Posted By Katherine on 2010 February 23
Well! It looks like Frank Woodley and I are sisters. I hope you laugh as hard as I did when I noticed the similarity in these photos. Perhaps we’re using the same photographer.
Katherine Phelps & Frank Woodley
Posted By Katherine on 2010 February 17
It would be nice to have ONE standup venue gig, but the VAST MAJORITY of comedians are currently filling that card up before the comedy festival. Nevertheless, the poetry gigs are MARVELOUS! The people are great. The venues are relaxed. And let me tell you, the scene is vibrant with young people doing weird and wonderful things.
Thursday 18 February 20:00 (maybe)
The Courthouse Readings
728 Main Road, Eltham
Cost: $5
Tuesday 24 February 20:30 (definitely)
The Dan
225 Canning Street, Carlton
Cost: Free
Friday 26 February 19:30 (maybe)
Falling Angels Competition
State Library, Latrobe Street, Melbourne CBD
Cost: Free
Sunday 28 February 14:00 (probably)
Westwords
Dancing Dog Cafe, 42 Albert Street, Footscray
Cost: $2.50
So, far I have done everything I have listed, but it’s taking its toll. Contact me before “maybe” or “probably” nights if you want to be certain I am performing.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Posted By Katherine on 2010 February 7
I’m planning on hitting quite a few venues to promote my show for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. I will be performing bits of my show in order to get people excited.
For those of you following my career, I deeply apologise for not letting you know about two performances I gave Friday and Saturday. Here are some upcoming gigs at which you may well see me.
Tuesday 09 February 19:30 (maybe)
Poetic Justice
O’Sullivan’s Sibeen Irish Pub & Restaurant
914 Mt Alexander Road, Essendon
Cost: $3
Wednesday 10 February 19:00 (definitely)
Court Jester Cafe
15 Breese St, Brunswick
Cost: $5
Saturday 13 February 14:00 (maybe)
Poetry at Fed Square
Jolimont Expresso, The Atrium, Melbourne CBD
Cost: FREE
Monday 15 February 20:30 (maybe)
Passionate Tongues
The Brunswick Hotel
140 Sydney Rd, Brunswick
Cost: ?
Tuesday 16 February 20:30 (definitely)
Spinning Room
ETs Hotel
211 High St, Prahran
Cost: FREE
More to go up soon.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Posted By Katherine on 2010 January 19
Yes, I know it has been awhile since my last post. I’m in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival! I’ve been madly writing, producing, and practising my show. You’ll be hearing from me soon as I start to post the details.
In the meantime I’m having some difficulty with this site because I am receiving a dozen spam messages a day. I have done my best to be fair and discover who is making a legitimate comment and who is just trying to get free advertising. I don’t even mind the free advertising so much if it is at least genuinely relevant.
For the moment, except when I get messages that are clearly in response to an article and not just a generic comment, I am deleting everything. It’s just too hard trying to sort things and ends up eating into time I could use for posting more articles. Even this much may go in a week or two if I continue being bombarded with junk.
I am so sorry that a few idiots are spoiling things for everyone. Do keep having fun. We shall rise above this nonsense.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Posted By Katherine on 2009 November 11
Currently, I’m working like a mad woman to put together marketing, budget, insurance, etc plans in order to get a show together for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival next year. Monday I walked my feet to oblivion in 35C heat in order to check out a dozen potential venues around the city. But it will be worth it!
I will soon get back to regular blogging and let you all know about the process of getting ready for this sort of gig.
In the meantime I have a gig this Friday.
The Dragonfly Club
8pm Friday 13 November
246-250 Yarra Street, Warrandyte VIC
Top car park, back of shops
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Posted By Katherine on 2009 October 12
Hey!
I have a Melbourne gig! And thus my style of mayhem gets its toe-hold in this city. MWUHAHA!
Willow Tales
Willow Bar
222 High Street, Northcote
8pm Wednesday 04 November
I’ve also been hanging out at information nights about producing shows for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. So wish me luck.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Posted By Katherine on 2009 October 2
I have listened to many panels concerning selling your ideas for books, screenplays, and computer games. I have also worked in the publishing, film/tv, and game industries in various capacities. What the gatekeepers often tell creators and what the truth is about selling your stories can often vary widely.
You will be told-
What these points frequently say to me about some editors and producers is-
Your skills are supposed to be in the field of storytelling. You are supposed to be observing other’s stories, developing your own vision, and practising the many details that go into creating a fully realised, thematically consistent, and emotionally engaging tale. That is no small thing. Most authors do not see publication until they are in their 30s or 40s. Anyone who thinks they can pop a book out, because they can read and have an idea, is fooling themselves. It’s like thinking you can win an Olympic marathon because you know how to put one foot in front of another. Good art makes things look effortless, but the amount of training and practise needed to achieve that effortlessness needs to be respected.
Sadly, many editors and producers are trying to turn storytellers into market experts, rather than providing that skill themselves. The old saw is indeed true: the problem with the art of filmmaking is that it’s a business, and the problem with the business of filmmaking is that it’s an art. The same is true of publishing, computer game development, selling paintings through galleries, etc, etc. In order to make a living out of our art we need to attend to the business side of things. However, if the business side chooses not to respect the art side, then what makes something worthy of people’s hard earned money is sucked out of the process.
Observing Market Trends
You may have already heard this story, but when J.K. Rowling tried selling Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, she was rejected by every major publishing house in Britain. Nothing else quite like it was on the market and publishers were unable to envision it’s success based on what already existed. Rowling had to take her book to a small publisher in order for that book to see the light of day.
At the time the first Harry Potter book came out, I was a judge for a young adult literary award in Australia. Four years later I was still a judge for that award and started seeing a large number of Harry Potter read alikes. I cannot remember the name of a single one of those books. None of them won our award. None of them have been in reprints to my knowledge. For many of the authors this will be the only book they sell due to tepid returns. Certainly, enough money can be made copying successes that it’s a nice easy call, but you can only ride that wave for so long before people will begin to ignore your product. Only J.K. Rowling can be J.K. Rowling.
I have similar stories for the computer game trade. Game development has a turn around of about eighteen months. Some game will hit it big, then everyone will rush out to do games of a similar nature. However, by the time they get the game out the door, the craze for that sort of game has already passed. You can only repeat the glory of that original game success if you have someone creating it who has a genuine passion and personal vision concerning the subject matter and can bring something new and/or insightful to the field.
To find the people who can deliver the big wins editors and producers have to have the wherewithal and courage to develop a sense of what has real depth, skill, and excitement. They have to be leaders rather than followers. They have to train their instincts. They then have to have the will to fully support their human discoveries. This requires a lot more respect for creators than is usually given.
Know Your Market
Frequently knowing your market means knowing into which stereotypical boxes the gatekeepers are stuffing stories such as yours, whether or not this has any real relationship to how the market will respond. Harry Potter is seen as having universal appeal to boys and girls. Once Pippi Longstockings was also seen in the same way, but would now be marketed as a girl’s book. To Kill a Mockingbird was originally read by adults. Now it is seen as a children’s book because the lead characters are children.
Marketing divides these stories into categories, they then sell the stories to particular marketing segments. When the segment responds to their advertising push, it is seen as confirmation that this is how things should be. Sadly, this encourages sexism, racism, and many other “isms”. Recently, author Justine Larbalestier’s publisher put a photograph of a girl of European descent on a story about a girl of African descent, ostensibly in order to make the book palatable to a broader (white) audience. This caused enough furor that the publisher apologetically replaced the cover.
I’ve been in the frustrating position of attempting to sell imaginative up-beat stories for Gen-Y adults and being told that adults prefer darker stuff and my material is clearly for children. So how did The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Mighty Boosh, etc get made? Especially when for so long animation was seen as for kids? I find the gatekeepers may not be in touch with the audiences they are purportedly representing or current trends, despite worshipping at the foot of these things.
What to do?
Editors and producers will tell you they are looking for original material. What they are really saying is that they don’t want to be bored, but at the same time they still want what they understand, and if it’s too original, that won’t readily happen. I would suggest when you start off, put their dilemma out of your mind.
Some people are good at following trends. If that is the case for you, go ahead and do it, just don’t expect to make a big name for yourself that way. Otherwise, spend a lot of time experimenting with your own style. Go ahead and be influenced, but by a diversity of sources until your own blend and your own flavour comes to the fore. Focus on what you love, what gets you passionate, because you will be miles ahead in getting people to respond to your material, than someone who has a passing interest just for money and audience.
Once you have established your vision do an extra layer of preparation. This layer has LITTLE to do with your actual inspiration. It’s about marketing to the marketers. Find a way to pitch your story, so that it sounds like something else that has had recent success. If your story has a balloon in it, pitch is as if it’s the next Pixar’s Up. The only point of comparison may be that balloon, but that might be sufficient if your story is aimed at families.
I have to admit that I like family movies and television shows. I like multi-generational audiences bonding with one another over a funny story. I have found producers feel uncomfortable with aiming things that broadly. So, you may find yourself having to pitch family entertainment as children’s, downplaying the bits that engage the parents. I still have no idea how The Simpsons got its start.
It may well be worth your while to pitch your story to friends and discover if they see your work as slotting into certain market segments, and even if it grates to be pigeonholed, go ahead and use their understanding as the basis of your final pitch. The only problem is that this might result in misguided advertising. Henson’s Labyrinth did not do well in the cinemas because it was marketed to children when it was meant for adolescents. Later it did fine in video sales through word of mouth. But Hollywood couldn’t see how puppets might be of interest past childhood.
The most honest approach is if you can convince the gatekeepers that you know what you are doing, you are an expert in your field and can be trusted to produce material that will appeal to a lucrative market. This is why starting as a standup for people who want to get into comic film and television is so useful. You have proved to the world that you are funny. You are a known quantity that can be trusted. However, even though this field has fewer gatekeepers, you have to be brave enough and passionate enough about standup in its own right to keep at it. Eventually other opportunities will appear, but you may wisely wish to keep one foot in front of the microphone.
Don’t worry about the gatekeepers. Do what you want to do regardless. Keep the faith, trust your vision, and seek to give the world your best. Something interesting is bound to happen.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Posted By Katherine on 2009 September 25
Laughter when something seemingly terrifying turns out to be harmless is a classic form of tension release. I’ve seen this happen with bungee jumping. People who jump off that bridge with a bit of bungee attached to an ankle (and a body harness for backup) may respond by vomiting, crying, or laughing. The ones who laugh are more likely to recover from their fear and perhaps try it again.
This comedy element works best within stories where the audience is emotionally engaged with events. This way you can build tension up to the deceptive climax. In the Pink Panther series of films Inspector Clouseau institutes a training program where his hired assistant Kato must attack him “wherever and whenever I least expect it.” This becomes a running gag. However, because Inspector Clouseau is regularly in real danger, the audience is never sure whether it’s the villain or Kato who has just gotten the better of him, and laugh in pleasure and relief when it is Kato.
Comic horror movies regularly use this trope from The Evil Dead to Shaun of the Dead. The clever twist used in Shaun of the Dead was the audience would be shown something that was genuinely dangerous within the world of the film, the protagonists would at first feel threatened, then come up with an explanation that made their fear seem ludicrous and laugh, but the threat was real and they had just managed to unwittingly escape it.
In more dramatic movies you might find a character who upon being told they have cancer burst into fits of wry mirth. The laugh can be ironic or just the quickest way to cope. We may not get any physical relief from a traumatic situation, but the laughter provides the emotional relief that generates resilience and personal heroism.
Fear-relief humour can work for the individual raconteur on stage, and literature has made it work now and then. I remember one moment in the Harry Potter books where this was used. I remember many times laughing at silly ghost stories we used to tell when I was a kid at a slumber party. Probably the most effective media for this element are theatrical productions and film, where it is much easier to generate the sort of emotional focus and climatic tension necessary for big laughs. Give it a try sometime and let me know how you go.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Elements of Comedy Introduction
Posted By Katherine on 2009 September 22
I’m still making my way through Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy by Franklyn Ajaye. It’s one of the most intelligent books I have read on the subject for a very long time.
Ajaye speaks largely from his own experience, then presents his interviews with a diverse range of other stand-ups. This gives readers a chance to make their own conclusions, following the advice of those comedians whose style or approach is compatible with their own. Others who have written on comedy have made broad sweeping generalisations without even this much in the way of researched evidence.
In one section of his book Ajaye speaks of performance goals. When you first start out he has found it useful to hold non-laugh related skills development goals. For instance you might have as a goal to make sure you speak in a measured pace, stopping now and then to let the audience laugh, if they are doing so. After the show you can listen to the tape of yourself and judge how well you have achieved that goal and what things you can do next time to improve upon it.
With a short list of specific goals you are more likely to constructively dissect what happened on stage and to build upon your performance. With only a vague notion of what you are doing, you may either not think about what happened and not develop, or tear yourself to shreds. Neither of these are helpful.
Ajaye then suggests creating a broader and more ongoing list of goals. His own list includes: to have a command of the stage and feel comfortable, to add more power to his delivery, and to incorporate more visual and audio variety into his performance. After reading this I took on some of his goals and included a few of my own, for instance: to have fun while on stage and to project that energy to the audience, and to allow myself to be outrageous without fear of uncoolness.
So, your exercise for today, should you decide to accept, is to make a list of at least four personal performance goals.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
Posted By Katherine on 2009 September 11
I recently found this comment in a movie review “A surfeit of the kind of crude, sexually graphic jokes that work in darkly lit stand up comedy stores…drag(s) the film down.”
I have been concerned for some time that many of the comedy venues rely heavily on dark humour. Worse the audiences come specifically looking for a chance to snarl at the world through someone else’s put-downs. If they don’t get a burst of schadenfreude, the comedian faces stony silence.
Now this isn’t always the case. During comedy festival time many of the more light-hearted comedians come out with shows that do not rely on drugs, damaging violence, and a cynical outlook on life. Instead they focus on innocence, joy, the foibles of humanity, and the absurdity of life. Comedians such as Adam Hills, David O’Doherty, Josie Long, Lano and Woodley, etc who fall in this category attract sell-out audiences.
Where are these people between festivals? It seems many of them move onto television, film, and radio. So why haven’t the comedians and the organisers of comedy nights picked up on what seems to be an enjoyable and profitable career path? They may have caught themselves in a loop whereby they have attracted an audience who goes for dark humour and therefore think that’s what audiences want. Some do. I know some want more relaxing humour, but so far I haven’t found venues that specialise in it.
If such a venue continues to elude me, I may attempt to start one. Call it something like “Joyful Encounters”. Email me if you are in Melbourne and are interested in such a room.
My exercise for people this week is more of a challenge. If you found yourself accepting a gig at a hospital for children who are terminally ill, what sort of show would you write for them? WRITE IT and give it a try. You might surprise yourself.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
