Hi Carla. Who are you and what do you do in comedy?
I'm Carla Speight, the woman behind the camera and keyboard at Aberrant Perspectives. I'm also the PR, Agent & Promoter at carlaspeight.co.uk. More recently I've been working with comedians on their PR & Marketing. My new consultancy packages have been very popular. I'm teaching them how to work on other opportunities within the industry and how to utilise them to build awareness and ultimately add those vital credits to their CV. I know not everyone can afford a dedicated PR, but I don't think that should mean they give up. I started out doing my own PR and marketing which made a massive impact on my career opportunities. Right now being on stage is faced with tough restrictions, but that doesn't mean we have to retrain for work outside the industry. My consultancy packages helping comedians refocus their skills and generating income through other opportunities within the industry.
Tell us about how you first became involved in the comedy world.
It feels like a lifetime ago! Nearly 10 years ago, I started photographing shows in exchange for a ticket. I'd recently become a single parent and whilst my boys were with their dad I found I got really bored. I reached out to The Frog and Bucket Comedy Club and asked if I could photograph their shows, thankfully Jess gave me the opportunity to shoot as many shows as I wanted. This quickly lead to me shooting gigs at the arena and theatres across the North West.
At the time I was a Deaf Blind support worker during the week, but courtesy of government lead budget cuts I was made redundant. After a bit of a panic, the comedian's and bands I had been working with offered to pay me to cover their shows. I was really fortunate to have had the support from the industry during that time, I had been recommended to cover some fabulous shows which meant I had a really powerful portfolio. In comedy alone I had been working with household names such as Jason Manford, Katherine Ryan, Nish Kumar, Joe Lycett, Sarah Millican and many more, so this gave me a really good starting point for my career. After my redundancy I started to get recommended by notable comedians, people like Jason were wonderfully supportive, he just didn't know how much those recommendations meant to the newly redundant photographer that I was back then. His recommendations and many others lead to production companies and the acts hiring me more frequently so I created my company Aberrant Perspectives and my career grew really quickly from there. Over the years I've covered big festivals, tours, gigs in theatres and I still shoot in the clubs, my work has been published globally. But I've never forgotten what Jess at the Frog and Bucket did for me, she gave me a lifeline and an opportunity that lead to things that I never thought would be possible. I still love working at the Frog and Bucket, even now.
As with a lot of people in industry, I learnt early on that versatility was the key to earning enough to pay my bills. Each one of the jobs I do slot into the gaps the others have throughout the year. Also as my career has grown I was pushed to create a website with my name, to form a central hub for all that I do carlaspeight.co.uk and it's a useful entity for those who recommend me by name rather than my company name. During the early stages of my career I started writing reviews, features and interviews. They've done really well and have been shared and published in a wide variety of places, just like my photography. I also book shows, I run Urmston Comedy Club in my home town and have booked a few festivals too. I'd love to organise and book a northern comedy festival. With booking and promoting shows, I learnt more in depth PR & marketing skills and started to work with acts and clubs to help them raise their profiles, grow their online presence, sell more tickets etc and I'm proud to say that my marketing & PR skills have helped a lot of shows sell out.
Tell us about your comedy favourites.
This is a tough one! It really depends on my mood. I love all sorts of comedy!
Katherine Ryan, Sarah Millican, Suzi Ruffell, Sara Pascoe and Kerry Godliman are some of my favourite female comedians on TV. I also love the likes of Anna Sparks, Lindsey Davies, JoJo Sutherland, Allyson June Smith, Lou Conran, Katie Mulgrew, Hayley Ellis, Isma Almas, Kate McCabe, Ola Labib, Barbara Nice... The women in industry are really smashing it, there's so many to mention I could go on and on!
I can't forget the men in comedy though, some of my favourites are Jack Whitehall, Russell Howard, Mick Ferry, Josh Jones, Harry Stachini, Markus Birdman, Matt Reed, Tony Wright, Justin Moorhouse, Simon Wozniak, Alan Davies, Alex Boardman, Howard Anstock, Steve N Allen, Tom Allen, Nish Kumar and many more.
The comedy industry is competitive. Why should people pick you to work with?
The lockdown has seen so many harsh restrictions put on our industry, this has been heartbreaking to watch. Much like everyone else I found myself in a position of limited work capacity. I decided to create some one to one training packages dedicated to PR & marketing for comedians to help them to continue to use comedy to earn money. These can be found on my website carlaspeight.co.uk As a promoter I've received so many applications for gigs from people I've never heard of and the content of their applications weren't great. I know first hand that agents and promoters are too busy to watch everyone on the circuit, even the extraordinarily talented comedians. We really only get to organically see those who are marketing themselves in different ways and going that extra mile to be seen.
There's a wealth of opportunity in the industry and with all the experience I've gained over the years, I decided to make PR and marketing more accessible for those who don't have the budget to pay a monthly retainer. My consultancy packages use all my knowledge and experience to develop the skills comedians have. I help refocus them and we work closely to create a goals list and make that achievable with a bespoke action plan.
During the one to one sessions I teach them the skills they need to make their goals possible. I cover a variety of skills depending on my client's need. These include things like how to use social media effectively, how to create content at a professional level, how to monetise that content, how to create a really great podcast, how to pitch to an editor, how to develop your CV, how to be featured in the press and all that's in between. It really depends on what their goals are and then we build up their skills to make them achievable.
I work with my clients on an hourly basis which can be as frequent as they need, some are once a week and some are biweekly. Others prefer half day sessions once a month, plus as part of the sessions I'm always available to bounce ideas off and answer questions in between sessions. I work with my clients to suit their availability and continue to work with them until they feel they've got what they wanted from our sessions and are ready to go it alone. (I'm always like a proud mum when that happens).
What's the best advice you've ever been given, read or heard?
Simply put, 'Don't be a d***'. It's really true! Niceness goes a long way in this industry. No one has time for an ego or bad attitude. I've always found comedy to be a lovely industry to work in, it's a bit like a really supportive family full of wonderfully intriguing misfits. But then I've always followed that advice.
Where would you like to be in 10 years' time?
Running my own northern comedy weekender festival. There's so much talent in the north and I'd love to showcase it with a comedy festival that entices audiences from all over to watch how brilliant us northerners are!
If you ever get free time, how do you spend it?
My dad once told me 'earn money from something you love and you'll never work a day in your life; so my free time is spent either watching comedy or I occasionally take some time off and go on holidays with my two boys. We love going to places where phone signal is limited so we can spend time together without any distractions. It usually involves some sort of coastline where we spend all day as a family with a picnic full of treats.
What's your favourite phone app?
Instagram reels and stories are huge, my favourite apps to make them look a bit more swish and professional are Mojo, Impresso and Canva. These are easy to use, template based apps that make everything look more professional. They add that extra pizazz to video content, which is perfect for helping you stand out in the scroll through and the social media algorithms love video content. Plus you can use the bits you like to create your own content, add music and they're really cheap to buy the pro versions!
Published: Friday 30th October 2020