9th August 2009
HOW NOT TO GET PRESS COVERAGE
AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE
by Janey Godley
Never assume journalists are pleased to hear your chirpy whiny voice on their answer machines begging for a few column inches. They hate having to deal with comics who are just 'putting on a show' - you really need to have a hook or be already famous. Which makes it a big Catch 22 scenario - you won't get press if you really aren't in the press. No one wants to read about 'I am doing comedy and no one knows me yet' articles and no amount of paying some girl called Sophie from Chelsea £2000 who owns her new PR Company will help. These Sophies from Chelsea all have interchangeable heads and do sometimes get called Emma or Lucy by the way. They sweep into Edinburgh, get a hold of the press list (which is available to anyone), and sit down and send out press releases (like you can do) and wait for people to bite (much like you can do from your home, minus the £2000). Though maybe the posh accent helps. I spoke to one journo lately and he told me he hates talking to comedy PRs as much as he despises trying to get comedians to make a 'hook' out their story. Yet again, they prefer to deal with already famous names as the public want to read about them. It can be hard this, I know |
Trying to get forward press for your show can be daunting when everyone wants to write about the latest big US comedy star coming over to grace our stages or the latest big UK name that is going back to his comedy roots. It can be heartbreaking but worthwhile in the long run. Persistence can pay off as long as it isn't followed up with stalking and late night phone calls to the journalist's home - he/she will plot your death. You have to feel sorry for Fringe newspaper journalists, they get about three million emails and press releases just before August and often their email system can collapse under the sheer amount of attachments and documents battered mercilessly into their inbox. So I am stuck between doing some press stunt like holding the First Minister Alex Salmond hostage in a basement near Leith, or setting fire to my own leg for attention, but am not sure anyone would care. The best I can do is put on a good show and hope people like it and then the press start writing about you. Life is tough, and leg burns take ages to heal. |