Got the show...

[firemermaid]

Now i need the business... I live in the lovely Rivera Maya, a tourist mecca full of resorts, bars,
and moneys. I have a great fire show, a pre hispanic show, burlesque, human statues, and other neat stuff. The costumes are cool, the skill level is high, the girls are pretty. What now? how do get our shows into the hotels? We get gigs here and there, but we know so little about the business part we end up getting treated poorly. last week we went on after a one man show who was making twice as much as our 6 person group. 2 days ago a good hotel/bar gig cancelled us. After we did all the promotion and built a cool burlesque show just for them, they stole our concept and put their animation team in the show. Copied our costumes used our music. We did all the work made it popular and now i feel like a chump We are great at trowing and catching, shaking our booties and getting people to say wow. How do I help my team of talent get the work, pay and treatment they deserve???

[Isabella]

Are you using written contracts?

[firemermaid]

Nope. I don't know anything about contract writing. Where and how can i learn??

[Isabella]

First, check around and see if you have some friends who can help you with this - anyone in your group related to an attorney? Or do you have a club owner or other businessman who is a buddy and can help you? Also, in the USA, there are frequently legal clinics for people with low incomes, and you might be able to find something like that by calling your city Human Services Division, or randomly calling some attorneys and asking them. If you can afford it, you can also specifically hire an entertainment lawyer. It's pricy, but it might be worth it.

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I'm very, very good at contracting - both writing and negotiating. If you'd like to spend some time on Skype and email talking about contracts and looking at sample language, I'm happy to do so, but I'll ask you for money for my time because I don't know you as a colleague yet. If you're interested in this, please feel free to email me at allison at angelsintheair.com, and I can give you some references on people who've worked with me on contracting so that you can see if I might be helpful to you. I'd be able to provide you with some specific contract language, and also tell you why you need each provision in a contract so that you can adapt that to your local laws. You will almost certainly still need to run it by a local attorney for a double-check, but I can help you rough out a basic contract.

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[magic_fella]

You did a show without a contract?

You're lucky you got paid.

Talk to Isabella.

Talk to SOMEONE.

I really think doing the show can be the easy part sometimes...

[martin ewen]

you won't be taken seriously until you take yourselves seriously.
you sound like you have no money. Look at my post total. I've been around a while. I know Isabella,met her and everything, she's legit.
If you have no money to spare modify the contract 'thom' provides on this thread.

http://www.performers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1833&highlight=contracts

and then use a portion of your first fee from it to get a bit of consultation.

But you'll find people here generally helpful with specifics if you have further questions.