James Seabright

James Seabright tells us all about how to get into producing at the Edinburgh Fringe...

James Seabright has been a theatre producer since 2001. A Fringe veteran – his company Festival Highlights has 18 productions on this year – he also helps shows like Showstopper: The Improvised Musical and Potted Potter on to a life beyond the festival. Here he talks about how to start a career in producing and what kind of material works best at the Fringe.

I started producing shows at university, including shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. That was the start of my professional producing career.

Subsequently, I was involved in setting up Festival Highlights in 2003, which is the banner under which we continue to produce and promote our shows. This year we have 18 productions.

We’re always out shopping for new work and we’ll generally pick up at least one show from the festival with a view to bringing it to London. There’s always an element of scouring the Fringe programme in advance, so we generally go up with a shortlist of things we’re interested in, but there’s always opportunities to be taken by surprise by something new.

A producing role varies quite a lot. I talk about this in my book So You Want To Be A Theatre Producer – it’s reflected in the variety of levels and roles I’m involved in as a producer, general manager and promoter at the Edinburgh Festival. We’re purely general managing some of the shows, occasionally we’re just involved in marketing but more commonly we’ll be involved as producers and general managers and marketers. That’s a case of furthering a partnership and a relationship with an artist or writer and putting the practical side of everything together and working with them in developing the art of the piece as well, getting it ready for the festival.

One of the things that really gave me a leg up in my first year was co-producing with another more established producer. Trying to forge those partnerships can be very helpful and can provide insight into how theatre works at the more commercial level. There are also ways of forging a career in the subsidised sector. An aspirant producer is trying to connect to people already established in that field - there is an element of competition there in terms of new people coming up. It’s a very collaborative business - recognise the benefits of working with others and the new ideas that a young and developing producer can bring to the table.

Edinburgh is really all about celebrating innovation - the new and original things, clever and cutting edge ideas. That’s what the bunfight is all about – trying to find the newest, cleverest, most original pieces. They’re not always the most perfectly rounded productions at the Fringe but the things that tend to be the runaway successes capture the imagination.

My best advice as a producer to someone taking a show up this year is to be clear-minded about what it is you want to get out of the Festival and why you’re taking a show up there. Keep that in mind through the whole month. There are lots of opportunities and the Fringe office are now more geared up than they used to be for participants, helping artists and companies develop their careers through their time at the Fringe.