Hard Times - Ryan McDonnell
The contraction of the 'comedy boom' and the resulting decline has been well documented over previous months. Green room chat and long car journeys are mainly being filled with negative stories, bitching and Mayan-like prophesies of impending doom.
The hard times become particularly frustrating though when they are being made needlessly hard. At the minute the payment system is a false economy. I've just found myself skint and once again going crawling to promoters for money owed to me, just so I can afford the diesel to get to a gig. I'm far from alone on this front, I've spoken to two different comedians this week alone that have had to pull gigs, at late notice, because money they were counting on didn't materialise and they were no longer able to fulfil their performance. The knock-on effect of this is that those acts run the risk of being ostracised by the promoters. You can hardly blame them after all, they've billed said act, had posters, mail-outs and tickets with their name on it for months only to be let down at the last minute. With so many comedians in this day and age there is always someone just as good as you, so why would they take the risk in rebooking you on another date if you're suspected of being unreliable?
The problem is finding where the unprofessionalism really lies, and this is where the false economy comes into play. At the minute I'm owed a grand sum of almost £3,000. Not a bad figure all being considered, so what am I moaning about? I'm owed that money from a collection of 5 different promoters, some of it dating back as far as 6 months. Promoters make their money at ground level, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the financial struggle and difficulties that the promoters endure as well as the constant struggle to get people to fill the seats in these inclement economical times, but that's a different discussion. The promoters earn their money on the night, through ticket sales and, depending on the nature of their deal, food and booze. At the top end you have agents who bill us monthly for commission. When you include VAT on top of that it equates to roughly 20% of what we've earned that month. At the end of the year the tax man wants his share and you can't argue with him.
What is often overlooked is the money spent in getting to gigs. A weekend in one of Britain's further flung cities can easily cost £250 including travel and accommodation. This will be reimbursed of course, but in possibly up to 6 months time…and counting. Not all gigs are as far away and as expensive, but even the closest of venues incur costs. A tank of fuel costs £70 for a small car, in the last 9 months alone I've covered 25,000 miles. That's not counting train tickets, coach tickets and parking.
So we're left with a situation whereby the promoter has their money, the agent has his money, the tax man has his and I've paid out, and continue to pay out hundreds in travel costs, all out of my own pocket. But the money that is owed to me continues to mount up, seemingly without arriving. There will be a breaking point, there has to be, because there are mortgages, rents and utilities to be paid and people have to eat. With more and more comedians returning to part-time status perhaps they will drop out of the game, or through lack of practise fail to cut the mustard at the top level which will allow the industry to plateau. But in what other line of work would you wait for wages for half of the year and continue to show up for work?
I grew up without very much money, for me there's nothing more embarrassing than being skint and having to ask someone for cash. When that money is owed to you and you've earned it, it's even worse. But you can't be forceful, you certainly can't be rude and you can't threaten such things as legally recovering those funds like any normal company would do. Well you can, but you'll only ostracise yourself again, because who wants to book a trouble maker? With so many comedians around who are just as good as you, all the power lies in the hands of the people who pay the fees, when they fail to play their part in the chain, or at least stall in doing so, that is an abuse of power.
