Has anyone else ever wondered this?

[puppetguy]

You just have to create your own opportunities. (Like another chap from Minnesota - Joel Hodgson - who cobbled together a few puppets from thrift store junk and wound up with a Peabody Award winning cable show.)

-- Scraps[/QUOTE]

Amen to creating your own opportunities. What some people also don't realize is the amount of work it takes to be a solo puppeteer. Things never happen overnight. I think it was Frank Oz talking about the success of the Muppet Show that said it was an overnight success that was 20 years in the making. Like most folks here, I had high aspirations for working with JHC. It was my childhood dream. But the more I got into puppetry, I realized I liked doing my own thing. I also talked to some "insiders" in the television realm of puppetry and discovered some of the harsh realities that Buck talked about. Its extremely competitive, the work is hardly consistent...I think of my friend Peter Linz who was one of the principal puppeteers on 3 shows at one time (Bear in the Big Blue House, Between the Lions, Book of Pooh) and is now an understudy for Avenue Q. I saw him a few months ago and he said there is no work in NYC right now..everything has wrapped. And yet he has a wife and three children and all the bills that go along with that. It was hard for me to believe that I was in a more stable posisiton as a touring puppeteer than my extremely talented "television personality" friend.
So for the last three years, I've been a full-time touring puppeteer in the Southeast, home basing in Alabama. Last year I did over 200 shows in GA, AL, and FL. This is after being involved in puppetry for the last 13 years. This is one life that no education at UConn or anywhere else can teach you (I know because I went there) Your best bet would be to find a puppeteer whose work you truly respect and see if they'll mentor you. The television industry is entirely different. Growing up, I thought it was "the" job to have in puppetry...and it looks really promising when you see the same names reappear in a majority of Muppet productions. But don't let that fool you. In television, everyone is dispensable and there are about 25 people standing in line for your job when you're dispensed of. In Alabama, I have a puppet monopoly of sorts, I think primarily because nobody's dumb enough to move down here to run a puppet company. But there is a desire and a demand for the kind of work I do in schools and libraries where there is a tremendous lack of quality entertainment for families. So, this is something I provide. And my bills are paid and still have time to pick banjo in a bluegrass band..can't ask for much more than that.
But to restate what Scraps' said, if you want something bad enough, do what it takes to achieve it, especially when it has been proven time and time again that there is very little that cannot be accomplished if the will is strong enough. But don't think there is only one road to "success"....you never know what you might find down a side-road.
David
www.allhandsproductions.com

 

[Rugby]

Wow! Thanks for all the kind words and advice! By the sounds of it, the Henson company I wanted to work for was 15 to 20 years ago. That probably would have been the best time and chance to go for it, especially with Jim alive. If I ever get around to completing some puppets, maybe I'll think about starting up like you guys did. Work around the house also takes up a good chunk of time. (Mowing lawn, snowblowing driveway, garden, maintainence, etc...) Thanks again, guys! You guys are great!

 

[Dagger Claws]

Rugby,
Glad to know that you're dreams aren't crushed. Like most of the other replies have stated, you don't need to have puppetry consume your entire life to be called a professional puppeteer. You no doubt have other interests and passions that take up your time (your family for one, and your job). And that's not a bad thing. I know puppeteers who only occasionally worked in film and television when the opportunity came by, but mostly, they worked their own shows at schools, birthday parties, and even in professional theatres when those types opportunities weren't around. And, sometimes, it was better that way because they devoted themselves more to performing in front of a live audience (the grammer schools, the local festivals and renasance fairs, even a few free shows at a local library) because they loved that live peformance and it also gave them great practice for if and when they ever came across a job opportunity to work on a film or for a television pilot.

Take care and keep your dream alive,
Marc

P.S.- I think you hit the nail right on the head in your last post. Alot of people wind up wanting to work for the Jim Henson Company so bad and don't realize that it has changed since when they were young and watched the Muppets in either a film or read about the inner workings in a book. Times change, and so do companies and they way they go about their business. It's not a bad or terrible thing, just how life works.

 

[bazooka_beak]

I've loved puppets my whole life. I couldn't tell you why, because even I don't know. When I was younger, visiting craft shows with my parents and spotted a puppet booth, I would always get excited. Of course, the puppets always cost too much, and I never got the kind of puppets I really wanted (with hand wires and such), only cheap alternatives. Someday, though, I hope that will change.

When I was little, I used to dream about working for Disney. Or become a famous cartoonist, like Charles Schultz. I have always longed to work at an important, world admired company like Henson, or Pixar, or whathaveyou. That it would make me special somehow. I've come to realize, though, that it will never happen. It really hurts, and I might feel depressed over it sometimes, but I've come to see that writing is probably what I do best. If anything, I want to self publish books and sell fantasy art (if I ever get good at it).

I guess what I'm trying to say is, do what makes you happy, even if it's not at the top

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Amen to Puppetguy's point about live touring being much more profitable (and stable!) than TV in the long run. I've always found the lower-profile opportunities often pay better overall and are much less stress and hassle than TV or film/video.

 

[doctort13]

Doing it live!

And as the folks who perform live will tell you, nothing feels better than hearing the audience laugh and applaud! If they were drugs, I'd be a junkie by now.

 

[Super Scooter]

I just found out there's a puppet guy who goes from library to library during the summer... he rakes in around 200 dollars a show! I only made 25 dollars for an hour. He's making 200. I got very jealous, then upset, then realized that if I were travelling around, eventually, I could be making the same thing.

If you work at it long enough, eventually you'll be raking in the cash. You just have to be willing to suffer for a little while.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I seem to have been designated the resident cynic in this thread! LOL

$200 an hour sounds great, but you have to remember material costs, travel expenses, rehearsal time, etc. Plus all the time you have to spend drumming up business. Sometimes you can make a few thousand dollars one week and nothing the next. It does usually average out pretty good though. "Raking in the cash" is probably an overstatement, but there are a lot of live puppeteers who do make a decent living at it.

It's definately a good gig if you can get it.

 

[Jinx]

Let me back you up here, Buck!

There are always more factors to these equations than we're aware of, but I know from personal experience what goes into a $250 half-hour magic show. One of the elements is tried-and-true material. I KNOW that the material I present works for my target audience because I have been doing it for so many years. And that experience is worth something to a presenter. Even though my basic presentation may be the same, I have developed the skills to "read" my audience to know when to pick things up, when to relax them etc. so I have been able to offer money-back guarantees on my shows... something I could not have confidently done 20 years ago!

I also sing in a quartet and we recently did a one hour show for $1400. Sounds like a lot, right? By the time we paid our accompanist, sound/lighting technician, babysitters in addition to purchasing all of our sheet music, and equipment rental, we still had to factor in script writing, rehearsals (3 months!) and more. So when all was said and done, we each took home about $90. Suddenly you get a bit of perspective into what goes into a professional show!

And if a guy is really taking home $200 an hour, you can bet your life that:
A) he's paid his dues in developing his show over a LONG period of time
and
B) he deserves every penny!