Solo Performer Press Kits

A press kit is one of the important things that I don't see enough solo performers utilizing. A good press kit can be of great use to the performer as well as the press. It can be a great introduction for a solo performer of what he or she does. It can be a great way to sum up who you are, what you are about and what your show is about. And it does so in a tidy little press-friendly package.

In this post, I want to explore what is in a standard press kit, how press kits have changed over the last several years and how a press kit can be utilized.

First, what is a press kit? Traditionally, a press kit was a packet of photos and information given out to press and media folks that offered all kinds of stuff about your show. Up until about two decades ago, a press kit literaly had large format, clear photo prints (with accompanying rights to further print these photos), a biographical write-up about the performer, a summation about the project/show and a listing of contact information to for follow-ups. It came in a well-organized folder.

Eventually, this gave way to placing all the information on a CD, then eventually a flashdrive, and now almost all "press kits" are done online, via a website or the like. Because if this, they are sometimes referred to as Digital Press Kits (DPK) or Electronic Press Kits (EPK)

Next, what would you need in a press kit? If you are doing good and interesting work at some point you are going to be featured on someone's blog, podcast, YouTube channel or maybe in some form of traditional media (alt weekly, newspaper, radio). Interviewers, bloggers and podcasters - in fact, all press/media people - are pretty busy folks. Why not make their lives a little easier? An organized, professional press kit will make them look good by keeping them on dealine and keeping them accurate and it will help them make you look good. It will also help promote your show to their readers/listeners. Best of all, it will help you control your own personal branding.

Here are the elements that make up a good press kit...

Press kit Checklist:

1. At least four (4) hi-res photos*

• 2, at minimum, "in performance" photos. ( At least one horizontal and one vertical. These should be taken close enough to see your face, should show you in action and should be clear and engaging. It can also help to have different ones if you are looking in different direction in the photos.)
• Your show poster
• A good headshot

All these photos should have proper accreditation in the name of the photo. Customarily, you credit the photographer who took the photo. If you own the photo full out, you are welcome to put your own name/company if you want. The caption should appear like this...

The actual title of this photo in the metadata is:
Brad McEntire in CHOP - credit-Audacity Theatre Lab

Why send in hi-res digital photos? Because, you want good art to be put with the stories people write about you and because you don't want them using some pixalated photo of you they found somewhere on the internet (podcasters, bloggers and other newer media, in particular, unfortunately sometimes do this. They will sometimes raid your Facebook for a simple photo).

Ideally, you want a whole smattering of photos because press outlets love recieving and then using different images than their competitors. So, a good variety of images can only help you. It might be worth hiring a professional photographer to get some really good pics as well (hat tip to Andrew Wade for this one).

ProTip: Don't have Adobe Photshop or Illustrator? Not a web-savvy designer? You can get great posters/flyer designed for around $5 a pop on fiverr. Or you can create one using Microsoft Word. Or you can can make a press kit or show flyer in Canva. Just some ideas I have utilized myself over the years.

* Hi-Res means High Resolution. Hi-Res is a photo at least 6" x 4" (or 1260 x 960 pixel dimensions image size). This is the minimum. Don't make any pic lower than this.

2. Biography

Ideally, you should prepare three (3) different bios, of varying length, and save them in a file on your computer.

• Full one (one page max) - summarizes who you are and what you are about
• short one (one paragraph) - just the big stuff
• one sentence (you'd be surprised how much this can be used)

3. Videos (or links to them)

I'll do a separate post on promo videos someday, but you should have two (2) in your arsenal for each show.

• A short one, like a teaser. Maybe 45 second to a minute in length. The first 15-20 seconds is a great place to put a really engaging moment from your piece or quick montage of the show set to music. The goal is to hook the viewer's attention.

• A longer one of a few minutes. It should hook attention, too, but give a bit more context to your show. Maybe in the middle have a quick Q-and-A where you talk about your show. You can describe what your aim is or the origins of your ideas behind the show. Follow this with a solid snippet or two from your show and end on either audience reactions or overlayed pull quotes.

4. Links to big/ representative online interviews (web and podcast)

This shows you have been newsworthy in some way already. No need to put pull quotes from other sources in your press kit, since journalists and so on will not be able to use them for thier own pieces.

5. Contact information 

Include phone, email, your website URL as well as social media links. You want the press to be able to contact you quickly and easily.

These last two are optional...

6. List of Awards You've Won

Won a few Best of Fest Awards? Belonged to some notable residencies? Won a well-known grant? Performed at a prestigious theatre? If you have racked up too many awards or they didn't fit in your bio, you might dedicate a full page to list them.

7. List of interview topics/questions

If you want an interviewer to cover certain topics, give them a list. If you want to go further, give them the exact questions you wanna be asked. They may not do it, but they'll know it is important to your message. Or they may just incorporate a few of the questions you may suggested into their interview. Interviews don't have to be 100% surprise.

NOTE ABOUT BEING INTERVIEWED: You don't have to answer the exact same way to every similar question you are asked from interview to interview, but make sure your message is consistent. Also, be interesting. This means being personable and engaging (This is something arts journalist-turned-solo performer Elaine Liner continually emhasizes). Remember, press folks are trying to sell their own products and you are the content. Help them sell you so they can help you sell your show.

Now, put all text elements in Word DOC for easy cut and pasting. You can use PDFs for things that wouldn't normally be cut-and-pasted, such as list of awards, but you should insert working hyperlinks into any PDFs to places where basic information can be straight lifted by press people (they love cut-and-paste... saves time).

Gather all these press kit elements, make them presentable (and, yeah, spell check everything!), then put them in a single folder on your computer. Zip that folder and then put it on your website. You can also put the individual elements as separate sub-pages on your website as well. Just keep it simple.

I would recommend putting these files not just on your website, but on a CD or , better yet, a small flashdrive to hand out to reviewers that show up to critique your show.

Do you need a physical press kit? I would say it couldn't hurt, but really, most of the time these are just added expense. I used to print out full color pages and put them in a nice folder along with a digital version of the press kit on an enclosed CD. I might make one  still in case an emergency arises (my website goes down for some reason or something happens on the press side), but it is strictly as a back up. I haven't actually handed out a physical press kit, like in a folder, since 2009.

A press kit is, admittedly, usually thought of as an old-fashioned tool of promotion, but I think it can and should be thought of in a different light for contemporary performers. The true value of a press kit nowadays is that it makes you, the performer, get all of your press materials together, fluidly and dependably, in one place. You will then have them on hand when needed.

A solid press kit will brand you as a professional. Make it easy for people to share the word about you and they just might do so.

Want a few good examples? 

• Rebecca Perry has all her Press Kit embedded in her website (under the Press/Media tab). Take a look... HERE. [update 6/2018 - Perry has redesigned her website and got rid of her Press/Media tab. Shame.]
• Also, take a look at Martin Dockery's excellent Press Kit for his show Wanderlust... HERE (bonus points because the links in the PDF are all clickable). He is also a fan of having clear photos of himself as a performer.
• You can see my Press Kit page on the website I made for my solo show CHOP... HERE (the website platform Wix doesn't allow ZIP files, so the press kit elements are included on the page as separate elements)

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Elaine Liner's 107 Publicity Boosters That Work

You need good publicity to promote your production (or product, project or company). You can't afford a publicist. Where do you start? Author, veteran arts journalist and solo performer in her own right, Elaine Liner lays out 107(+) tips, strategies and insider secrets that tell you exactly who media are, what they want from you right now and how they want it.

The book is targeted to performers heading off to the big Edinburgh Fringe, but apply to promoting yourself at venues and festivals pretty much anywhere.

Worth the small pice tag with a lot of good take aways, such as...

"Since email is your first line of attack in reachng media, address each one personally and personably. Do not gang-blast the same story pitch/release to everyone on your media list."

and

"If you have an idea for a story pitch while you are out and about, email it to yourself."

and 

"Do NOT send the same photo to everyone."

Get a copy... HERE

Q-and-A with Elaine Liner

Elaine Liner in SWEATER CURSE

Solo performer and arts journalist Elaine Liner discusses her show Sweater Curse: A Yarn about Love. She will be one of three north Texas based performers in the upcoming 2014 Dallas Solo Fest.

.   .   .

Q: Where you are from and how you did you start solo performing?

A: Proving the old adage that "it's never too late," I started my career as a solo performer, playwright and actor at the age of 59. I'm from Dallas and have a degree in theater from Trinity University in San Antonio, where I studied with regional theater titan Paul Baker. But after college I headed to New York and fell into magazine writing, editing and other forms of journalism. Being a critic in print has been my main source of income for over 30 years. But with the demise of journalism as a viable career -- I now earn less than I made in the 1980s, writing more words for less and less money -- I have turned to different channels for expression. I've long been a fan of solo performance but never dreamed I'd be doing it myself. Life is full of surprises. As it turns out, I'm pretty good at it.

Q: What brought you specifically into the world of solo performance?

A: One word: Knitting. When I should be writing on deadline, I often scroll the web for free knitting patterns. I've been a knitter since I was eight years old and usually have a project or two on the needles. One day I ran across this term on Wikipedia: "The Sweater Curse." It's an old wives' tale that says if you knit for your lover, he'll leave you before you finish the sweater. Suddenly I thought, "Well, that should be the title of a play." I started typing and four days later I finished it, a monologue about my obsessions with knitting, my many unraveled romances and the mentions of knitting in great literature, from The Odyssey to Macbeth to A Tale of Two Cities and beyond. I've reworked the script as I've performed it over the past year and a half, but it's basically what I wrote in that spurt in the spring of 2012. The moment I finished the play, I had another thought: "Edinburgh Fringe." And I spent the next 15 months getting it there. I premiered Sweater Curse: A Yarn about Love at the 2013 Fringe at the Sweet/Grassmarket Theatre and will return to do it again in August 2014.

Q: Could you tell us about some of your recent solo work?

A: Since the debut of Sweater Curse at Edinburgh Fringe in the summer of 2013, I've performed it many times in theaters around North Texas, most recently at the Granbury Opera House for three weeks in February and at the MCL Grand in Lewisville. This piece works in spaces big and small. In the run-up to Edinburgh in 2013, I did it in people's living rooms.

Q: How would you describe your particular kind of solo performance?

A: My style seems to be, as one critic wrote, "like a friend who really, really needs to tell you some stories." There's acting happening, but not so much that you notice it. I like a conspiratorial tone between me and the audience. I try to make my show feel like a conversation in which I reveal some secrets and share a little advice. Not My Dinner with Andre. More like Kathy Griffin without the dirty stuff.

Q: What is your favorite thing about doing this work?

A: Definitely the vibes from the audience. I invite my audience to bring their knitting or crocheting to my show and keep on stitching while I'm talking. I knit onstage so often we're both clacking our needles at the same time. In a way, that helps weave together my stories with their experiences in love and life. At several points in the show, I ask questions and want knitters in the audience to fill in the answers out loud. When that happens, it makes the show interactive. That's what I like. Yes, it's a monologue. But it's not a one-sided conversation.

Q: What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?

A: I just love doing it. Having people stay after my shows just to hug me, to touch the knitted stuff on my set (I made everything you see up there), to tell me their "sweater curse" tales, that's what keeps me motivated. Also it's a pretty darn fun way to spend an hour of life. I love doing my show and sharing it with people. Whether they've ever knitted a stitch or not, people seem to like it, laugh along with it and then feel better having seen it. I've had people who've seen my show two or three times. That astounds me.

Q: What is your approach to the development process?

A: I'm a word girl, so I have to start with my fingers on the keyboard, typing the words. The only time I improvise is during a performance when someone's cell phone goes off. I'm liable to work that into whatever I'm saying. Most of the time, I just say, "I can wait if you need to take that call." Then I just stand there as the rest of the audience stares down the offender.

Prepping for Sweater Curse, I hired a great director, Tim Hedgepeth, whom I've known since we were both Trinity students. He's the top director in San Antonio theaters now and was perfect for my project, so patient and encouraging. I also started doing Pilates and I took flamenco lessons, which helped me be more physically aware of my body in space. Being alone onstage, you're conscious of every breath and every move. There's no one else for people to look at!

Q: Who are some of your influences or people that inspire/embolden you?

A: Oddly, I was influenced by Kathy Griffin. I watched over the years as she transitioned from traditional stand-up to becoming a storyteller. She makes her audience feel like close friends to whom she's telling secrets. I like her "Oooh, wait, I have to tell you this" approach to performance. And of course, I've been inspired by many, many solo performers that I've met through the Edinburgh Fringe. You want to see the best solos? Go there. From stand-up to monologues, traditional acting, multi-character pieces, mime. You can see it all there.

Q: How do you bridge the gap of the business side of theatre?

A: I am a relentless pre-planner. Before I got to my first Edinburgh Fringe, I'd spent months rehearsing, planning, accumulating data and, of course, raising thousands of dollars. I had a notebook full of every bit of info I might need for a month in Scotland, including maps showing the best walking routes from my hotel to the theater, to the nearest grocery and pharmacy. I try to leave very little to chance. I have two of everything, including duplicate costumes and shoes, an extra tech script, always with me. I keep receipts like a pack rat. I can depend on myself to be prepared even when other people come up short.

Q: Any advice for some aspiring artists just starting out in solo performance?

A: See a lot of solo shows and figure out where you'd fit in, what you could do that no one else is. Be bold, be fresh, be interesting. Don't feel limited by age, weight or gender. Before I wrote and starting performing Sweater Curse, I hadn't seen a show like mine, talking about my particular obsessions with knitting, great literature and finding love late in life. My target audience is older women who do crafts, so I market directly to them through sites like Ravelry.com and MeetUp.

With my background in media, I have no problem getting publicity and knowing how to deal with media, but I also know that you can bypass media and market directly to your best audience. But if you haven't had 30 years of journalism to draw on, my best advice is to learn how to do your own media -- and I'm not talking about the basic press release, which is not enough these days -- and to use your social media skills to get more and better publicity. As a newcomer to the very crowded Edinburgh Fringe, I got more than my share of reviews and media coverage because I knew how to gin up interest in me and my show. I made myself stand out from the crowd. One tip: Get lots of good, high-res images made. One photo isn't enough. You need lots and lots of photos. If you have to spend money on publicity tools, spend it hiring a professional photographer to shoot pix of you onstage, offstage and in studio set-ups. I bartered with a good Dallas photog, who shot my second round of photos in exchange for a 20-foot-long Dr. Who scarf, which I knitted in two weeks.

Q: Share with us something funny that has happened to you recently.

A: At the top of my show, after telling the story of Penelope knitting and unraveling the shroud as she waits for Ulysses to return from the Trojan War, I have a line that includes the name of my play. But one night I said, "Have you heard of the knitting curse?" Nothing like blowing the title. If you mean in real life, every day is a sitcom when you're my age. I spend way too much time looking for my car keys and walking in and out of rooms, thinking, "What was I going to do in here?"

Q: What are the largest and smallest audiences you've ever played to?

A: The largest is probably about 150 or so at Granbury Opera House and at the theater in Lewisville. The smallest was three patrons in a 30-seat theater one slow day at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013. As it happened, it was one of my best performances and one of those three people was a major critic who gave me a five-star review and ended his column saying I deserved "a full house of stars as well as people." My box office boomed the next day. No performance is a throwaway. You just never know who's out there.

Q: What do you see for the future of solo performance and for you personally as an artist? 

A: I hope to keep doing Sweater Curse as long as I can. It's not a difficult show to perform. It's not like I'm working circus silks or training for the big tap number. I did write another play right after I wrote Sweater Curse. It's a two-act comedy about old people in assisted living called Finishing School. A local Dallas theater did it this spring. The elderly lead actor ended up in the hospital after the dress rehearsal and they had to replace him overnight with another elderly actor. So I think my next project will be about teens. They're less prone to health emergencies.

Q: Fun links?

http://sweatercurse.tumblr.com/

Twitter: @TheSweaterPlay

Facebook: Sweater Curse a Yarn About Love