The Edinburgh Fringe P&L – An Accountant’s View

If you hadn’t heard of double entry bookkeeping, it would be easy to imagine that everyone loses money at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Coming up North in August is a licence to lose vast sums of money.

The average performer and his or her entourage is probably of university age. They dream of becoming the next Tom Hardy or Carey Mulligan (Sir Michael Gambon/Dame Judi Dench if you prefer).

In reality, they will end up working in a shop or office but with fond memories of student years when three amazing weeks of sex and drugs and rock and roll permeated their otherwise dull studies.

However, they will have to pay for it and so do visitors, hangers on, press and anyone else interested in participating in the biggest arts festival in the world.

Even those working at venues or on the High Street might well end up out of pocket and many may wonder why the National Minimum Wage has been suspended.

By way of contrast, everything is sold at inflated prices. Typically, visitors have to pay for travel, in many cases from America or Europe at summer holiday levels. Accommodation usually costs at least ten times as much as at any other time of year too.

Pop-up bars will also soak up lots of cash, while some visitors even eat at some point during their stay.

Costumes and props need to be transported or created as well. Then there are venues, press agents and the Fringe itself all willing to take a cut.

This means that unless you can sell seats about three times over a loss is guaranteed. You might get some sponsorship, typically from family and friends but even so, the student loan position will look even sicker after the joys of becoming a nominally professional performer for a few weeks.

The best bet to make a profit is to do a solo comedy show in a 600-1,000 seat theatre where your costs are underwritten. Not easy for a 19-year-old unknown. Even big TV names cannot always get these gigs and still won’t get rich on the proceeds.

So who does make money? The answer isn’t always easy to see since venues go bust, while landlords are often left spending a lot to clear up the mess after letting to wild students intent on having fun.

A colleague says that a couple of restaurants on the Royal Mile make half of their yearly income in the three weeks, making the other 49 pretty sad. Hotels too charge through the nose.

Pretty much every other local store will make a mint, while the Tattoo could well be funding the forces as generously as the Government, given the constant rounds of military spending cuts in recent years.

Some promoters might get rich but that is probably from spin-offs, not the Fringe itself.

Otherwise, almost everyone else is here to lose money.

In conclusion, this is one of those events that defies accountancy logic because people enjoy themselves and are willing to pay for the pleasure. Bean counters might struggle to understand that concept but real people seem to.

Next week, this column will explore some of the best shows in town and try to tempt you to indulge in the loss & loss account that is Edinburgh in August.

Anyone wanting some ideas sooner can follow my tips here.