18/10/06
Selling my DVD - is it wrong? -
Categories: Well, with the exception of Mr Lederer who seems to blog for Jesus (I believe he's Jewish, so is this offensive? I'm unsure, and must clarify that comment was maade to indicate the strength in depth and regularity of his postings), the done thing on here seems to be to apologise at the beginning for how sparse and infrequent one's blog entries are. So, sorry, etc.
My excuses are not as dramatic or as whimsical as Ray's or Ruth's, but have a much greater sense of guilt. Basically, dear reader, I have been blogging behind your back. The local Sussex newspaper (the Evening Argus) has got me writing a daily blog during the Brighton Comedy Festival, and this has been no small drain on my time. It's here, if you're curious.
I did consider cutting and pasting it to Chortle, but the tone of the other blog is much more introductory to both my personal experiences and the world of comedy in general. What I like about this place is that you can talk about the nuts and bolts of this industry without having to explain it all. So, here's whats on my mind at the moment.
DVD's. I got a very glossy and impressive mailshot from Roger Dow (that's Roger D to the comedy know-alls) and Rudi Lickwood today detailing their upcoming show at the Hackney Empire. It looks impressive, and is being filmed for a DVD. In a room this big, with that many punters, my personal feeling is they'd be mad not to.
I did the same when I performed at the Theatre Royal back in May (Chortle Review here). However, my reasons for getting this done were not entirely commercial. Firstly, other than the DVD's you get from the Comedy Store (single camera, fixed microphones, good for putting on YouTube), most comedians don't have a good high-quality video recording of their act. Dropping one of these in the post to a potential booker or corporate customer looks good. Primarily, it's a stand-up showreel, and you have to treat it as such.
Which is why I went completely to town with the production. 6 cameras, a hand-held digicam outside the venue, background and audience shots, separate audio mixes (which didn't work brilliantly, unfortunately) and even a seperate short documentary filmed especially for the DVD; it was as high production as I could realistically do it. I sat in on the editing process for over 3 weeks getting the show exactly how I wanted it, and even laid out the design for the DVD menus. At the end of it all, the total cost was around £3000, which I thought was very fair. And this was before I had any DVD's printed or any artwork made, making the total cost when the pallet turned up in my garden with 80 boxes of 25 DVD's, just under £5K.
And since them, I've been sending them to TV and international festival people, corporate bookers, and anyone who needs a reminder of how I've come on. In the meanwhile, I've also been flogging them on my website and in person at gigs. It's the latter that has got me stressing somewhat.
Firstly, I have to stick around after gigs to sell them. This means I'm meeting people wether I like it or not. The problem here is that the kind of people who *want* to talk to you, on the whole, tend to be mental. But I accept this is the downside to flogging yourself and have learnt to deal with it.
Secondly, I need to let people know *from the stage* that I am flogging DVD's. I have a problem with this. I'm no purist, but I do believe that your time spent on stage should be almost completely about your performance and nothing else. So that little, "hey, I'm selling xxx" at the end feels horribly tacky and commercial. It doesn't help that I've watched people like Mitch Benn and Phil Butler skillfully weave the 'I've got something to flog you' patter into their sets - it just doesn't suit what I do. My confidence goes when attempting this, as it's not something I want to hear myself saying. But I have to - because if I don't, nobody knows, and I'll sell very few. Watching Tom Stade on Sunday though, I realised you *can* do this without looking a cock. His patter is an invite to come say hi to him after the gig, and, you know, maybe buy a CD off him for the trouble. He's very relaxed about it.
Thirdly, in keeping with the point above, I feel awkward selling 'myself'. I appreciate that I'm doing that on stage beforehand, but asking people *who've already paid once to see you* to do so again before they leave, seems churlish. And I feel the ghost of Bill Hicks breathing down my neck, as if ever DVD sold is another nail in my artistic coffin. Sure, it doesn't change what I talk about or what material I do, but the fact is I'm prostituting myself in a way that feels very desperate to me, even if it doesn't come across like that.
Fourthly, what do I charge people? Having seen most of the other comic's offerings out there, I know that my DVD is pretty high quality, but of course nobody is sat there with a portable player watching an excerpt before purchasing - they go purely off the strength of the show that you've just done. My idea was to charge £10, but I wanted that to be the price on the website including postage, so online, it's £8. I found on average I was selling about 5 to 10 each show doing this. But recently, when doing Student Unions (like tonight - I was in Anglia Ruskin [Cambridge Polytechnic]) I've sold them at £5, and they've gone like wildfire. I shifted 27 tonight and in Guildford last week it was 35. Also, if another act on the bill is selling something (a CD or a DVD) I match their price.
In a strange way, it's making me pull the stops out to be as funny as possible. Of course, it's not as if I wasn't doing that previously, but the value of a strong show where you end on a high and keep the tempo up throughout literally pays big dividends, as you sell more discs. The number you shift is a very accurate way of showing how well you did on the night. Also, it's near essential to be doing a set. If I'm compering, I try to sell some DVD's, but it's really tough. Unless I'm in Brighton, I'll flog 6 or 7 tops.
That's even when in the big Jongleurs gigs; but a lot of that is down to the fact that the big J don't let you go around the room trying to flog them, which is fair enough, as they don't want their punters prayed upon. They don't take a cut and that's generous of them, as they could easily ask for that. Usually you have to position yourself outside the main room or at the tech box. However, as a booker myself, I quite like booking acts with a DVD to sell. They'll work doubly hard for every gig to go as well as possible, knowing full well it'll shift discs for them. The flipside is that they're not experimenting with lots of new material in case they die a death, but those who choose a path somewhere in the middle seem to do just as well.
What does make it easier though is that I'm very proud of what I'm selling. It's a good show - easily my best full hour - and filmed and put together very professionally. I even got it recorded in HD so that when blue-ray comes out en masse I'll be amongst the first to get a comedy DVD out in that format. And so far, the replies I've got from people who have bought it and watched it is hugely positive, and the buzz from that has been identical to the buzz of people telling you how much they enjoyed your live show in person after a gig.
But I'll be honest. Financially, I don't need this - I earn a fair wage from performing anyway, so the money made from this can be construed as greed. In the US, comedians need DVD and CD sales to supplement their earnings as the amount of work availble is much reduced and the fees and distances make the OTE of your average US comedian a poor relative to his or her UK equivalent. So it still doesn't sit easily with me; the mention of my DVD on stage and the hanging around flogging them make me feel uncomfortable. It's a very similar feeling to writing the final paragraph of this blog.
If you would like to buy my DVD, please go to the shop on my website. That hurt.
Comments:
If not, they leave and won't bother you! I worked selling the biggest load of shit on Eddie Izzard's Sexie tour
and people either lapped it up or walked away - their choice. As for the interaction, you need to find a DVD minion
to flog them for you :-) I saw Tim Vine the other week on tour and he visibly winced when he
mentioned he would be signing and selling his dvd in the foyer afterwards, then did a full scale
monlogue to himself about the ethics of flogging dvds etc on stage and how uncomfortable it made him
feel. His excuse was hes only selling them so he can see the floor of his spare room again.
And dont forget xmas is coming - you could make a very lazy person's shopping ever so much easier....
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18/10/06 @ 09:39 I don't think you should feel bad about selling DVDs. Comedy is a hard business to earn a living at. Your approach seems business like and professional and with strong production values. Many music acts sell CDs after a gig and this is expected.
I understand your reluctance to self promote but can't the Compere do this for you "If you'd like to take Stephen home with you tonight, he's only £8".
I don't see it as greed but making a living. You have been very honest about the cost of the Edinburgh show and the financial commitment you make to being there. This is a way you can help make up that shortfall.
A polite invititation to buy something is not the same as a hard sell and if people don't want to buy, they won't. If they do, they will.
Best
Mark
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18/10/06 @ 10:18 · http://www.myspace.com/raypeacock Permalink
18/10/06 @ 23:44 Stephen
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03/11/06 @ 17:48 Permalink
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