PLAY WRITING

There are three parts to any theatrical experience: the audience waiting to be entertained; the actors ready to entertain; and the writers who provide the entertaining material that bring the first two together! This website needs a corner for home-grown writers, where they can be nutured and encouraged to write the plays you want to see.

A place where companies and producers can say: 'I'm looking for a play that would suit young people 15 to 20, older people 50 plus, or middle of the road; one act, or two or more; and goes for 25 minutes, fifty minutes, or more.

A place where writers can say: I write one-act plays with absolute minimum props, suitable for small amateur companies - general drama, comedy, and crime.

A place where publishers can trawl for new material to publish.

A place where companies can find plays to read.

What do you think, dear reader?

Ken Blowers wrote:

> Thank you, Auctor. May I suggest that if we are to exploit
> this wonderful Internet medium to the advantage of theatre
> that we allow the writers themselves to decide whether they
> are comfortable with uploading their plays.

My comments were aimed at Grant and the ITA. Allowing whole works to be uploaded to their site could make them legally liable. For instance, it would be relatively easy to upload a copy of a script you didn't own the rights to, thus placing the ITA in breach of copyright law and exposing them to damages.

Also, anyone making anything available online needs to be aware that sooner or later it WILL be stolen. I have a friend in the US that several years ago put his movie script online as a demonstration and had it stolen. The thief shopped it around various studios as his own work. Writing is hard enough. You don't need to add that sort of grief. I don't even put my synopsis online anymore because I found them available on websites with someone else's name attached.

> My point, you
> see, is that we are not talking about highly successful
> playwrights here. On the contrary we are talking of
> bottom-of-the-heap emerging playwrights - apirants who will
> happily trade what they have today for a chance to expose
> themselves to better things to come tomorrow!

Too many writers will sell their soul for a sniff of success. I don't know of any other profession where the practitioner will toil for 6-12 months on a single project only to give it away to the first person to show an interest. Value your work, because if you don't nobody else will either and there will never be a better tomorrow. You don't have to be highly successful to be a dedicated professional, but you do need to be a dedicated professional to be highly successful.

> Thank you David Ryding. You say 'If you ask they will come'
> meaning help is always there, I presume. I would like to
> think it was that easy. But then, if it was , would be
> having this collective discusion right now?

I agree with Ken here, David. I don't believe it is as easy as you're implying. My wife and I tried posting here to advertise for our workshop and while we were very happy with the result, we were far from overwhelmed by choice. The Collective Unconscious does look very appealing, however.

Now, I've had a few more thunks about this, what might work is the occasional informal meeting. Almost like a writers' workshop but with actors actively involved. Alternatively, a more structured event where the writer-of-the-day provides copies of their script (or scenes), which are then disseminated to the actors, who them perform a (moved?) reading - perhaps with a director involved. There's a group in Sydney that runs something like this. I've forgotten their name. It's getting close to Stages' territory too, I suppose, but without the six week wait. Perhaps all this is just my insecurity showing (I'm disappointed more writers didn't comment), but I believe the key to great writing is to get the writers out of their hovels and engaging more with actors, directors and ultimately with the audience.

Just a few thoughts.

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Re: PLAY WRITING

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