of people who will do free shows, it can be hard to get off. But we also suffer the mixed blessing of being in what I call a hobby profession. It is one that some people do as a hobby, and this means that they may not require or even want any payment for what they are doing. They will gladly do that show for free. They do it because they love it, not because they want to make money at it, and they are supported by other means - some of which they plow into their hobby. (Many of us started there.) Some of these people are very, very good. The vast majority are less than that level. (Many of us started there too.) The fact that they do it for free, and that many of them are less than decent, negatively impacts the both the perception that puppeteers should get paid for doing puppetry, and that some puppeteers are worth paying for. If the hobbyist, or even the professional, is bad enough it damages the desire to have a puppet show at all as entertainment. Then we reach into the 10 to 1 rule. Whether you are an audience member or a sponsor, it takes 10 good performances to overcome the 1 bad one. Unless they have had some of those 10 good ones already, they are more likely to go for the magician, the clown, or some other type of entertainment before risking another puppet show. So if the other entertainer does well, they get the repeat booking and the door stays shut to puppet shows a little longer. Yes, there is an element of "well. you get what you pay for," but how do you gently tell them that in a way that makes them still want to hire you? It kind of goes back to my previous post, but to the sponsor's side - if they paid nothing for a show, how can they complain when it was worth exactly what they paid for it? Well, they can (and do) complain, and rightfully so if it was by a professional company, because they thought they were getting a bargain. It's not what they expected. Should their expectations be lower? Maybe, but that is not the mindset. The mindset is that of a bazaar - haggle to get something of great value for as little as possible. Often they forget the adage of "Buyer Beware." Okay, I've spent too much time on this already. Back to working and to lurking for a while. Christopher _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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