REVIEWS & THE FRINGE
One of the benefits of participating in the Fringe is the opportunity to collect public feedback on your work in the form of reviews. Reviews from press and fellow fringers can be valuable tools for promotion and development. They also help patrons decide which shows to see.
Reviews may not always be positive. Some will be constructive and could help in your future development efforts; others may be from patrons who didn't like or understand your work. Learning to take the good with the bad is just one of the many challenges we face in the performing arts.
We will only remove reviews that don't conform/comply to our reviews policy (see below). We cannot take down a review that is simply critical out of respect for the opinions of other members in our community. We can remove ALL reviews from your show, but we can't pick and choose between positive and (policy-conforming) critical reviews.
MANAGING REVIEWS
Reviews are sorted on a given list by their "helpfulness" based on the feedback we receive from users on the website.
Reviewers are asked to provide their overall impressions as well as aspects they liked and those that didn't appeal to them.
There is no internal review approvals system as of now as we receive thousands and thousands of reviews per festival. Reviews can be sent for assessment against the policy below by emailing the review in question to support (please include the policy item you suspect the review of violating).
Reviews appear on the "reviews" tab of a given show and are categorized by their "type". There are three types:
- Press Reviews are written by credentialed members of the press. The Fringe accepts applications from aspiring press and those that conform to our standards are granted credentials. These reviews appear in all three lists on the show's review page: certified reviewers, all reviewers, and all press.
- Certified Reviews are written by patrons that purchased a ticket to the performance through the website. Show producers with admin privileges can also mark a review as "certified" by clicking the certify review button on the review's page. This empowers producers to certify reviews from patrons that didn't buy a ticket through the website but did purchase/gain admission to the show via a walk-up or some other means. Certified reviews appear in two lists on the show's review page: certified reviewers and all reviewers.
- Uncertified Reviews are written by reviewers who did not purchase a ticket to the performance through the website and were not certified by the producers of the show. Uncertified reviews appear in the all reviewers list only.
The default list is certified reviewers. We do this to highlight reviews that are most likely to be legitimate from patrons who have actually seen the show.
REVIEWS POLICY
- If you are in any way affiliated with a show, you may not review it.
- Reviews cannot contain vulgar/offensive or overtly aggressive language.
- Reviews cannot misgender or dead name artists or production team. If accidental misgendering occurs, you will have the option to submit a second review, but the original will be removed.
- Reviews should focus on the subject matter of the work. This includes the acting, directing, design, themes, writing, perceived political intent, choreography, music and venue.
- Reviews should NOT focus on the individuals working on the show outside the context of the art. Personal and professional attacks against individuals will not be tolerated.
- Reviews that publish personal information will be removed.
- Reviews cannot incite or imply any sort of violence or aggression.
- A review should not have any racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ageist, or ableist themes or statements.
- Reviews should not critique a participants body, including but not limited to their weight, height or facial features.
- All reviews must conform to our code of conduct and terms and conditions.
- Reviews that are overly brief or erroneous will be removed.
- We cannot take down reviews because the reviewer somehow misinterpreted the theme or intent of the work.
- Reviews that are critical of the work but conform to the policy above will not be removed individually.
- The producers have the right to hide all reviews from the public and/or opt to be excluded from press coverage.
- The producers have the right to request an assessment of a review against this policy by emailing support@hollywoodfringe.org.
- The Fringe reserves the right to remove any review at its discretion.