I’m going to claim we broke even, even though we really posted a $130 loss.
Why?
We overspent on some printing costs for the sake of convenience. Had we been a little more disciplined, I’m sure that $130 deficit would have melted away. Also, we made a small profit in Ottawa. If we add up the totals from both shows, the deficit almost disappears.
Click here for our 2010 Winnipeg Fringe audience numbers.
Our first show (Sat. 17, 2:15PM) was our best. 80 people attended and we pulled in our largest gate ($363.50).
Our third show (Mon. 19, 3:45PM ) gave us our second largest audience. It was only our fourth largest gate. Over half the house (33) paid the discount rate ($6.50), almost 20% (18) got in for free, and only eleven people paid the full price.
Our fifth show (Wed 21, 5:30PM) gave us only our fourth largest audience but our second biggest gate ($340.50).
Our smallest gate was our second smallest house. It was our final show (Sat. 24, 10:45PM). We had high hopes for this final slot.
Our smallest house was our second smallest gate. It was also at 10:45PM but on a Tuesday (20th). Perhaps, Winnipeg Fringers don’t approve of the late starting slots.
It also makes me wonder who we were up against. Anyone with a schedule feel like checking?
Our second last show (Fri. 23, 530PM) was also a bit of a let down. Was this because people were chasing stars or was it because the rain on Thursday prevented us from flyering?
It occurs to me: it would be useful to compare our numbers to the Fringe’s total audience over these 8 days. Perhaps, we pulled a consistent percentage of the total audience.
Overall, 38% of our audience paid the full price, 32% paid the discounted price, and 30% got in for free.
At full price, had we sold every seat available, we would have made $18,400!
Using our percentages as benchmarks, had we “sold out” every night, we might have reasonably expected to make around $10,818.50. More reasonably, had we half-filled the house each night, we might have made around $5,409.
Instead, we generated $2107.50, which was enough to cover our expenses if one chooses to squint a little.
Any thoughts? They are warmly welcomed.
nadinethornhill
August 9, 2010
I’ve only Fringed in Ottawa. I understand that Winnipeg is a different beast so my theory may not apply, but I’ll offer it up anyhow.
In regards to your July 23rd show, I’ve had shows in similar time slots and it’s always been a challenge getting the audience in. We don’t have the stars in Ottawa, but I think there’s something to the theory that people are trending towards the shows that have the big buzz. But I think it may have to do with the time itself. Anyone working 9 -5 is going to have to book it if they want to see a 5:45 show. By the last weekend, a lot of Fringers seem to be losing stamina. Leaving the office and heading straight to the theatre may not be as appealing a proposition as going home, changing, having a bite and coming back out for the eight and nine o’clock shows.
Just a thought. I’d be curious to know how other companies typically fare in similar time slots
sterlinglynch
August 9, 2010
It’s a useful thought. I thought along similar lines.
Mind you, at the time, I thought: hmm, that’s enough time to get here from work. After all, no one will take time off work on the second Friday of Fringe and because of that they will be eager to get to the first possible show they can.
In the moment, logic and God is always on our side.
A look at the Festival-wide numbers might help. If there is a festival wide drop in numbers, it would support the-end-of-festival-post-work-weariness hypothesis. Hereafter to be called “The Adorkeable Hypothesis”.
Wayne C.
August 9, 2010
Congratulations on breaking even. I think Fringe is all about the margins so everywhere you can save a hundred bucks you should. My biggest costs, at the Ottawa Fringe were rehearsal/set storage space ($325) and handbills, posters and programs $280. I based my budget on a $10 dollar ticket price. Like you over half our audience (and we had full houses for our venue) paid the discount pass price of $7 and a large proportion (volunteers, media, VIP’s,comps) paid nothing.
Knowing this, in future, I would base my budget on $8 a ticket. I would also skimp on the rehearsal space and use my home for the initial read through, character work etc. (saving $100-$150). I have at least a 1200 handbills left over from the 3k I had printed, so if I am just doing a single Fringe show, I can save money there.
We had 5 of us as well. 3 actors, 1 stage manager and myself (director/producer/marketing). I’m cool with that as I had no desire to put on a one person show but it cut into the profit (we did an equal profit share in accordance with Equity guide lines).
That being said, Prisoner’s Dilemma (at the 2010 Ottawa Fringe) made a modest profit but still with a few easy tweaks we could have made a little more. In real money this would have only translated into an extra $30 bucks or so per person, so I can’t complain too much. Still I could have used that for a beer tent fund
so 2 lessons: 1. Find those places where you can save
2. Base your budget on discounted ticket sales and expect well over a third of your audience to be not paying at all.
sterlinglynch
August 9, 2010
Wayne! Sound advice. The point about discounted tickets is crucial. Budgeting based on a full-priced ticket doesn’t make any sense based on my numbers. Having a budget is also crucial. I wonder how many Fringe producers actually bother to prepare a budget in advance of a production.
Kris Joseph
August 9, 2010
I wholeheartedly agree with Wayne that a Fringe budget (hell, any theatre budget) should account for people paying less than top dollar for tickets. There’s no harm in projecting a number of comps, either (so if you’re thinking “40 people per performance gives us a tidy profit”, humble yourself with the knowledge that 20 of those 40 are freebies on opening, several more are papering your 11PM slot, etc). One budgeting model advocates assigning empty seats a $0 value so that your average ticket price is purposefully skewed downwards (there are, I think, good marketing reasons for doing this. It also makes you more generous with comps, the benefits of which I don’t think I need to illustrate).
Budgeting pessimistically is utterly critical. We’d all like to think we’ve got the 5-star hit of the fest, but people tend to get caught up in that fantasy, and then they make far-too-optimistic budget projections.
I would hope that ALL Fringe producers create solid budgets. Certainly, under Equity’s jurisdiction (members using the Fringe Waiver, in particular), you must submit a production budget with your application.
Who the heck runs a business without a plan? Artists, I suppose
sterlinglynch
August 10, 2010
Thanks for your comment Kris. And I agree budgets are certainly the one aspect of life where I also wholeheartedly endorse pessimistic thinking!
Brian M. Carroll
August 9, 2010
Tuesday the 20th you were up against Spiral Dive III (9:45-11:15), The Bike Trip (10:15-11:15), Sound & Fury’s Spaceship Man (10:00-11:15) and When Harry met Harry (11:00=12:00). There were others, but those were the main hitters.
The late show used to be reserved by the hardcore. However I’m seeing a lot more new faces at the late shows. So I can no longer characterize who they are.
sterlinglynch
August 11, 2010
Thanks Brian! Those are some heavy hitters, for sure!
I wonder if the hardcore demographic has aged enough to start hitting the daytime shows rather than the late shows. The high number of Buddy Passes and Frequent Fringers tickets at our Monday matinee implies an audience of the hardcore. Our late shows were mostly door sales, which could be newer audiences testing the waters.
Brian M. Carroll
August 12, 2010
Sterling,
The hardcore runs from 11AM to 1AM (2:30AM after the Midnight Cabaret). Many of the hardcore take vacations to go to the Fringe. Every year we run into a couple from Atikokan who get their year of theatre in one week.
There’s always been a big seniors audience, and they take advantage of matinees to get past five star frenzy. They’re a wonderful audience. They’ll try anything (at least once). Seniors and hardcore definitely use buddy and frequent fringer passes. (We buy 7 buddy passes each year.) Unlike the Ottawa Fringe, there is no demographic at the Winnipeg Fringe. I’ve seen 3 to 93.
Your late show numbers confirm what I’m seeing: more new faces in the audience. This is consistent with the huge growth in the audience in the past two years.
Brian
sterlinglynch
August 12, 2010
And more new faces is always a good thing! Thanks again, Brian, for your participation in the discussion!
David Jordan
August 11, 2010
Stirling, I think your breakdown would be useful for every Fringe artist (especially newcomers) to read. Perhaps we could include some of it in a beginners guide to Fringe…I think the tricky thing with budgets is making assumptions. As you already mentioned, we all like to dream, but it when come to budgeting, you should really only assume revenue that you have previously had experience earning. Alternately, the theatre rule of thumb is 30% (but that is for a convenioinal theatre with 8pm start times and other conistent variables) Also touring makes it more complicated becasue tof the variables in different cities ( the kickoff subject of this entire conversation). A useful average is the number of tickets per performance which is about 45 (average for all CAFF cities) . That includes comps though. So we do collect rough stats for CAFF festivals, but they are unaudited and purely up to the ability of the individual festivals.
sterlinglynch
August 11, 2010
David! I’m pleased to hear you think the breakdown is valuable for other Fringers. That is my hope. Please share the link with anyone who you think might benefit from it. I also hope other Fringers will compile and post their numbers. If anyone does, please post your links here. it might be the start of a very useful on-line database of sorts.
Flloyd Kennedy
August 11, 2010
This is excellent information for Fringe dwellers everywhere.
I began my Fringe life in Scotland, with the Edinburgh Fringe, and Mayfest. We always budgeted for 20%, averaging out ticket prices between full and discounted within that 20%, ( I don’t remember the exact proportions, but we always assumed fewer full price tickets would be sold) and we never went into deficit.
The benefits of having a realistic budget and sticking to it are huge. Not only are there no nasty surprises, but even a tiny profit is a great kick to morale, and encourages one to keep on keeping on.
Congrats to all concerned.
sterlinglynch
August 12, 2010
Flloyd! Thanks for reading and your comment! I suspect so many people lose money at Edinburgh precisely because they refuse to stick to a realistic budget. And you’re right: it’s always encouraging to turn even a tiny profit. And the best way to make that possible is to start with a realistic budget. From that perspective, why not create a plan which has a greater chance of leading to an encouraging outcome? Sound advice!