Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Art of Selling Out
Jacki Thrapp
Genre: Comedy, Immersive, Satire
Venue: Greenside @ Riddles Court
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Emmy® award winner Jacki Thrapp goes beyond the tried-and-true ideas on how to sell a Fringe show. In a very funny half-hour, she stretches the imagination while sharing drinks and merch with the audience.
Review
Emmy® award winner Jacki Thrapp goes beyond the tried-and-true ideas on how to sell a Fringe show. In a very funny half-hour, she stretches the imagination while sharing drinks and merch with the audience. The show is billed as a parody but there is a bit of wisdom in some of her tactics.
There are more than 3000 shows at Edinburgh Fringe in 2024, 1300 of which are comedy shows. The competition for audiences is stiff. How does one rise above the noise to get their message out and attract a crowd? Thrapp has some usual and unusual ideas and strategies, based on her experiences in Edinburgh and New York.
Thrapp produced an off-Broadway show in 2023. It grossed $50,000 but after expenses she only netted $2000, nearly half of which went to pay taxes. In fact, she says that 80 per cent of Broadway shows do not recoup their investment. She quips that “making money in comedy is a joke”.
The goal of a show is to sell out. Not only does a sold out show give the artist bragging rights, but that designation can lead to further opportunities. The company can engage investors or producers. Sponsors and funders are more likely to be interested in putting their money and brand on a winner. Audiences see the “sold out” label on advertising of future shows and they are more inclined to trust the artist in future productions. And, for an artist, it is much more satisfying to perform to a full house rather than to empty chairs.
So how to sell out? Thrapp takes the audience through her strategies. It is about the appearance of making money, which involves some manipulation and unorthodox techniques.
Music and theatre industries often manipulate the system. Some hire people to write five-star reviews and post them or they buy listeners for their Spotify tunes. Who has bought a supposed five-star item from on online company only to discover that it is sub-par? That calls into question who can the reader or listener trust?
There are the regular avenues to fill seats. Send press releases to media. DM bloggers, Trade your show tickets with another show. Give free tickets to bartenders to distribute. Offer half-price or two-for-one tickets. But Thrapp has more ideas.
Strategy one: book a small room. It is easier to sell out 30 seats than 500 seats. Strategy two: free drinks. Not only does that attract audiences but drinking from the beginning creates a relaxed tone to the show. Thrapp sets the mood for this “immersive drinking show” by offering everyone a cup, then filling it with gin and tonic. Strategy three: branded hats that she gives out. The audience becomes a moving billboard and free advertising. Strategy four: attract an investor on the spot who will help raise funds for the show. She asks the audience to become her producer for just 20 pounds, and one person takes the offer. Now he can claim he’s a Fringe producer. Strategy five: create a show title that starts with A in order for your show to appear at the beginning of the Fringe listings. Thrapp tried that but she still ended up on page 20 of the Fringe program as other shows start with A or a number. Strategy six: buy the seats yourself. If the artist wants to claim a sellout, they can purchase all of unsold seats in the theatre. That one is not in the spirit of the Fringe but does work.
At the end of the show she asks the audience to take out their phones and write an audience review on the spot.
Thrapp is very energetic, funny, entertaining, quick witted, and smart. She delivers an engaging half hour that appeals not just to artists wanting to sell out their shows but to anyone who is coming to the Fringe. After seeing Art of Selling Out, you will never view a five-star review with the same lens.
Thrapp is a former reporter for The National Enquirer and executive producer of Gianmarco Soresi’s three-time Emmy® nominated stand-up special called Shelf Life on Amazon. Her show Lighthouse: An Immersive Drinking Musical sold out at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, and became a top off-Broadway show in the summer 2023.
