Getting into entertainment

After my degree in Sociology, all my friends were going into accountancy, law... all those sensible careers – and I just didn’t want to do it.

I’d enjoyed working in an entertainment environment while I was at college, so I thought I’d give that a go. I spoke to a relation of mine who was working in entertainment and he said the absolute best thing for me to do would be to get into bingo. So I did! I became a trainee bingo hall manager, and it really was the best thing to do to get into entertainment.

For one thing, I was a nice middle-class lad going into a very working class area, which was a real crash course in discipline and the importance of money. I’d always intended to go into live music eventually and this helped me to do it.

Nowadays I am responsible for one 3,000 capacity venue, one 1,100 capacity one and one 600 one, and employing 26 full-time staff and around 200-250 casuals. We’re very varied: everything from large-scale gigs to local seasonal events.

I became a trainee bingo hall manager, which really was the best thing to do to get into entertainment. Nowadays I am responsible for a 3,000 capacity venue.

Skills and Training

The skill I really value in my staff – if you can call it a skill – is an open mind. What we do is ever-changing – unlike theatre, which is a fairly consistent product. At Wolverhampton Civic Halls we’re moving over from Motorhead to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to a conference to a Christmas lights switch on – so your mindset has to be open to change and lots of different cultures.

Training-wise, I certainly like to focus on how staff react to people and on their face-to-face marketing in the context of different cultures and different social groups. Those are tricky skills!

I’m also keen to train the full-time staff in the use of electronic media – including social media – and technical skills like rigging. And I’m especially keen on making sure everyone knows how to lift and carry things properly, keeping everyone safe.

What we do is ever-changing - from Motorhead to CBSO to a conference.... so your mindset has to be open to change and to lots of different cultures.

After all, people’s expectations of events have changed so much – nowadays you have to bring so much more kit in. This year’s bonfire night we expected 10,000 but got 18,000!

Modern Marketing

One reason we’re pulling in larger crowds, of course, is that in real terms marketing is much easier. Part of that is electronic media (which we got into very early, so we’ve got a big database). Then, if you can imagine that once your pull was 6 miles, nowadays it’s 30, 40, 50 miles.

We’re lucky in Wolverhampton because lots of people live here, so you can sell tickets. If you’ve got a small seaside venue you’re going to have a whole different set of challenges around audience.

Industry Challenges

Everyone’s talking about financial challenges to the industry and, of course, finance is a problem – secondary spend’s gone down – but, at the end of the day, people are still buying tickets. I think the real challenge is social change...  The community of Britain is far more diverse now, so their needs are all in different ‘boxes’. Ten or 15 years ago you banged a show out and people would trot along – most people in a particular area were fairly similar socially, economically, culturally. Nowadays one area will have many different ethnicities and ages.

I think the real challenge to the industry is social change.  The community of Britain is far more diverse now, so everyone's needs are in different boxes.

A good example is in Lenny from Motorhead. He covers a time spectrum of 40 years – people who were into him the first time round are now in their sixties, but then there’s a younger base of new fans too. So the market is huge and the age range is enormous. Plus then you’ve got the older population not buying tickets because their pensions have collapsed – you didn’t have to deal with that a decade ago.

I suppose the only way you can face those kinds of challenges is just by being aware. You have to read the papers and watch the news, too, because that may help explain why certain things aren’t working. And engage with the industry – that’s one thing I hope your Conference will facilitate. 

Top Industry Tips

1. Get into bingo!
2. As long as you’re prepared to work hard, and at odd hours, you’ll have a wonderful life. This is a truly fantastic industry, and I’d recommend it to anyone.
3. Go for it.

Mark Blackstock is General Manager of Wolverhampton Civic Halls, an Industry Member of the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural.