Burlesque producer tip from your friend Doc upon 10 years of knowing what Im doing: Twice in two days I’ve had the same conversation about pay rates for performers in the burlesque community, specifically how abominably low the pay is for most shows and gigs. Has YOUR rent gone up in the last 10 years? Has the cost of gas, mass transit, costume supplies, etc gone up? Of course it has. So why are producers still paying the same rates as when I started 10 years ago? I keep hearing the excuse that such-and-such show “just can’t pay better”, or the scene in Whatever City just doesn’t pay that way. Ladies and gentlemen, paying your performers a fair rate is simply math. It’s an equation: You must charge W number of patrons X number of dollars in order to pay Y number of performers Z amount. Solve for Z. So, in order to pay a performer $100 for doing a number (Have you been paying much less than that? how close are you to that figure? Hi welcome to 2014) you need to adjust the other amounts. If the venue you are producing at can only fit a limited number of patrons in it, then you must charge each of those patrons a higher admission* price. If you feel that you have maxed out the amount you can fairly charge a patron then you must reduce the number of performers in your show. If you cannot adjust those figures sufficiently to pay your performers a fair 21st Century rate – then you CAN NOT DO A SHOW IN THAT VENUE. It is not large enough. It does not provide YOU with the basic requirements you need to conduct your business. And NEVER ever work for free OR pay to perform. As Sydni Deveraux has recently brought up: performers you need to ask yourselves: Who is making money off of your nudity? If the answer isn’t you then there’s something terribly wrong. *always use the word admission – never say cover. “Admission” is the price of a valuable experience. “Cover” is what someone pays to be inside a room.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 19:12:50 +0000
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