Big_ gray Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Errr - no. Sharing rent on a nice flat should cost <£300 for the whole festival, assuming you avoid Festival Flats.I've attend the fringe festival quite a few times over the last 15years (working for various venues /productions) and I would love to know were you can get decent flats for £300 for 6 weeks, even on a share basis thats cheap during the festival, admittedly going via an agency can be more expensive but they do provide insurance and repair services, which private lettings may not, in fact existing insurance may even be invalid on private dwellings once you get into multiple occupation/subletting and I belive in Edinburgh multiple occupation requires a council licence. As to the matter of low pay, yes some venues pay lower than others but every venue is different, some of the more famous venues have a lot of corporate sponsorship and lots of big names with expensive tickets(hence more income), other venues have funding from groups such as local councils, church groups (rich mums and dads!!, it's happened belive me). While other venues rely on ticket sales to provide funding and if you happen to be a venue which provides performance spaces for smaller/new companies your income is not going to match the more commercial venues, hence the lower wages etc. This may not be fair or "right", but thats the wicked world we live in. People are told how much they are going to get before they sign on the dotted line, while in general I will be the first to argue that "I won't work for less than £XX per hour/day, sometimes exceptions have to be made I've done work for amounts that I wouldn't normally get out of bed for, because I thought that it was something that deserved my support, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm a traitor to technicians everywhere :P , but I think that the festival deserves that support. I will now climb down off my soap box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mander Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 RML, I take it you were employed by a production company doing a show or two, rather than a venue enterprise? No I was working as a freelance LD for a non-touring Circus (well at that point in time anyway) down on Leith Links (where the game of Golf was invented BTW)which I suppose you would call a 'venue enterprise' doing 2 shows a day. Whilst I was there I spoke to a few other Technicians working on other shows who were also earning good wages and being supplied with good accomodation. Itseems that you can goto Edinburgh Festival and expect the same wages/conditions as you would on any other show you might be asked to do. I can't comment on doing work on the cheap or even worse for free, if you are a professional then you charge a fee. If you are inexperienced and are using the opertunity to work on a show as some kind of work-experience then thats down to you. Personally if I was asked to do something that I was not totally confident and proficient in then I would refuse. I sincerely hope that other members of this forum do not offer their services for free for this festival, I can, however understand some sort of discount or weekly rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la grande homme Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 what an heated debate this poll has begun... My two penn'orth; As I've mentioned in the previous thread that 'nix's post can lead you to I worked for C in '99 as box office administrator, I was paid the grand sum of £500 for three months work (including prep work in london). From a venue team that year of approx. 60 people I was among the highest paid six. For this I did 12 hour days across three sites every day for the whole festival with one day off (my birthday!) (admittedly these were sometimes 11 hour days when I couldn't get up in the mornings ) This left me very little time to see shows and those that I did see I tended to fall asleep in... a very common affliction amongst venue staff... ask richard about Him and Hartley both fast asleep in a show at C last year :** laughs out loud **: :** laughs out loud **: I stayed in a flat on leith street sharing with 7 others (which was quite a small number - C had one house with about 25 people sharing!) My now partner also worked for C that year and earned about £150 doing a box office shift 6 days a week for the festival. My then girlfriend worked at C too (an the incestuousness of it all! :D ) and earned about £200 for a managerial box office role with similar long hours. The above has changed greatly over the past couple of years and now C pays its staff more (I guess the hours are still as silly... perhaps richard will pop up and tell us?) Since they moved to having most of the venues under one roof the staff have become less 'partially voluntary' as we all were in '99. However... In August '02 I went to edinburgh with a show, was there for three days (plus 2 all expenses and flights paid scouting trip days) was put up in a room of my own in a five star hotel on the Royal Mile and earned £1500 plus expenses... so my suggestion would be that if you pick your company and your show carefully you can make serious cash at edinburgh... and if cash be not your motive then there are lots of people who are prepared to work you to death for the above mentioned two penn'orth... :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 So now we know, it is possible to do Edinburgh and make some reasonable money after all, at least enough to cover your costs, if not more, without being flogged into the ground. It looks like it might be the early birds that will catch the juiciest worms; maybe those with experience could provide a few pointers towards the companies / venues that pay reasonable rates or better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketil B Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 Errr - no. Sharing rent on a nice flat should cost <£300 for the whole festival, assuming you avoid Festival Flats.Err I live is Edinburgh and the average prise for a shard flat is 250 to 300 pcm for a 12 months. If you are working as a Tec you will be the for 6 week that’s two months abit more than 300 and where can you get a two month leas that isn’t a festival flat I will be working for the GB this year can avoid it if you live hear. and the pay will cover my rent living const and drinking for the two months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robloxley Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 Err I live is Edinburgh and the average prise for a shard flat is 250 to 300 pcm for a 12 months. Yes, but if you're just there for the Festival -you only want a very short let - which is in itself going to push the cost up; added to that all the prices go up during the festival. I know a couple of people in Edinburgh who let out their flats for the Festival, getting away from the madness to somewhere very nice on the income! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketil B Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 my point was that even if you pay normal Ed prises for a flat you will still pay 500 to 600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robloxley Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 my point was that even if you pay normal Ed prises for a flat you will still pay 500 to 600. Sharing between how many people in a how-many-bedroom flat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 Moderation:Thread title altered slightly. 23/4/4, 19:27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketil B Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 Sharing between how many people in a how-many-bedroom flat? thats each and HMO limits the number of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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