The Edinburgh Fringe is a bit like Hollywood - thousands go chasing glory there, few find it. The organisers of the world's largest arts festival warn thousands of comedians, actors and musicians this is not the place to make money - but eternal optimists keep on coming.
"There are always the rags to riches stories," said Fringe director Jon Morgan. "The dark horses appear every year, people nobody had ever heard of." But the competition is fierce as almost 19,000 performers are vying for attention in more than 2,000 shows in this annual outburst of artistic mayhem in the Scottish capital. Last year the Fringe sold 1.5 million tickets - a new record.
Morgan issues stark warnings to performers: "They must know what the territory is and we make sure we tell them. We say you are unlikely to make any money in Edinburgh." But the lure is irresistible in a town that swarms every August with talent scouts and TV producers.
"I liken it to Hollywood - a few people come every year as complete unknowns and leave weighed down by awards," said Andrew Eaton, arts editor of The Scotsman newspaper. "One day you are working in a waffle bar, the next you get a role in a hit TV show."
But calculating how much it costs to stage a show at The Fringe, the feisty offshoot of the official high arts Edinburgh festival of ballet, music and theatre, can be sobering. "It is working out at about 9,000 pounds," said Richard Wray, a Guardian journalist turned producer for a comic show about the making of the 1960s Bond movie Casino Royale.
"The show must go on even it bankrupts the lot of us," he said. "It was never about how much can we make, it was always about how much can we afford to lose. To be involved - that is the magic of the Fringe."
Helen Landau, staging a sequel to the children's classic "The Wind in the Willows" called "Toad's Revenge," said "Of course it is a gamble but my ambition is to attract a producer or an agent. It would be perfect for schools, theatre and maybe TV." "I know it's a mad idea but you always regret the things you don't do," she said. Comedians range from appalling to exhilarating at the Fringe which, for just a handful, is a springboard to success.
Award-winning stand-up comic Mark Watson said: "I sold every ticket both my first two years but barely broke even. The money you make is pitiful in relation to the amount of work you do. It is all about raising your profile." A glutton for punishment, Watson is back for a third year, admitting "It is very addictive but there is no doubt that most of what I now have in my career has come from Edinburgh."
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