can everybody please just charge money to do shows instead of doing them for free from now on??? i wish it were as easy as just putting a post on stuntlife...but seriously, if we all charge money, everybody gets paid....right?

if you want a legit place to ride, find a parking lot, there's plenty of them in cities!!

 

I wish it was that easy. we always try to get paid, but we do charity events for free sometimes, depends on what it is. and lots are extremely scarce.

 

charity events are a different league......but the excuse of "it's a legal spot to ride" simply blows ***......if the event is selling tickets and making money, why let them make money off your skills and talent?!

 

right now we charge 100 per rider plus gas, but we arent exactly SF or VMC . as we progress we will charge more. better show= more money
we always try to recommend Tulsas most Hated or DMC Freestyle to be the main event and try to work ourselves in as fillers till we get better.

 

If it were easy, then everybody would do it! Lots may be scarce, but build a relationship with the owners and go at them as professional as you can be and you could end up with a lot for life....


Here's a tip on how we get paid for charity shows.... we donate the show to the charity, get a tax write off, then find local sponsors to sponsor that one show, but you have to have something to offer in return... ie...local media coverage etc....

Focus more on building your skillz and being able to put on a good show, rather than booking them, then when you feel you're actually worth money, get in with the teams you mentioned and prove yourself. It's not always about the skill, but more about the show. Fact is, to the general population, a circle is a circle whether SS or spreader or frog or sitdown, once you do one, they could care less what position your in... make it more about entertaining rather than showcasing your skillz...

 

that's definately a start!!!! if you start at a venue doing free shows, it's extremely hard to ever get money out of them......put a price tag on it off the bat and you'll have something from the start!

 

we might not be the best, but we def put on a good show, but back to topic, I totally agree that you should at least get paid something, even a percentage of admission isnt unreasonable if you are the reason people paid to come.

 

The hard thing about doing a pay show at a venue is that people have no idea what the turn out will be. Take that show here in Lakeland that was called "Night of Thrills" it was a complete flop! The owners of the Lakeland Motorsports Park were left with a horrible taste in their mouth. The place had maybe 150 people show up and "most of them were the riders and their friends who didn't pay to get in" to quote the general manager. If people have no idea how much revenue you are going to generate then they will be a bit reluctant to hand over their hard earned cash. Now like a legitimate full on stunt expo show that they are charging admission to you are entitled to something as the entertainment. Thats your deal and it should be worked out before you ever set foot in the gate. Free shows are sometimes a gateway to paid shows with people. Like a few local guys do the Wing House show every Thursday, they did the 1st few for free and after the owner seen the crowd they drew he began paying them. Either way I agree that people should be paid for their talent, just be sure your crew is professional and courteous if they have to deal with the public. Especially if theres gonna be a lot of kids! Its all good to be tossin the "F" bomb around at the lot but for some reason people don't like their lil kids hearing that. If you can put on a show and be professional about it you'll get paid! A few local guys have been able to make it work by showing they are professional and have a service to offer in exchange for the money they want.

 

fo sho, i see alot of shows look more like practice sessions rather then "shows", make it interesting...get a routine down and come up with something creative

 

VO's in Maine, they do shows and get paid, on some of them, they have routines down, a PA, and I announce. We actually put on a damn good show. :YEAH

 

Didnt you just do a free show at elk hart lake for the AMA superbike races?

Thats the cream of the crop. Nobody should perform at a AMA race for FREE! Let alone any other event.

I agree with this topic! There is value to what we do, stick to your guns and get paid!

 

 

everyone needs to take this advice...

 

+1 nothing like getting a call from someone looking to book you and then have them turn around and say well this group said they will do it for free or some cheap price that isn't worth the time .... even better is when they take the cheap/free show and it is garbage, which leaves the promoter/coordinator not wanting to hire anyone else because that show sucked ...

 

Can you detail this more? Did you incorporate? The principals of your corporation are you and the members of the team?

...or, in alternative, did each rider individually donate and get a RECEIPT that is written off the income taxes.

 

Happens all the time! not a real good answer to it, i just try and provide them the stats from past shows etc... and remind them, that they do get what they pay for. I also invite them to other shows so they can see exactly what they are paying for and the difference between a free show and a produced show by someone who has a clue about what they are doing...

As of this moment, Vertical Limits is registered as a sole proprietership, come jan 2009 I/we (Myself, E-brake, Brandon Taylor) will be incorporated
and yes they will be the principals. As of now, they do not benefit tax wise for charity shows... ie... that's why we raise money through the sponsors for each show. For them to actually gain from the tax write off, they have to do over $3500 in write off's for the year and charity's are not allowed to write off more than $2000 per company... That comes from my accountant, not sure how it applies state to state. So in a sense, you will not benefit by only doing one charity event per year, which is why we do 3-4. But the point is, you can still make money off of the events. It's called work and it doesn't involve the bike....

 

uh oh.............

 

Wow, that's a great idea. So as of now, your teammates are paid employees of the SP, which is why the SP needs to bring in enough income and meet the charitable threshold in order to reap the benefits?

I never thought about someone doing a show and writing it off as a charitable donation. Good Call.

 

My frustration is that we are trying to build up a good show and a team in the middle of a stunt infested area of amateurs. It's sooo tough!!! We took over the bike night at St. Augustine that was run with stunt 904 when all of that went down, and the owner cut us down a lot in what he was paying 904 compared to us, because he'd never heard of the company....no regard given to it being all of the same performers, minus stunt 904.

Plus then we get other teams who book shows, and then give bad names by vandalizing property, riding without safety precautions, etc. and then ruin it for us. We can't even get permits in Daytona without a few strings pulled!!!

It's enough to make me consider giving up from event promotion honestly..I'm so freakin' frustrated with this area. It seems like the only other decent bike night around with a stunt show is the one that Kirby is running with Tony L and whoever guest rides each week in Sanford. Other than that it's just small teams who ride for 5 minutes at a time, sometimes under the influence of whatever their hobby may be, and then call it quits....it's no wonder that no one wants to pay for a show around here.

Any advice from other promotion coordinators?

 

+1 no free shows here... I did 1 free show for a speedway thats like 20 minutes from me just so they could see what we was all about and now they have us back every year and pay us. They also hooked us up with 3 other speedways for shows.