The Usable Clown

Recently I performed at an event as a juggler. No clowning, just me my juggling props and a 30 minute show. I was hired by another entertainment company to do the job since they don’t have any jugglers on staff and they paid my standard rate for a juggling show. Overall I had a really good time until the end when the contact gave me a check for the show to give to the entertainment company they hired. She stated “It is $xxx, right?” I said that I didn’t know what she was quoted for a price but that that was probably correct. As I walked to my car I did some mental math, and by mental I mean on my iPhone.

What I came up with disturbed me. I had done all the work for the gig other then recieving the phone call. I had driven to the job, about 30 miles, provided all my own equipment and recived numerous compliments on my performance.  The math I did showed me that of the total amount paid for the gig by the customer I recieved 60% and the company I worked for recieved 40%. Talking to some entertainers that I know has led me to believe that this is an insane amount of money for the non-performing agent to recieve.

What is your experience with being booked by another agency? What do you think I should do in the future to prevent this? Does that seem crazy to you?  Let me know in the comments.

Something to consider when starting out as a clown is how far from home you would like to travel to entertain. A lot of clowns choose to limit the area in which their services are availible to the public. What is a better idea then saying that you aren’t availible in an area is to charge a fee for having to travel to perform.The best way to do this is to get a map of your area and make marks of the different areas. What works best for doing this highlighters. You can usually find/buy a map of your local area from the city goverment offices. You then find three or more highlighters in different colors, each color will signify a travel charge to get to the gig. Draw a circle on your map that is where you will perform for no addtional charge. Shade that area in with your favorite highlighter color. Then make continuing concentric circles out from there filling each one in with a different color. This will make it quick and easy for you to find out how much additional charge there is to go to a certain area. If someone calls from an area outside your map, you just need to figure out how much further it is and what the charge will be. Once you have worked in an area not on your map, remember what you charged so that you have that number figured out in advance the next time someone calls.This is one of the best ways to not limit yourself to a certain area and provide you with the ability to charge a little more for your travel time. Doing this is especially important if you have a website. If someone finds you on the web there is no guarantee that they are going to be in your normal area of operation.On the flip side of this, don’t be afraid to say no if you don’t feel comfortable traveling that far to entertain. What I ususally do then is try to find another entertainer I know and refer the client to them. Hopefully that entertainer will do the same if they get a call for a gig they can’t do.I always leave about fifteen minutes earlier then I need to when traveling outside my normal area. This allows for me to get a little lost, which is inevitable when traveling to a new town or even a part of a bigger city that you don’t know. If you find yourself lost, always call the people who hired you to let them know you are lost and get directions.