Playwriting can be a lonely endeavor, especially when you're between productions. In fact, I know first-hand how easy it can be to let the isolation of a writer's life quickly drag you down into career hopelessness. There is one thing I guarantee. Staying home with your scripts so you can submit them everywhere under the sun is usually a recipe for frustration and disappointment.
If you can't figure out why nobody's biting on your latest greatest creation, here's an idea. Shift your gaze (for awhile, not forever) and learn to look at your project with producer's eyes. Once you start to imagine producing your play yourself, I guarantee, your understanding of it will expand and deepen so that instead of submitting it everywhere, you'll start to see the landscape more clearly as littered with two distinctly recognizable sets of venues -- places that are a clear mismatch with your vision and those that for reasons which we will begin to untangle, are uniquely aligned with your unique story and style of telling.
Countless dramatists have emerged from my Self-Production Boot Camp to take the powerful step of assembling and inspiring a company of one's own choosing to actually mount the work themselves. When you overcome your fear of leaving your safe perch at your writers desk and take the intimidating first steps into the realm of the producer, you will grow as a person and as an artist. And before you know it, you'll look up and discover newly strengthened ties to your local theatre community, and a handful of professional relationships that may nurture you for the rest of your career.
Reach out to Roland directly to book a Boot Camp for your community.
You have a polished play or musical. You have a vision. Yet some days, that ever-elusive production seems unattainable. Still, now more than ever, playwrights are deciding that waiting and praying just isn’t cutting it. In cities and towns across the country, people who write new plays and musicals are taking on the challenge of overseeing their own productions. As a result, many are finding their relationship to their own work reinvigorated.
Seasoned producer Roland Tec helps you discover how much more you have in your arsenal than you might imagine. Most writers who’ve taken this course report feeling a new clarity about how to get their work seen.
Over the course of ten weeks, selected writers from all over the country will develop their skills and deepen their understanding of the challenges and advantages of self-producing. Both plays and musicals are eligible for consideration. In the case of musicals, please submit as many audio files of songs as you have available along with your script.
This course is for students who:
Have a show that they feel is ready to be produced;
Want to learn how to produce their show themselves.
During this course, students will:
Be introduced to the fundamentals of producing, such as budgeting, scheduling, hiring and firing, team building, public relations, marketing, and systems and processes;
Familiarize themselves with the types of questions most producers ask;
Learn how their local theatre scene, and its unique character, can be leveraged to their advantage.
At the end of the semester, students will have learned:
The pros and cons of self-producing;
How to apply lessons regarding self-producing to their own theatrical endeavors.
How to view your projects with a producer's eye.