2021 Company Handbook
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2021 Company Handbook Dear All, Firstly, may we thank you for sticking with us as the shape of the 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe has varied so drastically over the past year. For decades we have been building on previous years, adding spaces, refining our offerings, and none of us could have imagined the situation in which we now all find ourselves as we are forced to scale right back and offer something almost completely different. This handbook details, to the best of our knowledge and expectation at the time of writing (June 2021), what we are able to offer you as performing companies as part of an in-person Fringe on site in Edinburgh. Significant parts of our usual operation have been cut back or removed entirely, so if you’ve performed with us before please note all the things that are different. Some aspects remain the same of course and we don’t intend this handbook to be too formal - rather simply to act as a reference guide to the many different elements required in bringing your show to the Fringe. The handbook includes both specific venue and show detail as well as general Fringe information, please keep it handy so you can refer to it over the next few weeks. As you will probably expect, there is a new section detailing the Covid-safe guidelines we are following, and what we will require you to adopt while you perform with us. We will be in regular contact throughout June and July, and should the situation change and we find we are able, or are required to alter what we can offer to you, we’ll let you know. We hope that most of the queries and questions you currently have may be answered here but if not please feel free to get in touch! Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 Fringe Festival Edinburgh Charles Pamment and theSpaceUK team. June, 2021. Please note: Any information in this handbook may be superseded at any time, this year more than ever before, so we ask you to carefully read the newsletters that we will send out by email. The latest version of this handbook will always be available for download from our website. Handbook Contents • theSpaceUK Teams About theSpaceUK, who’s who and how to contact us. • Administering Your Show Fringe registration, our company website, brochure and insuring your company in Edinburgh. • Publicity materials for your show Designing your flyers and posters, venue information and what happens to your publicity material once in Edinburgh. • Technical A brief introduction to the technical aspects of our venues (much more information will follow from the Production Team). • Publicising your show at the Fringe Tips on how to publicise your show in Edinburgh, flyering, press releases and the like. • Performing with theSpaceUK at the Fringe How our venues run and what you can expect from your venue. • Covid-Safe Guidelines The guidelines to which we need to adhere in this strangest of years. • Key Dates A brief summary of useful dates throughout the Fringe year. • Useful links Where to find more information. • Appendix - Paper publicity materials Information on designing, printing and using paper publicity materials (not recommended this year but included here as it might still useful to know). Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 Fringe Festival Edinburgh Bookings and information: Charles Pamment – [email protected] / 0131 510 2399 / 07976 785718 This brochure (c) theSpaceUK 2021 This brochure 2021-02 (June 2021) Version Technical: Production Team – [email protected] 2 theSpaceUK teams So far you have been working with Charles to book your slots in our venues. Charles heads up the programming of our venues and is always on hand to help you with general advice and specific questions about contracts, payments, dealing with the Fringe, publicity and anything else throughout your Edinburgh experience. The theatre spaces themselves are run by the Production Team. Our senior team comprises a small group of highly experienced production managers who have all worked with us for a number of years. The Production Team will make contact shortly to begin discussing your plans in more detail and oversee your transfer from rehearsal room to the Edinburgh stage. We also have a proactive press team managed by our head of press Nick Abrams, a seasoned Fringe professional, Nick and his team will start talking to you in late June and will offer advice and guidance on the publicity and marketing side of the Festival. Finally, during the Fringe itself Charles, Nick and the Production Team are supported by a large team of technicians and front of house staff who help keep our venues running. You’ll meet your venue’s team the moment you arrive for your technical rehearsal. Contacting theSpaceUK: • For general enquires, contact Charles at: [email protected] or call 0131 510 2399 or 07976 785 718. • For technical questions, the Production Team are at: [email protected] Contacting venues As you probably know most Fringe venues during August in Edinburgh are temporary, indeed none more so than the tents within which we will be building stages this year! Our host venues are busy working envi- ronments during the rest of the year. With this in mind please do not contact the sites themselves directly regarding either visits pre-festival or technical queries. We are much better placed to help you direct so please do raise any enquiry with theSpaceUK teams. Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 Fringe Festival Edinburgh Bookings and information: Charles Pamment – [email protected] / 0131 510 2399 / 07976 785718 Technical: Production Team – [email protected] 3 Administering Your Show Now you have booked your slot in one of our venues, you will need to register the show(s) you will be performing. Fringe Registration Registration of your show with the Fringe is mandatory. Without it, you won’t be able to sell any tickets because we will not be running our own independent box office this year. Registration also ensures your show will appear on the Fringe website and be available for sale via their app and outlets such as the Half- Price Hut (if it is running). Full information is here: https://www.edfringe.com/take-part/putting-on-a-show/registering The Fringe registration is already open. There is no discount registration date in 2021 but there are a number of deadlines for each of the on-sale dates, the first on-sale date being July 1st. Registration commonly asked questions Box Offices To reduce our staffing requirements and allow us to operate in unusual locations (e.g. tents), we are not running our usual independent box offices this year. All your sales will therefore be through the Fringe’s box office. Customers will be able to purchase tickets via the Fringe website or the Fringe app right up until the start of your performance, so while we won’t be selling tickets at the venue, customers will be able to make their own purchases via the Fringe and we will grant them admission as if they had bought a ticket from the venue box office. What prices should we charge for our tickets? This is up to you - most companies charge something between £6-£8 concession and £8-£12 full price. We do also suggest that prices could vary for Mon-Weds and increase for the Thurs-Sat shows. Do drop Charles a line if you need further guidance. What times should I list for my show? Remember to list your show time as the show start time - not your slot start time! You should allow Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 Fringe Festival Edinburgh 10-15 minutes between slot and show start time to allow you to set up on stage. At the other end of your slot, also remember you need to factor time for your get-out. The Fringe offer limited-run registrations, what are those? A standard week-long run with us is for 6 performances, which equates to the Fringe’s full run regis- tration. The Fringe offers reduced registration fees for runs of 1-2 or 3-5 performances per week for shows that are not running a full schedule. We are happy with any of these options, but please talk to Charles if you’re considering registering for the reduced runs. Once I have registered my show with the Fringe, do I need to send details to you? No, we will retrieve the information from the Fringe. If there’s anything missing we’ll let you know. Bookings and information: Charles Pamment – [email protected] / 0131 510 2399 / 07976 785718 Technical: Production Team – [email protected] 4 Performing in repertory You may wish to perform several shows in rep during your booked slot. This can be a great way to get larger audiences, or to present a wider variety of theatre. If you wish to, please consider the following: Technical rehearsal: Your technical rehearsal based on the length of your booked slot, not the number of different shows you’re staging. You may need to reduce your technical requirements accordingly, or enquire about purchasing additional rehearsal time. Fringe registration: Be very careful to check the rep schedule for your performances. We frequently see companies reg- istering clashing performances, so double-check the start dates and performance lengths. Partnership companies: It is important you let us know the company names under which you’re registering your shows with the Fringe, especially if you’re working in partnership with an apparently unrelated company (one whose name we wouldn’t have any record of from our bookings information). Email our Production team directly with this information so we can make a note.