The Ticket To Write Festival is a showcase of original plays based on The Beatles. The competition is for one-act stage plays about The Beatles or any other artist, group or aspect of the 60s Mersey pop music scene.
What to submit: Your plays can feature any aspect of The Beatles or other Mersey artists of the 60s era – their music, work or lives. They can even be inspired by a song or song-title. The plays should last about 40 – 45 minutes, and have a maximum of four characters.
What you pay: There is a £20 application fee. (*Note: The application fee is listed alternately as both £15 and £20, so check on this before sending your payment in!)
How to apply: Email your submission to tickettowrite@ace.drama.co.uk with your script in the attachment. This copy should NOT feature the writer’s name on any of the pages, to ensure fairness in judging. Once you have received confirmation of your script, you will be required to fill in the Submission Form and return it by post with the entry fee. Full details can be found on the website.
What you get: Three plays will be chosen to be staged at the Unity Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday July 15 and 16 . The same plays will be staged on both nights giving a greater payback for the efforts of the writers, director and actors. The audience votes will still be included in the overall choice of the winner of the £150 prize.
Note – CAREFUL!: According to some of the fine print on the website of Ticket To Write, they claim that the festival will assume copyright of your play for the duration of the festival and any follow-up tours, and that the copyright will revert to the writer 6 months after the performance. This appears to run counter to Writer’s Guild guidelines – as the writer, you should retain copyright (essentially, ownership) of your play, granting them performance rights for the festival. If you choose to apply for this opportunity, be sure you’ve clarified these legal guidelines with them to protect your work.
Deadline: Friday 18 April 2014