Sponsorship

[DanielArkley]

Our school is looking for a company who are willing to lend us some lighting equipment for our upcoming show, Sparkleshark.

 

Sparkleshark is about a young boy who is a bit of a loner. He writes stories for a hobby. He doesn't have many friends at school - everyone regards him as a geek. However, he writes a fabulous story, and suddenly the "hard-nuts" from school all want a part.

 

The play is quite magical, with fairies and castles, as well as a dragon (the actual character Sparkleshark).

 

Namely, we are looking for some kind of moving lights for general effects. Our rig is quite small, consisting of 10 Par Cans (CP62s), and a handful of 650W fresnels, 500W floods and 3 profiles. There is the capacity for 24x5A channels on some Pulsar packs, being controlled by an Alcora.

 

As far as IFs go, we were going to be borrowing some Mac500s from Matt, but unfortunatley he has had to withdraw his offer due to an event happening at his school. I would still like to make use of such fixtures, although I'm willing to try something different. We already have control for our currently non-existent IFs, in the form of ShowCAD Artist.

 

I'm afraid the next bit is what will put lots of people off, but being a school without much money (we have to save up for Grease in November) we will not be able to pay in money. Instead, we are offering an advert in the programme on all 4 nights, as well as a couple of free tickets to an evening of your choice (that includes a funky laminated cardboard strip with reserved on it, so you get the best seats).

 

The school is located near Yateley, Hampshire. I can provide more details via PM if anyone is interested.

 

Thanks in advance!

[benweblight]

I would suggest trying local small hire houses or dj supply shops which do hire, ans not many professionals will do anything for free, failing that you best bet is some kind individual

[James]

I'm providing sound for a school in the area in the summer.

 

Last year they were concerned about the price but got me do drop a bit in exchange for an advert in their programme.

 

This year I have been asked to return and they got sponsorship from a local bank to cover my costs.

 

I don't mind name dropping whoever is paying for me to be there, The School got a good quality PA at no cost to themselves and the sponsor gets something tangable that they can say they paid for.

 

Approaching corporate sponsors saying "Hi we have an event - can you give us some money please" is different to saying "Hi we have an event - we are looking at a sponsor for the BBQ, £150 to cover cost of hire of equipment and ingredients for 500 hotdogs, we can give you a page in the A5 programme and print your logo on the BBQ stand posters, On past experience we expect 1000 people of all ages to visit the BBQ stand"

 

As Lightnix has posted elsewhere here in his excellent article, there is a problem in our industry with ever spiraling downwards prices. I have found it works to look outside our industry for sponsorship for events. Get a quote of reasonably how much you are looking for, and find out what you can offer to a business to make it an attractive prospect for them.

 

Good Luck

 

 

James

 

 

PS - Oh and If you get sponsorship, if it's appropriate a couple of comps, or at least a few photos after (With their branding prominant) always helps to create a good rapor and hopefuly a future line of regular income...

[gareth]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - why moving lights??? Unless there's a specific effect that you want to achieve that's only possible with moving lights, why not concentrate on getting some extra generic fixtures and lighting the show with those? Local hire companies are far more likely to let you have stuff for little or no money if you go there the day before you rig and ask 'em if they've got half a dozen Prelude F's left on their shelves, than they are if you go there and start asking for moving lights for free.

 

Moving lights are all well and good, they do what they do and they do it very well (usually) - but there seems to be a lot of "moving lights for the sake of it" these days. Far better to get yourself a decent rig of generic fixtures and learn to light a show effectively with those basic tools before you start playing with toys and gimmicks.

 

Anyway, I lit Sparkleshark myself, quite a few years ago, and I managed perfectly well with a rig consisting entirely of 650w generic lanterns. Think about your use of colour and the use of some simple gobo washes (or something along those lines) to differentiate between 'reality' and 'fantasy'.

[Brian]

...but there seems to be a lot of "moving lights for the sake of it" these days.

I know that this has been done to death here before and we're hijacking this topic but Gareth is right.

 

Some of the most memorable and spell-binding theatre I've ever seen has involved no more than a dozen lighting states provided by a pile of very generic lanterns you've ever seen. In fact, one of my favourites had one lighting state.

 

Oh, and James advice on how to approach sponsors is good as well.

[P. Funk]

our upcoming show, Sparkleshark

 

NOOOOOO!!!

 

we were made to go and see that show 4 years ago when it was on at the wycombe swan - a 'PSE' trip....

 

I'm really sorry to say this... but when I went to see it, the whole of that production was done in one LX state... (in a professional house).

 

will expand later, but must eat now...

[DanielArkley]

Thanks for all your replies. I agree wholeheartedly with what James, Gareth and Brian have stated – perhaps this was not the best way to seek sponsorship.

 

“Why MLs?†– great question. The answer however is not so great. Being a school, with an extremely limited budget, we cannot afford to buy the fixtures we would like. We have enough trouble maintaining what we already have. It took us 5 years to save up £1000, which we were then forced to spend in a hurry, or have it taken away. The £1000 was spent well, and we got some great kit for it. But again, we now have the problem of maintaining it. The lighting budget for this show is £0 exactly. Technically, we can’t even afford the electricity bill on that budget, but school pays for that as a whole anyway.

 

James and Ben both suggested talking to local companies to seek sponsorship. This is a course we have attempted to take in the past, and succeeded to a degree – Blood Brothers was enhanced by some scaffolding from a local company, which was leant to us in return for the back cover on the program. We have also been lucky enough to be leant a license for ShowCAD Artist for two productions now (if either of the two companies concerned are reading, I’m sure you know how grateful Frogmore is to you).

 

James: Some great ideas you have, and definatley ones we would like to try out. However, local businesses do not seem to be as forgiving as we’d hoped. Other than the scaffolding company, we have made many appeals to local companies for sponsorship in return for adverts in the programmes and at the end of each performance, but no-one seems to be interested.

 

Thankfully, we have already had an offer from a member of the forum, misterbassman, who has kindly offered us some moving heads. I will be getting in touch with him as soon as I have spoken with my superiors. Thanks misterbassman!

 

I will keep you all updated on the situation and hopefully post some photos of the show afterwards.

 

Edit:

For the record, we are expecting between 100 and 130 people per night, for 4 consecutive nights. Blood Brothers was actually a sell out, and on one night we had to have extra seating put out for the show. Tickets normally sell at £3 for adults, £2 for consessions. We are expecting, after costs have been deducted, to have made about £100 - £150 which will be saved up and added to the total from Blood Brothers, to rent equipment for Grease next year.

[gareth]

“Why MLs?” – great question. The answer however is not so great. Being a school, with an extremely limited budget, we cannot afford to buy the fixtures we would like. We have enough trouble maintaining what we already have. It took us 5 years to save up £1000, which we were then forced to spend in a hurry, or have it taken away. The £1000 was spent well, and we got some great kit for it. But again, we now have the problem of maintaining it. The lighting budget for this show is £0 exactly. Technically, we can’t even afford the electricity bill on that budget, but school pays for that as a whole anyway.

None of that in any way answers the question "why do you need moving lights on this show?". If budget is that tight, you'd be better off concentrating your sponsorship-raising efforts on accquiring the essentials - colour, gobos, generic lanterns, cable, etc. - rather than frittering it away on gizmos and toys that are there because you want to play, and not because the show needs them. As I've already said, if you're looking to blag some gear for free from your local LX hire co., you'll almost certainly find them far more willing to let you have a few parcans or fresnels that aren't on hire that week than they'd be to let you walk away with a couple of Mac500's.

[DanielArkley]

“Why MLs?†– great question. The answer however is not so great. Being a school, with an extremely limited budget, we cannot afford to buy the fixtures we would like. We have enough trouble maintaining what we already have. It took us 5 years to save up £1000, which we were then forced to spend in a hurry, or have it taken away. The £1000 was spent well, and we got some great kit for it. But again, we now have the problem of maintaining it. The lighting budget for this show is £0 exactly. Technically, we can’t even afford the electricity bill on that budget, but school pays for that as a whole anyway.

None of that in any way answers the question "why do you need moving lights on this show?". If budget is that tight, you'd be better off concentrating your sponsorship-raising efforts on accquiring the essentials - colour, gobos, generic lanterns, cable, etc. - rather than frittering it away on gizmos and toys that are there because you want to play, and not because the show needs them. As I've already said, if you're looking to blag some gear for free from your local LX hire co., you'll almost certainly find them far more willing to let you have a few parcans or fresnels that aren't on hire that week than they'd be to let you walk away with a couple of Mac500's.

I think they are even less likely to lend us the extra 32A supplies we would need to drive the extra dimmer packs :(

 

We only have 24x5A channels, and 10 of those are being taken by the Par Cans, 1 by the strobe, 2 by the follow spots. That leaves 11 channels left for the entire rest of the rig!

 

I thought MLs would be better as they can be driven off the mains instead of the packs, and we can use them as multiple lanterns if you like, without the need for the actual lanterns.

[misterbassman]

strobe?? surely that needs a hot feed??

[computer]

followspots on 5A dimmers?

 

why not just get a few more followspots hired out

[DanielArkley]

strobe?? surely that needs a hot feed??

It gets a constant feed via full-override from chan 24 on the dimmers :(

[DanielArkley]

followspots on 5A dimmers?

 

why not just get a few more followspots hired out

Lack of money. That's what this thread is all about hehe

[misterbassman]

Daniel We are happy to lend you movers, but by what you have said so far you dont sound very experienced so we would want to supervise use of them. But to be honest as other people have said you would be better off with generics. Those ROBE's pull 3A each which is about the same as a 650W fresnel. And if you want to run stuff of mains not ceeform or wotever, get hold of some small dimmers and adapt them. The ROBE's have quite a narrow beam and will be brighter than the rest of your rig so are likely to create hotspots

 

edit: wot!!

It gets a constant feed via full-override from chan 24 on the dimmers

 

umm in a word no! just hot feed it!!!!

[peter]

I think what computer was suggesting was that you tried to blag some more followspots rather than moving heads.

 

Personally, I'd be tempted to try for a few more lanterns, perhaps experimenting with gobos or something like that. Movers take a lot longer to program, and you'd have to get a special desk in to program them, not to mention training yourself on the desk and then theres running extra DMX tie lines, etc etc etc. A few more generics, combined with perhaps gobo rotators, animation wheels or, if you insist on automation, some scrollers, would be a much more balanced rig. But for free, I'd just be happy to get half a dozen fresnels or profiles. Bear in mind that the company who do this will be doing so primarily for no gain - a small advert or a set of comps isnt really going to bring them anything near the value which they would get if they were hiring to a company. Realistically, they're not going to gain any business from a small advert in the programme, and very few companies will operate on a 'we'll give you the next hire' basis - especially in this industry where that next call might not come.

 

So in short, try and keep it simple - it'll save you time and you should, with a bit of careful planning, be able to create all the effects you want. Talk to your local hire company, maybe even offer to do some prepping for them as part payment? That might even lead to longer term work.

 

Hope some of the above helps.

 

Out of interest, what sort of followspots are you running?

 

 

Peter