Deviation Actions
FRINGE UPDATE! 05-31-2014
THE HOME STRETCH!!!!! We are now less than seven days to the opening of my very first Fringe show! I haven’t been this excited since my professional directorial debut at The Bucks County Playhouse (at the time The State Theatre of Pennsylvania) with a summer stock production of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING! This is by no means is as trying as that was… we had to put together a complete musical in 2 weeks… but this is exciting because it’s in Hollywood and it’s with friends, friends of many years and new friends that I’ve made recently! We’re in the promotional and rehearsal stage of the production. So when we’re not at the theater, I’m working the internet, sending emails, invites, snail mail invites and working swag and postcard distribution.
This morning I had my first meeting with our stage manager. She was arranged by the theater managers and we met at a Starbucks in Hollywood where I gave her a copy of the script and we talked through the cues of the show. She was relieved because we have no set pieces, no costumes, no props and very little lighting and sound cues… I designed this show that way intentionally because more and more theatre companies these days are asking for shows that can fit in any space. Reputable companies have development programs that look for shows that can be performed anywhere… from a bar with patrons to a barn to an abandon warehouse. That means LESS IS BETTER so when I found out the set up for running a Fringe show… I knew my LAST REMNANTS OF COPS, ROBBERS & HOLYWOOD COWBOYS was a perfect fit!
NOW… you may think “I’ve written an epic stage play with collapsing barricade like LES MIS, a flying chandelier like PHANTOM and 12 dancing puppets like LION KING…
I WILL NOT COMPROMISE MY ART!!!”
… well you can wait for a production company to say YES let’s produce your brain child, but you’re going to be waiting for a really long time and missing out on huge opportunities!
More and more reputable theater companies are looking for no budget productions and 10 minute Plays because they can take on more new talent and showcase their company at little or no expense. I used to think, “What’s the benefit of a 10 min play?” well…. A LOT! It took my friend and Dramaturge, Anne Hamilton to explain it, “It gets a sample of your work in the door and you get to make a connection with yet another theater that will eventually look at your full lengths. You have to have 10 min plays in your work for submission.” When Anne talks you listen… and I did and she’s right…cause not only did having no budget, no set pieces, 10 min plays to submit open me up to more theaters, but here in Los Angeles, ABC CASTING put out a call for 5-10 min skits for their “HOLLYWOOD TALENT SHOWCASE”. They had an open call for writers to submit up to three 10 min pieces to be considered for a production ABC TV on the studio lot and I sent in all 3 pieces for their consideration. My work is now being reviewed by ABC! Anne Hamilton is always right!
So my HOLLYWOOD COWBOY piece is perfect for Fringe!
Over 600 postcards being mailed to industry people... an essential in promoting anything at this level.
Now, on the promotional front, for weeks I could not decide what kind of swag I should be handing out to Fringers… I debated everything from theme designed posters to calendars to T-shirts… and I started to do my homework and again that new-fangled, contraption called the internet enlightened my life… SWAG is CHEAP! You can order just about anything online, in bulk for less than $250. I was lucky and was able to put aside about a thousand for swag, but we are running this show for close to a month… so I have to keep the runners fed and watered, know what I mean? We need to keep ticket buyers having fun! My idea came to me when I was reading about the South by Southwest Music Festival and a well known magazine put out a GUIDE TO SXSW and WHAT YOU NEED TO DO! One of the top things on the TO DO LIST was “DRINK WATER! HYDRATE” That was it…. Because of the summer heat and the desert sun… water is everything! My first idea was water bottles with the show logo slapped on the bottle!
GREAT IDEA but TOO EXPENSIVE!
But if I put the bottle in some kind of container then I could slap my show logo and info on that! Thought of boxes, plastic containers and simplicity set in… BAGS.. like gift bags… but didn’t want it to be like a red carpet swag bag…. FRINGE SURVIVAL KITS… so for 23cents a bag from a downtown restaurant supply company I got 700 small white shopping bags with handles… then I went to STAPLES and I designed a sticker for one side and used the show logo for the other side. Next A DILEMNA AROSE!
I drive a 2 door, convertible, V W… HOW THE HELL WILL I GET 700 BOTTLES OF WATER TO MY HOME AN THEN THE FESTIVAL?
Google to the rescue… sent to my place 700 4oz bottles of Arrowhead spring water… carried up 2 flights of steps by the Arrowhead delivery man… then I had sent, a case of BITE SIZED INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED… TWIZZLERS, AIREHEADS and JOLLY RANCHER candies (everybody loves movie candy), then because we ask Fringers to write reviews of the shows they see, I ordered pens that says COPS, ROBBERS & HOLLYWOOD COWBOYS on them and because the Fringe Festival sells buttons that gets you discounts… well… I ordered 800 buttons with the show logo on it… to go right next to the Fringe buttons. 
One by one, I slapped stickers on both sides of the bags and in groups of 25 I placed one of each swag pieces into 700 bags! The big question… WILL PEOPLE LIKE THESE BAGS? Loomed over my head!
On May 29th a silent auction benefit was held for the festival and who was there with 200 Hollywood Fringe Survival Kits? ME AND MY 2 ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS! Once the bouncer approved of the bottle water we brought in, we set up by the door and handed out bags as people entered this amazing circus like atmosphere with liquor…. and…
THEY LOVED THESE BAGS! Not only did they like what was inside, but the bag had another function… they could load the bag with the postcards that were being handed out by all the shows at Fringe! I was so happy to see almost everyone in the venue carrying a bag with our show logo and info on it!
Above my apartment filled with swag getting ready to head to the Fringe Benefit!
Let me also tell you that…
THE HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL… KNOWS HOW TO THROW A KICKIN PARTY!
Me and my team at the Fringe Benefit!
Me and Sardia Robinson... a Fellow Fringer
There were performers, circus acts, a man on stilts, a sword swallower, a girl putting a nail in her nostrils, dancers, burlesque acts, trapeze acts and a kick ass band with a hot girl drummer! (Nothing hotter than a female drummer) and… I got to mingle with a lot of my fave FRINGERS! These are some of the shows I want to see this year…
SARDIA ROBINSON in FROM YARDIE TO YANKEE hff14.org/1769
MICHAEL CLINE in OPEN MIKE hff14.org/1755
W.E.A.R. HORSE hff14.org/1665
FANCY THE SHOW fancytheshow.com/
DENTITIY CRISIS hff14.org/1857
THE PERFECT GAME hff14.org/1798
And of course…
BRONIES THE MUSICAL hff14.org/1575
AND A LOT MORE… sorry if I can’t mention them all… but I have a stack of postcards at home…. And I’m a do what I can to see them all… I hope you do too!
and remember… come see my show… that started on Deviantart!
THE LAST REMNANTS OF COPS, ROBBERS & HOLLYWOOD COWBOYS
For tickets go to hff14.org/1605
