How does a split with a minimum work?

The deal in one line

Most of the big Edinburgh Fringe venues don't rent you a room. They take a share of your ticket sales, and they protect themselves with a minimum: the least they'll take, however few tickets you sell. Gilded Balloon puts it as “40% of the total Box Office Receipts or a set facility fee (whichever is higher)”. The Pleasance calls it a “60/40% split in your favour, with a minimum guarantee”. In conversation it's often written as a versus deal: “40% versus £8,830”.

Sell well and you never feel the minimum: the venue gets its 40% like any split. Sell badly and the minimum kicks in, and the venue's slice of what little you took gets much bigger. That's the whole risk of the deal, and the rest of this guide is about sizing it.

Where the minimum comes from

Venues don't pull the minimum out of the air. Gilded Balloon and the Pleasance both publish the same method: take what the room could earn if every seat sold, assume you sell 40% of it, and take their share of that.

That example is the Pleasance's own, for a 146-seat room. Gilded Balloon's 2023 example is a 90-seat room at £11 for 27 performances: £26,730 of potential, so a facility fee of £4,276.80. The Pleasance works out the average ticket from your full-price tickets only (no concessions), rounded up to the nearest pound, which is usually close to your midweek price.

What it means for you at different sales

Below the attendance the minimum is based on (40% here), the venue gets the minimum. Above it, it gets its share. So the minimum is really a bet on how full you'll be: if you sell exactly 40%, the two come to the same thing.

Look at the venue's real share as sales fall. At 20% of seats sold, the venue still gets £8,830, which is 80% of a £11,032 box office. At 10%, the minimum is more than you took: you owe the venue the difference. The Pleasance says so plainly: “a balance will be owed to the Pleasance up to the level of the guarantee in the final settlement”.

The same deal, settled in three calls

The Pleasance explains its settlement as three calls on the box office, paid in order. It's a useful way to see where each pound goes:

1. First call, to the venue: the first £8,830, its minimum.
2. Second call, to you: the next £13,245, which is your 60% to match the venue's 40% (the minimum ÷ 40 × 60).
3. Third call, split: everything above £22,075 is shared 60/40.

It comes to exactly the same money as “40% or the minimum, whichever is more”. The three calls just make the order clear: the venue is paid first, and you only start earning once its minimum is covered.

The VAT twist

Whether you're VAT-registered changes the share. Box office includes VAT: a £14 ticket is £11.67 plus £2.33 of VAT if your company charges VAT.

The Pleasance is partly exempt from VAT on culture, so it settles with you on the whole box office, and a VAT-registered company then accounts for the VAT itself. For companies that aren't registered, it says its 45% compares well with a venue charging 40% plus VAT on its share, which works out at 48%.

When the money moves

• Up front: a deposit to hold your slot. The Pleasance takes 20% of the minimum, worked out from a standard average ticket for your room's size (£1,770 for the 146-seat example), and refunds it at settlement once the minimum is reached. Gilded Balloon takes two deposits of 20% of the facility fee each: one within 14 days of confirming, one closer to the festival.
• When the minimum is due: at the Pleasance it isn't paid in advance; it comes out of your box office at settlement. Check your own contract: some venues ask for the minimum in advance.
• After the festival: the Fringe Society pays venues by the end of September, and Gilded Balloon expects to settle with companies by the end of October. Your costs are due long before your takings arrive.

What else comes off

The split isn't the only deduction. From the same packs:

• Fringe box office commission on tickets the Fringe sells: 5% plus VAT on face value. The Pleasance said the Fringe sold about 80% of its tickets in 2024.
• Venue publicity fee or marketing contra: £500 plus VAT for a full run at both venues.
• A per-ticket facility fee at the Pleasance: 15p plus VAT on every ticket issued.
• Music royalties (PPL PRS) on your box office if you use copyright music. Both packs give 4% as the most for songs; recorded music costs extra.
• Extra complimentary tickets beyond your allocation, which Gilded Balloon charges back at the split of your full price.
• Kit and technical operators, charged back at settlement.

Other deals you'll meet

• Minimum plus a share above it: the venue keeps a set amount whatever you sell, plus a share of everything above it. Unlike “whichever is more”, the share is added on top of the minimum, so the venue always ends up with more than its headline percentage. Switch the explorer above to this to compare.
• Hire plus split: a fee you pay whatever happens, plus a share of every ticket. ABC News reported in 2026 that at Gluttony in Adelaide artists get a percentage of ticket sales, but pay a significant up-front hire fee as a deposit, plus any extra backline.
• Free and pay-what-you-want: no tickets, or tickets as a guarantee of entry, with people paying what they like on the way out. Just the Tonic's Fringe programme runs ticketed, free and pay-what-you-want shows side by side.

Before you sign

• What average ticket and attendance is the minimum based on? Can you see the sum?
• Is the share taken from gross or net box office, and before or after the Fringe's commission?
• Is it “whichever is more”, or the minimum plus a share above it?
• Is the minimum paid in advance, or taken from the box office at settlement?
• How much is the deposit, and when is it refunded?
• What else comes off: marketing contra, per-ticket fees, comps, kit, operators, music?
• When will you be paid?