• No using the Free Fringe as an ‘insurance offer’ while waiting for the money venues to decide on your application. If you renege on a deal on which we have shaken hands, we don’t expect you to be in Edinburgh.
• No simultaneous negotiation with the Laughing Horse and us. If you’re talking to us, you should not be talking to them. If you have a show with us, you must not have another show with them. Doing occasional guest slots in their compilation shows is acceptable; daily slots are not.
• The Free Fringe will not provide extra technical equipment or staffing for your show. If you need anything extra, you should provide it.
• If you are doing two shows, one at the Free Fringe and one at a paid venue, equal effort, publicity and leafleting time should be given to the Free Fringe show. The Free Fringe show is not a poor relation.
• Due regard should be paid to our need to keep landlords happy by bringing in respectable audience numbers.
• No pulling out without discussion. Any problems to be discussed with the Free Fringe. This applies double close to the programme deadline and close to the start of the Fringe.
• No matter how big a star you (think you) are, you do the same work as everybody else, or get your entourage to do it. Nobody’s doing the Free Fringe a favour by condescending to be part of it.
• The show must go on. If it’s advertised, it should happen. If you’re ill, use the contact list to arrange some sort of temporary show in your slot, and get them to explain the circumstances to the audience.

• All shows to be free, non-ticketed, first come first served.
• All shows longer than one hour to have an interval.
• At the end of your show:

YOU AGREE TO CONFORM TO THESE GUIDELINES:

* Be at your venue at least 10 minutes before the previous show ends
* Remain at your venue at least 15 minutes after the next show starts
* During these changeover times:
o Greet incoming audience
o Exercise traffic control: stop your audience going in to the previous show in the last few minutes. Make sure the space is clear before letting the new audience up/down/in.
o Hold the bucket for the previous show if asked to
o Offer the Free Fringe leaflet to the outgoing audience
* If performing in the first week, you agree to be at your venue the day before the Free Fringe starts (usually at 1pm) and help with the setup. If performing in the last week, you agree to be at your venue the day after the venue finishes (usually at 1pm) and help with the knockdown and tidying of the venue and the recovery to its owner of property lent to the Free Fringe.
* Your show should be in the main Fringe programme unless agreed otherwise.
* When leafleting for your show, you should give out the full Free Fringe programme alongside your own leaflet. If other people are leafleting for you, this condition also applies to them.
* You should provide to the Free Fringe your mobile telephone number and email address, and you consent to this information being made known to all Free Fringe shows.
* You should support all other Free Fringe shows.
* Your show must finish on time no matter when it starts. If the previous show overruns, you should address this issue directly with that show (who is therefore in violation of this condition).
* Do not promise what you cannot deliver, or what you are unsure of being able to deliver. Once you promise, people rely on the promise.
* Do not do a show beyond your capabilities, and do not deceive the Free Fringe into thinking that your capabilities are greater than they are. Successful shows recognise their limitations and work within them.

FURTHER POINTS TO WHICH YOU AGREE

Carefully check your programme proofs, especially dates and times.

Your performer name (group name) should include the phrase "PBH’s Free Fringe".
If we shake hands on a deal (including by email) then that deal is binding.

Your show should have leaflets to a reasonable standard. For a full run, 5000 A6 colour leaflets are recommended (cost about £90 depending on offers).

The leaflet should have the Free Fringe logo on. To save money, these leaflets can be double-sided with another Free Fringe show, or another show you are involved in, but not with any Laughing Horse show.

VENUE PICTURES (in un-rigged state)

Canon’s Gait.

White Horse, Canongate.

Outhouse, Broughton Street Lane.

Phoenix, Broughton Street,

Mercat Bar, West Maitland Street, EH12

Beehive, Grassmarket

Dragonfly, West Port (off Grassmarket)

The Standing Order, George Street

Nicol Edwards, Niddry Street (Music Lounge)

Nicol Edwards, Niddry Street (Banqueting Hall)

Voodoo Bar, Torphichen Place, Haymarket

You should join the Festival Fringe Society Ltd (costs £10) and vote for members of the Board of Directors. You may of course vote for the candidates of your choice, but please consider voting for performer candidates.

Material in your shows that offends for the sake of offending is not encouraged.

Material in your shows that embarrasses individual members of the audience, to the extent that they fear going to another of our shows (e.g. picking on them in a humiliating fashion) is discouraged.

Be nice to venue staff at all times.

The Act Booker (Artistic Director, i.e. me) is to be informed of major changes in your show specification, especially if a co-performer originally promised has dropped out.

Be clear on the difference between the Free Fringe and the Laughing Horse’s "Free Festival". Do not use the term "Free Fringe" to describe shows that are not ours. The Free Fringe is:

* original
* award-winning
* ethical
* co-operative (by performers for performers)
* quality controlled.

VENUE SETUP

All venues will be simply rigged and have no technical staff. Shows with lighting cues or complex technical requirements will not be suitable for the venues. There will be a stage, mics and a CD player. The PA will either be provided by the venues or found from within equipment owned by members of the collective. Any more complicated requirements should be agreed well in advance, and used in such a way that they can be easily rigged before the show and de-rigged afterwards with no inconvenience to the shows before and after.

The costs of the Free Fringe to the performer are therefore limited to programme entry fee and accommodation, plus whatever publicity the performer deems necessary. Any collection is managed by the performer him/herself and goes straight to the performer him/herself without any check or deduction. This is in contrast to other venues where there may be usage charges and other fees for central services provided by the venue. It is possible to break even on a Free Fringe show.

If you think you can make a profit by doing your shows at a paying venue, go ahead with our blessing. The Free Fringe was founded precisely because 95% of Fringe shows make significant losses, financed by the artists themselves. Beware of budgeting for sold-out shows; if you have not done the Fringe before, listen to the stories of those whio have. It's not easy.

ADDITIONAL JOBS AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THE CO-OPERATIVE

The jobs available for volunteers are :

* Venue Captains – one per venue
* PA and microphone scrounger
* Webmaster (Nick Hodder)
* Leaflet producer
* Leaflet advertising salesperson
* Press releaser (David Mulholland)
* Act booker (PBH)
* Venue seeker and checker (various Edinburgh-based members)
* Previews co-ordinator
* Non-Fringe events captain
* Venue display monarch
* Contact list gleaner (Men with Bananas)

Let there be volunteers.

But please only volunteer if you can deliver. Promises are of no value; excuses for non-delivery are no value. When you take a job, everybody relies on you. Don’t let them down.

Just because somebody’s in one of these jobs doesn’t mean that others cannot and should not help in these areas. Everybody who wants to contribute their skills and labour ought to have the chance to do so.

APPLICATIONS

Interested performers/shows should provide details of their suggested show to PBH by email. Details of any upcoming London gigs may also help.

The Free Fringe hopes to accommodate all sorts of shows. Within that, there is an approximate priority order of desirability:

1. variable bill shows

2. sketch shows (but not requiring staging or teching)

3. three-and four-handers

4. one-man shows from experienced performers

5. first one-man shows at Edinburgh, varied

6. first one-man shows at Edinburgh, single talking head

7. Known non-team players and assorted arseholes.

I am also particularly interested in hearing from people willing to book and run variable-bill shows in some of the venues. Such shows are usually well received and attended, which will keep the venue owners happy with the takings. They also provide performance opportunities for people who don't have a full Fringe show, thus helping the next generation.

Performers new to the Fringe are advised to expect a much broader audience than the average comedy club, and usually a nicer one. Picking on individuals in the audience, unless they start it or unless it is done in a supportive and non-humiliating way, is discouraged. Remember: your show is an advertisement for others at the Free Fringe.

People new to the Fringe are strongly advised to perform within their limits and not to do a one-hour solo show unless they have seen the standard required. Such performers are best advised to get together with others and create a three-, four- or five-handed compilation show. These shows are more popular with the public and provide good peer support in a festival which can break performers as well as make them.

The Free Fringe has had no association with the Laughing Horse organisation since 2006. It will be run as a co-operative of performers, directed by PBH. In formal terms, the Free Fringe Ltd is registered in the UK, directors PBH and Melanie Hill-Stephens.

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Peter Buckley Hill

PBH's Free Fringe: winner of the Tap Water Awards 2006
PBH's Free Fringe: winner of the Chortle Award for Innovation 2007
PBH's Free Fringe: winner of the Chortle Award for Best Off-Stage Contribution 2007
Peter Buckley Hill: Three Weeks Editors' Choice Award 2006
Peter Buckley Hill: Fringe Report Award for Revitalising the Fringe 2008