That Tight 5.
The first year(s) in standup can be the most amazing and frustrating years. I would say the best way is just to focus on enjoying right where you are going right now. I think one of the biggest mistakes many new comedians make is trying to go too big too quickly. The most successful comedians start small and build to that. It’s not about doing 20 minutes your first year. It’s about killing in 5. I think the most important thing to focus on is building a tight 5 minutes. A tight 5 can open lots of doors. A tight 5 can win contests and get you booked. The goal of any new comic should be to get a really solid 5 minute tape. I book a few small local shows and I have really learned a lot about what goes into a tape and what I am looking for. Granted I am usually looking more to book people than to say no, but I do have standards and what I am looking for in terms of quality of show to be the best I can. I have become truly amazed at the unprofessionalism I receive from people. I have learned that a little professional courtesy can go a long way.
“Don’t get bitter, get better” Don Barnhart.
What is a good 5 Minute Tape?
The reason you hear tape is it is left over from when it was exactly that: video tape of your set. This was when you had to bring your camcorder into the comedy club and get a tape of your set to mail to bookers. Now we can use our phones and just email it, but for some reason people still say tape.
It should be a set of your best material. One continuous shot without any edits. It should be able to stand on the material and performance. Here is my list of things that I have learned from other bookers as well as added a few of my own that I believe are important.
Aspects of a Good Tape.
Sound quality.
I have this as my number one because I need to be able to hear and understand you to book you. If I can’t hear it or you then I am not going to book you. If you can plug directly into the soundboard that is ideal. But at minimum you need to be able to hear the jokes. I was told by a friend working at a festival that they didn’t have me in the festival because my tape’s sound was not good. They got a lot of submissions and that is what lost it for me. I think people focus too much on the hd video rather than the sound. I am obsessed with this and bought a specific camera that gives me the ability to plug directly into the soundboard and get the audio directly from the microphone in my hand.
Video quality.
I put this second to sound because I personally do not believe that it’s the most important thing, though if you can get a good quality HD video that is great. Most phones have hd or can even shoot 4K video. I would go for just having one static tripod shot. That is what most bookers and festivals are looking for, and it’s much easier than having an operator. Put it on a tripod or a table, don’t just have your friend do a handheld phone where it shakes and looks at the ground every punchline.
Subtitles.
This sounds like a lot but it’s very easy to do subtitles on youtube. This is a great way to help make up for audio that isn’t the best. And transcript in the description. If someone is looking at hundreds of tapes they love when you have your jokes written out for them.
Link that works
Make sure that the link works, send it to a friend or something before sending it out to bookers. Not a private video, just have it unlisted on youtube. If I have to download a plugin to watch your video, I am not going to watch it!
Stand alone funny.
I don’t want to see crowd work or you making fun of the sign in the venue. A great tape should be just stand alone funny. Not riffing on something the comedian before you did or said. It should be like you were the only comic on the lineup. This is difficult epically when something just happened. But a good tape can stand on its own.
Length.
The tape should be as close to exactly the length for the submission. So when starting out and for most comedy festivals they are looking for 5 minutes. So it’s the best tape to send. If they are asking for a feature you should have 15-20 minute tape. For headlining you need to have the full 30 or 60 minutes.
Venue.
I would say ideally you need the clip to be in the type of venue you are going for. It’s a good idea to try and have the clip on a real stage, not just the corner of a bar. It is that conundrum of how do you hired without a tape and how do you get a tape when you don’t get on at a club. There are options and ways around it or start with smaller clubs or theaters.
Submitting.
Ok so this is my own personal beliefs on this, I have heard many people contradict my thoughts. I think that if I am acting in a professional manner and paying attention it's ok. So if there are guidelines for submitting to a show or festival FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES. But for most bookers, a “no” is really more of a not right now. They don’t believe you are ready or you are not what they are looking for. Do not take this personal, it’s not personal more often than not. I personally found it's much easier once I started booking my own shows. It gave me deeper understanding and I know now why I was not getting booked on some things. The best advice on this is just to send a nice professional message with all the information they might need, and forget about it. The advice I got was to just spend 10 minutes every day submitting to things. This takes away the specialness of it. Very quickly you will have sent out so many emails or messages that you forget about them and then out of nowhere your calendar is full. And if you are still not getting booked, then just get better. Work on tightening jokes and getting another tape.
I will be totally honest when it comes to booking people locally. I just forgot about you, it has nothing to do with you personally, I just haven’t seen you in a while. So I always appreciate when people remind me they want to be on the show. But take that with a grain of salt don’t bombard me with messages and emails. But don’t be afraid to reach out. The worst I can say is not right now.
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Thank you for reading, You’re doing great.
Bjorn RG.