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Tomo wrote:A friend of mine wanted me to go to his wedding, from the church until the last dance, and to be on hand to perform for the whole time.

I said £500.

He said, "Yeah, but you get fed at the reception!"

We don't speak much now...

Bloody hell! But he's a mate! Im sure without your entertaining you would be there anyway so why not pull out a few tricks and try some new stuff?

Did you go to the wedding in the end? I am attending a friends wedding soon and he has asked if i would do some walk around magic. Of course i will, he's a mate, i will enjoy doing it and im there anyway!

Alec

I'll be honest, £200 (imho) is too cheap for a magician working close up anyway, but thats for a completely different topic thread!

Very true Mark. Your fee - (travel + PLI + Tax + Cost of props) = Less than you think!

Well, if you just take tax into account, your fee is already down to £140

Then, if you say (for example) its a 30 mile round trip costing in wear and tear to your vehicle and fuel @40p per mile (working out at £12 travel) that brings your fee down to £128.

Thats before you work out the other expenses - before you know it, you are working for less than £100!

He said, "Yeah, but you get fed at the reception!"

I've always been offered this anyway.
Write a "Staff Meal and Refreshments" section into your "Performance Agreement", (you do have one...?), and when send to client leave it as "Details to be Discussed", when you call/email to check if received, it always comes up as a firm suggestion from the client, or a "what do you normally do about food?" question, (though if I do eat I always try and sit away from the main guests).

Bruce

"I am not too expensive; you just cannot afford me"

Mark Waddington wrote:Well, if you just take tax into account, your fee is already down to £140

Then, if you say (for example) its a 30 mile round trip costing in wear and tear to your vehicle and fuel @40p per mile (working out at £12 travel) that brings your fee down to £128.

Thats before you work out the other expenses - before you know it, you are working for less than £100!

Couldnt have said it better myself Mark.

IBM subs, Equity subs,MMC subs business cards etc and yes your fee is definitely below £100 Much much too low for any gig.

Deano

Alec Kobain wrote:

Tomo wrote:A friend of mine wanted me to go to his wedding, from the church until the last dance, and to be on hand to perform for the whole time.

I said £500.

He said, "Yeah, but you get fed at the reception!"

We don't speak much now...

Bloody hell! But he's a mate! Im sure without your entertaining you would be there anyway so why not pull out a few tricks and try some new stuff?

Did you go to the wedding in the end? I am attending a friends wedding soon and he has asked if i would do some walk around magic. Of course i will, he's a mate, i will enjoy doing it and im there anyway!

Alec

My cousins wdding cost me over £1200, I turned down 2 £320 gigs on the saturday and a £220 gig on the sunday lunchtime, plus travel to yorkshire a night in the hotel for me and my wife,spends for he weekendand a £40 gift voucher as a present.most expensive weekend ive had for years.But as they say family comes first eh!!!

deano0010 wrote:

Alec Kobain wrote:

Tomo wrote:A friend of mine wanted me to go to his wedding, from the church until the last dance, and to be on hand to perform for the whole time.

I said £500.

He said, "Yeah, but you get fed at the reception!"

We don't speak much now...

Bloody hell! But he's a mate! Im sure without your entertaining you would be there anyway so why not pull out a few tricks and try some new stuff?

Did you go to the wedding in the end? I am attending a friends wedding soon and he has asked if i would do some walk around magic. Of course i will, he's a mate, i will enjoy doing it and im there anyway!

Alec

My cousins wdding cost me over £1200, I turned down 2 £320 gigs on the saturday and a £220 gig on the sunday lunchtime, plus travel to yorkshire a night in the hotel for me and my wife,spends for he weekendand a £40 gift voucher as a present.most expensive weekend ive had for years.But as they say family comes first eh!!!

At the very least you could have done an ambitious wedding card!

Alec

I think when you mention a price for a period of time, some people do a quick mental calculation along the lines of

...the magician wants £200 for an hour, I do a 9 hour day, that's £1800 a day, £9,000 a week, over £400,000 a year - that's so much money, for so little work...!!

With a band, its easier to see the associated costs involved; instruments, PA equipment, mic's and also most people have tried to learn an instrument and so they can appreciate time taken to learn to play.

I think you should charge what you know yourself to be worth, and if people don't want to pay that, you shouldn't have to reduce your rate to accommodate them.

Personally I have a lower rate for restaurants / pubs as often they will say those sorts of prices are too high, and secondly they will book me again and again - sometimes for a run, sometimes one off gigs throughout the year. You don't earn anything sat at home.

How much an entertainer charges is a very personal thing, everyone will have their price and everyone will lower it given the right circumstance.

I imagine most would do charity gigs for free, some would give a lower rate to family or freinds, some would do cheaper gigs because they know alot of protential clients would be in the audience etc. It comes with experience and personal opinion.

I'm with Jing, you don't earn anything sat at home.

Majority of us have done gigs for free to begin with, to practice firstly, but also for attention of protential clients. I think even a professional entertainer can throw in the odd free gig a year, escpecially at big events where there are alot protential clients.

That is my opinion on the subject.

Ricky Gibson