Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Ritter
Katie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Dane Robertson: Back in 2016, I moved to Dallas and was looking for a fun hobby to pick up. I wandered over to a comedy club and instantly fell in love with improv – the ability of performers to create characters and shape worlds on the fly seemed like magic to me. I started taking classes and performing myself, and before I knew it, I’d written the club’s improv curriculum, produced a nationally recognized series of shows, and entertained over 10,000 fans over nearly 10 years.
After talking with other performers, I realized that there was a need for high-quality photography to market shows. I bought a camera and spent months learning the specifics of capturing shows; before I knew it, the opportunity to create a business around it became a real possibility. Katie’s marketing skill set was the perfect complement, so we jumped in and have been serving the stage ever since.
Katie Ritter: I’ve been in marketing for over a decade, with specific focuses on local and small business marketing, both with agencies and e-commerce and events businesses in the luxury space. I’ve been a huge fan of alt and indie comedy, particularly the LA/west coast comedy scene for years. When Dallas Comedy Club opened after the pandemic it was finally time to try it out for myself, and just like anyone who gets bitten by the comedy bug, it becomes your whole life in an instant.
After a few years we found ourselves sitting with groups of comics constantly talking about show needs, promotional needs, marketing needs. But there didn’t seem to be any tailored creative agencies specifically for the unique nature of comedy and comedy marketing. So we built it!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Dane Robertson: One of our biggest initial challenges was refining our market. We set out with big ambitions – although we were mostly plugged into the comedy scene, we opened ourselves up to collaborating with any kind of independent artist. We quickly discovered that focusing our services to a niche market like comedy would allow us to maximize our skills and expertise in the industry and customize our products to the specific needs of comedians.
Katie Ritter: And, of course, adapting to the weekends being our busiest days! Friday, Saturday and very often even Sunday you can find us at a comedy club either photographing, promoting or even performing!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Comedia?
Comedia is a marketing and creative services agency exclusively for comedians and comedy venues. We discovered that this space has some very specific needs and wanted to make marketing comedy shows and venues as well as creating and promoting personal comedy brands simpler and more accessible. We don’t just take headshots, we prepare images with personal branding for club submission and show promotion. We’re focused on the shifting world of modern comedy marketing: digital EPKs (electronic press kits), websites tailored to comedians, clip-captioning services, and assisting comedians in developing their cult followings.
For specialty comedy shows and larger-scale events, Comedia provides concept-to-completion photoshoots, promotional materials, poster and graphic design, and social media content development. Comedia also works with venues and comedians for comprehensive comedy show coverage, photoshoots, behind the scenes, and venue branding.
On the venue services side, we work with our clients on both legacy marketing services like e-mail marketing and list management, web design, SEO, campaign planning and strategizing, as well as modern marketing services like hyper-local targeting, partnerships & collaborations, plus identifying missed revenue opportunities.
Our brand was built from both a love of comedy as well as the comedy community. While we’re both comedians and performers ourselves, we’ve found the promotional side to be unbelievably fulfilling, exciting, and truthfully so fun! Dallas has amazing local comedy talent and tons of regional and national comedy all the time. Our drive to highlight our favorite comics and clubs grew into a career that is truly a celebration of comedy.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Dane Robertson: I was always the gentle giant shy kid – that is, until I discovered my high school speech and debate team. It was a wonderful experience that gave me my first taste of using performance as creative expression. My photography style is also influenced by hip hop and street culture – I love graffiti and street art. Old me wouldn’t be caught dead trespassing into abandoned buildings. These days? Just don’t look at the security camera footage.
Katie Ritter: I grew up in the military all over the world, Guam, Germany, Wyoming and tons of other places. You have no choice but to get very good at making friends! I love and seek out new and interesting things, people, places and hobbies like it’s my job. I’ve always been a hardcore renaissance woman: making cheese, learning to can jam, knitting, writing, obstacle course racing, wine tasting… if there’s a hobby to be had, I’d like to take a bite of it. Comedy just seemed to touch a nerve that was deeper than the rest and it had to become both something I do, and something I support on a broader level.
Pricing:
- Stand-up Headshot & Promotional Pack – Normally $350, Currently $299 Launch Rate
- Stand-Up Video & Clip Captioning – Normally Starting at $150, Currently $99 Launch Rate
- Improv Troupe Promotional Kit – Normally Starting at $350, Currently $299
- Comedy Show Coverage (Photography) / Comedy Venue Branding Photography – Starting at $150
- Comprehensive Comedy Venue Marketing Services – custom pricing
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.comediaclub.com
- Instagram: @wearecomedia
