Los Angeles on Sunday!
I know that, in this business, one is supposed to project CONFIDENCE. “Fake it ‘til you make it.” Act like you’re already winning, and it will only make you MORE popular.
But I think I gotta be honest with you, the 100+ people who have subscribed to my email list...
CONNOR RATLIFF presents THE ACTING CLASS is not doing well.
To the point where, if something doesn’t shift, I may just pack the whole thing in and give up.
Two shows ago at UCB, my payout after the performance was $2.50. That's not even enough to buy a subway ticket home after the show. Not enough people bought tickets, so after the house cut, only $5 was left, and there's a 50/50 split.
The most recent show was so poorly attended that I made $0.
I’m currently in L.A. filming a movie, and I moved heaven & earth to carve out a slot in the schedule when I could bring the show back to Dynasty Typewriter again, after a very well-received show back in February.
I’m told that the ticket sales are close to nonexistent. There are more people in The Beatles than there are livestream tickets sold, and the in-person numbers are smaller than the current cast of SNL.
It could be that this is just the end of the road for me -- the free market has spoken, and there simply isn't an audience for me and this show.
I was hoping it would be a gradual build -- that I could start touring and develop a circuit of venues that I could return to once or twice a year, and that the show would develop a following. That could still happen! This might be a momentary blip, a loss of nerve on my part, my confidence shaken by a short-term dip in ticket sales.
But if this Sunday's show in L.A. turns out to be a disastrously low turnout, it could mark the end of a project that I truly believed was going to be the thing I was gonna do for the next ten to twenty years. Might be a moment to reassess whether or not it might be time for a break from making things and performing.
I did it once before -- from 2001 to 2009 -- and it was not the end of the world. Stepping away from being an actor and comedian isn’t something I was planning on doing, but it is healthy to keep it on the table as an option.
Maybe there will be a miracle, and this Sunday will see a flood of audience members who came out for GLTS or Dead Eyes Live at Dynasty in years past!
In any case, I know I am preaching to the choir here -- you 100+ are the people who subscribed to my email list, so you are, to some extent, the only people on Earth who don’t need to be told any of this! I need to reach a couple hundred ppl in L.A. who would go see me in a show but don’t know that it's happening!
Ok, here is a picture of me in my trailer for the movie I’m filming, my hair newly cut, hoping that you will help spread the word about my show on Sunday. Even if you tell one or two comedy-loving friends about it, it would mean a great deal to me!
Bye for now!
connor!
