Each week we look through our pile of writing opportunities to pick out one we think is particularly worth your time. It could be an innovative brief, great prize money, a high-profile company, or just plain fun.
This week’s pick: Soggy Brass @ Southwark Playhouse
Description: Soggy Brass will be bringing its successful new writing night back to the Southwark Playhouse in March 2015, and is seeking unperformed comedic pieces to stage. Pieces need to be self-contained (i.e., not sketches) and should run between 10-15 minutes in length.
So, what’s so great about it? It’s unusual to get paid for performances of short plays, but this opportunity will provide a £50 fee for selected writers, a wonderful bonus on top of having your work staged. Additionally, while you’re encouraged to bring in people you’d like to work with (cast, director), they’re also happy to provide support if you’d like a bit of help in putting together your creative team. You’ve got until 7 February to get your submission in, so dust the holiday cobwebs off that desk and get writing!
Read the full details here.
Please note, we’ve posted this for your convenience and we’re not affiliated with the organisers of the opportunity in any way.
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Thanks for posting this, and thanks for highlighting an opp centrering on comedic plays. So kudos all around. But I think one should be mindful about phrases like this “this opportunity will provide a £50 fee for selected writers, a wonderful bonus on top of having your work staged “. If we see paying playwrights for their plays as a “bonus”, I think we perpetuate the idea that a writer’s work isn’t worth much.
I know this topic has been covered to death in lots of places, but I feel that even short plays on the fringe deserve to be paid for, no matter how small the fee. Something psychological happens to you when you receive a payment for your writing. It’s magical/mystical. I highly encourage companies like Soggy Brass, The Bread and Roses, et al, to continue setting a strong precedent and paying writers for their short plays.
Thanks!
Hi German, The point is well taken – we look forward to a day where hopefully it will be standard for emerging writers to get paid for any staging of their work, including short plays. However, in this case I do feel comfortable standing by this wording since payment for short work is such a rarity on the London theatre scene, and it can be really tricky to make the numbers work to actually pay people for these kinds of evenings; for instance with this particular event, while the writers are getting paid, there is no budget to pay the actors. (In our experience, producers are often faced with these kinds of difficult decisions in the face of unforgiving budgets.) But it goes without saying that we at LPB are in support of writers being paid, and thanks for acknowledging the companies setting a great precedent in this regard – hopefully even more will follow suit. Cheers!
Fair enough Alli. I agree it’s more accurate to call it a “bonus” given the current state of affairs on the fringe. Let’s hope that changes.
Cheers!