How to Write a Festival Technical Advance After Acceptance

After a festival accepts a production, the technical advance is the written process that turns the artist’s rider into a plan the festival can actually build, crew and schedule. It should begin as soon as acceptance and the named production contact are confirmed, and it should end with a distributed record of what was requested, what the festival will supply, what has been substituted and what remains unresolved. A good advance is not a forwarded rider; it is a short, current working document that lets both sides prepare.

What the technical advance is — and is not

An artist’s technical rider is usually a statement of requirements and preferences: sound, lighting, stage, backline, power, video, crew and scheduling. The festival’s technical advance is the response. It compares those requirements with the site, identifies gaps, agrees alternatives and gives delivery teams a version they can use. The distinction matters because a rider can contain requests that are aspirational, outdated or written for a different room. Advancing means checking the show actually being prepared, not simply passing the document to suppliers. Behind The Show describes the outcome as a current working plan that distinguishes what was requested, what has been agreed and what teams must prepare.[3]

Start with acceptance, contacts and deadlines

Acceptance is a trigger, not a complete production brief. The first task is to confirm in writing who owns the advance on the festival side, who approves technical substitutions and which deadline applies. A single day-of-show contact should be named, with department leads for stage, sound, lighting, AV, power and rigging as appropriate. The advance email should make it easy for the right production person to find current documents and reply with gaps; Stageplot Pro recommends one short message, stable attachment names and a single day-of-show contact.[2]

Do not assume that the person who issued the acceptance is the person who schedules crew or approves power. Ask for a contact list and the festival’s production deadline. If the festival supplies a template, use it, but keep your own record of questions and answers so that nothing disappears into a form.

Assemble the current document set

Send the smallest complete set that answers production questions. Typical attachments include the current technical rider; stage plot; input list or channel list; patch; backline and instrument list; power requirements; lighting and video notes; a cue or scene breakdown if relevant; travel and load-in contacts; and a clear list of items the company brings versus items requested from the festival. File names should be stable and dated, for example Company_Rider_2026-10-28.pdf, so that crews can tell which version is current.

Before sending, check that documents agree with each other. A stage plot that shows six monitor mixes but an input list that asks for four is not a small inconsistency; it changes prep. Remove obsolete hospitality or travel pages from the technical attachment unless the festival has asked for them in the same document.

Review the rider against the festival site

Technical advancing is departmental. A producer or production manager may coordinate, but sound, lighting, staging, power and rigging need to read their own sections against the actual site. Ticket Fairy’s festival guidance advises reviewing every artist’s technical and production rider well in advance and checking sound, lights, stage, backline and power, then communicating early about what the festival provides and any limitations.[1]

A simple comparison table is often more useful than a long narrative. The following is an illustrative structure, not a claim about any particular festival:

Use the table to separate what the artist asked for from what the site can actually provide. Do not let a generic stage specification stand in for a specific stage, time slot or changeover plan.

Write the advance email and advance document

The email should be short enough to act on. A useful subject line identifies the company, event and date: “[Company] technical advance — [festival] — [date]”. The opening should confirm the show and attachments; the body should ask only questions that change preparation, such as stage size, backline supply, monitor capability, schedule and the local production contact. Stageplot Pro’s template puts the technical detail in the attachments and uses the message to request gaps and confirmation.[2]

The advance document itself should begin with contacts and dates, then set out venue and site information, festival-supplied equipment, company-supplied equipment, agreed substitutions, outstanding questions and the day-of-show communication chain. Include time zone and date format where international teams are involved. Keep a revision date and a named owner on the first page. If the festival works in another language, provide a translated summary of the critical items rather than assuming that the full rider will be read in English.

Resolve gaps and record substitutions

Not every rider item will be possible. The advance process should turn a refusal into an agreed alternative where it can. Behind The Show recommends identifying the people responsible for clarification and approval, resolving departmental interfaces, recording approved alternatives and keeping unanswered questions visible.[3]

Record substitutions in writing. A usable note might read: “Festival will provide four monitor mixes instead of six; company agrees.” “We discussed monitors” is not usable. Distinguish three states: requested by the artist, agreed between both parties, and to be prepared by delivery teams. A substitution may affect the performance, the schedule or the fee; if it does, it should be escalated to the person with authority to agree it rather than settled informally by crew.

Reconfirm before travel and on arrival

Advancing does not stop when the email is sent. Before travel, reconfirm the schedule, load-in access, contacts, equipment supply and any outstanding questions. Check units and conventions: metres and feet, kilograms and pounds, 12-hour and 24-hour clock, day-month and month-day dates, and electrical voltage, plug type and power distribution. These details should be verified against the specific festival and country, not assumed from a previous tour.

On arrival, hold a short site walk or production meeting with the festival’s day-of-show contact. Use the advance document as the agenda: what is on site, what is missing, what has changed and who decides. Give a copy to the local crew in the language they work in where possible.

Cross-border and multilingual considerations

International advances carry translation and access risks. Technical vocabulary is not always symmetrical: a “stage left” instruction, a “wing”, a “dock” or a “cue” may have different local usages or false friends. Diagrams, numbered input lists and bilingual glossaries reduce ambiguity. Where the company and festival do not share a working language, name an interpreter or bilingual production contact and confirm which decisions must be repeated in writing.

Customs, immigration, insurance, work permits and tax are jurisdiction-specific. This article cannot confirm requirements for a particular tour; companies should verify them through the relevant official authority or a qualified adviser and record the advice. The technical advance should flag equipment that crosses borders, because shipping and customs arrangements may affect load-in and scheduling.

Common problems

• Forwarding an old rider without checking it against the current show.
• Sending documents to a general inbox with no named owner or deadline.
• Leaving substitutions verbal or buried in a long email thread.
• Using inconsistent file names, dates or units.
• Assuming that a festival’s generic stage specification applies to every stage or time slot.
• Failing to distinguish company-supplied and festival-supplied equipment.
• Ignoring language and time-zone differences in the communication plan.

Checklist for the advance

1. Confirm acceptance, production contact, approval route and deadline in writing.
2. Collect the current rider, stage plot, input list, patch and company equipment list.
3. Check documents against one another and remove obsolete pages.
4. Review each department against the actual venue or site.
5. Send a short email with stable, dated attachments and specific questions.
6. Record requested, agreed and outstanding items in one advance document.
7. Obtain written approval for substitutions and escalate changes with cost or scheduling effects.
8. Distribute the advance to delivery crews and the day-of-show contact.
9. Reconfirm travel, load-in, power, language and contact details before departure.
10. Hold an arrival meeting and update the document with any site changes.

Why the written record matters

The advance is also a memory document. When a festival crew changes, a question is reopened or a show is remounted, the written record shows what was agreed and why. It protects the production and gives the next team a starting point. The aim is not bureaucratic completeness but a shared, current understanding of the show that will actually be performed.