Then THIS Happened… Why Photos Are Not Always True

Wait! Who ARE these people?!

So we were recently asked about photos that end up on some of flyers promoting our appearances (including the one above) that may not feature the members of the company who are the ones actually performing at the particular show the flyer is for – not by anyone important, mind you – but it’s a “behind-the-scenes secret” of entertainment we are going to let you in on…

FYI – if you missed the show above (you should be kicking yourself), we use this as an example because not all of the cast members shown above appeared at that show.

See – FreakShow Deluxe has a general electronic promotional packet we send out which includes a variety of photos for use by those who hire us. Sometimes this packet goes out WAY before we have actually cast the show out of our company of over 20 performers (plus associates). Once we have a cast set for a specific gig, we usually send out specific promo pics of them – but sometimes we have cast changes or other problems that come up. It is up to the folks using the photos to choose which ones they want to use.

You may be wondering, “Why would you let them use photos of people not in the show.”

Well, honestly, it’s usually not up to us what photos they use. But, whatever… the photos are primarily of FreakShow Deluxe cast members so it’s not a big deal for us. Sometimes the folks using our images to make posters really just cannot tell our individual members apart – and use images of one performer thinking it is another one. What can you do?

Of course, there are still a couple of images floating around of people who used to work with FSD, but do not anymore.

You know those photos you see on posters for Broadway shows and tours? For those shows from Cirque du Soleil? Do you think that person in a non-lead role on the poster is in the show? Probably not. Maybe they were once… Hell – there are a few cases where producers have just dressed up a model in a show outfit to photograph for posters!

“Why would they use the photo of someone no longer (or never was) in the show to promote it,” is what we are sure you are asking right now. “They can’t do that, can they?!”

Yes, they can. Technically, so can we. Our company members and the performers who work with FreakShow Deluxe sign an agreement to work with us. One of the clauses of that contract is for FSD’s use of their image (taken in context of our show, or provided by them for our use) in the promotion of FreakShow Deluxe. And the lawyers pretty much inserted a phrase in that agreement that says FSD can use these images forever (and that’s a mighty long time).

That is not to say we are advertising falsely!! We never specifically say someone is performing at a show who is not. For example, we would never say “starring Kitty Karloff” if our own Kitty Karloff is not scheduled to appear at that show.

But general images? An image of someone swallowing a sword just advertises that there will be a sword swallower at our show – especially if you can not really tell who the person swallowing the sword in the photo is.

That is not to say we make a habit of using photos or images of people no longer performing with FreakShow Deluxe! Every year or so we look through and update the photos and videos that we use to promote FreakShow Deluxe. We weed out the images we can, especially of people we are absolutely not working with again. We do not want to be connected with them. And we do not want you, our audiences and fans, to think they are connected with us.

But sometimes these things happen. We do what we can — if you ever have a question, never be afraid to ask us about it.

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