4. You Won’t Always Be Taken As Seriously As Other Theatre
As I touched on in the last point, you’re not likely to get all the big casting directors show up to watch your improv show to discover the next big star. And you’re also unlikely to get all the major theatre critics come and review your show either.
Improv is still quite unknown and from a reviewer’s point of view if they cover your improv show, they will be covering something that may not get as much enagement as a new musical or a stand up show. It’s a catch 22 situation. Not enough people know what improv is because the media doesn’t cover it, and the media doesn’t cover it because not enough people know what it is.
And because an improv show is creating a show from a blank canvas, it’s typical for the shows to not feature the bells and whistles such as sets and costumes or lighting deisgn and music that other shows feature. A lot of people’s perception of improv is that improv is just a bunch of people who have jumped up on stage last minute in their street clothes and that there wasn’t a lot of effort and prep put into it.
This is a major frustration for many improv performers who dedicate hours and hours every week to studying the subject, reading books and articles, attending workshops and practicing their skills. Improv may not have big sets and costumes, but what it does have that isn’t instantly visible is the skill. Improv is a skill and a performance medium. Some people in the industry don’t understand it and as a result improv can be overlooked.
As with many of the topics discussed in this article this is something that will only change by those who engage in improv taking it upon ourselves to help educate the general public to the skill involved, and why it shoudl be taken seriously. Improv is on a journey to become more widespread, and it’s a journey that isn’t finished yet. It will get there and the positive from this is that you get to be part of that journey.
5. There isn’t Much Money In Improv
And yup, this is the one which we all wish didn’t matter, but kinda does. We’d all love to say that we should always just do improv for the art of it, and for the enjoyment and community benefits, but if we’re talking in terms of creating and running an improv theatre company you are suddenly faced with the realities that you’re actually running a business. It may not be a big business and for most people they will have other jobs or work in other areas of the performing arts which support your interest in improv. However, it is true that with any kind of business venture if you want to keep doing it, at some point you’ll need to get more money out of it then what you put in.
It’s an unfortunate situation for many who do improv that the opposite is usally true. Breaking even is often seen as a good day, and more often than not improv shows may lose money.
Now this isn’t to be discouraging, and it is very possible for improv to be profitable in many ways, but these usually go beyond ticket sales and extend to things such as workshops or corporate events. The message here is to give you the heads up to manage your expectations before you invest too heavily on the world tour (I say this from experience). All of the previous points combine to the fact that because people don’t know what improv is they won’t rush to spend money on tickets, and because marketing improv isn’t easy your show may not find the audience your effort deserves to get, and because newspapers and radio aren’t rushing to cover the show these elements all add up to what can feel like an uphill battle to even break even.
The advice I can give you is to start small, grow your team, support each other and help spread the word of your shows. Engage with your audience and make them feel that they want to come back or that they will be happy to tell a friend to come to see your next show. Creating an improv show does have it’s challenges, but after more than 10 years producing shows I feel more energised about creating improv then ever before. Improv is great, and you’ll no doubt have ups and downs which you’ll learn from. Just take every bump in the road as a valuable learning experience and have fun!
