Hello friends,

We wanted to write a substack post to update you on a recent event that we organised called How Not To Disappear. It was designed to be a space for playwrights who are parents and guardians to come together and discuss the unique challenges they are up against and what we can do about them.

Before we tell you all about how it went we wanted to say that we were heartened and not surprised by how needed this was. In fact it made us realise that this couldn’t be a singular event. We have plans afoot for more like them that we will update you on soon but for now we really wanted to make the information that was shared amongst the participants available to you all, because it was a wonderful coming together of the hive mind and these brilliant parent-playwrights had some fantastic intel and ideas.

So on the 30th of September Anna and Morgan gathered at the Royal Court Theatre in London with 30 participants and three babies. We set up a little area with toys and soft space for the smallest members of our group to make the most of and we made a circle in which we were able to introduce ourselves. The session was loosely based on the principles of Open Space which involves the participants setting the agenda and the phrase, Whoever is here in this space are the right people, right time, right place, whatever happens is the only thing that could ever happen, and when it’s over it’s over.

After introductions we opened with a question/statement - How not to disappear when bringing up children and we asked everyone to sit for a moment to think about what this meant to them. Then we asked them to think of a smaller question within this question. Something that they felt resonated with their own experience. These ranged from How can I juggle my work and my parenting responsibilities without burning out through How can I justify writing when it’s not financially rewarding to How do I find my creative voice in this time of change? One of the biggest themes was How to deal with guilt; whether it’s about not working enough or not being present for our children enough the guilt is there all the time.

We then took a tea break while Anna and Morgan took all the questions from the participants and organised them into four categories. These were:

• Energy and Motivation - Time, focus

• Logistics and Practicality - Finance, travel, networking, other work

• Identity - Voice, communities, confidence

• Guilt jealousy uncomfortable feelings

All the questions we received in the first section could then be discussed within these groups that we set up around the room. The participants were asked to join a group and with one person as scribe they were able to discuss the various issues and barriers and needs that the questions brought up. People didn’t have to stick to just one group or category, they could move around and join others. The conversations were brilliant, generous and honest. The relief at being able to speak openly about these things was palpable.

We asked everyone to keep an eye out for easily actionable things and easily accessible resources and then we asked the scribes of each group to feedback what had been found. We would like to share these findings in this post for anyone reading this now as they are so helpful and we don’t gatekeep!

Before we share we want to thank all the brilliant participants for coming and sharing with us. It was incredibly moving how much something like this meant to everyone and it’s made it so clear we need more of this. Thank you to Maud Dromgoole for so brilliantly taking notes throughout the session. And thank you to Tabby and the Royal Court for supporting this session. More will follow soon!

Love from Anna and Morgan

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So without further ado here are the brilliant thoughts that came from each category…

Energy and Motivation Time, focus and burnout

• Take scrappy action - do we always need to come all the way back down to start work? Or can we ‘take scrappy action’, do ten mins on my phone, using whatever energy you come in on. Don’t be too revenant about creative work. Try short for with the energy you have that day.

• 15 minutes free writing each morning, when wake up or after drop off child. Look into Morning Pages from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

  • (But allow yourself to be less strict on rules. )

• Carve out time to write - during specific timeslots eg. Child’s swimming lesson etc.

• Forty days of writing your way from Writing Your Way by Renee Hartleib

• Divide work into small and achievable bitesize chunks each day.

• Use a dictation app app on the go as an alternative way to get things down. Speak your ideas aloud so you can write whilst pushing pram etc - (Various dictation apps compared here)

• Do two things (only) on to do list before writing

• Fuck the washing up - Save domestic tasks until later.

• Use writing exercises to kick start - e.g The Royal Court writing exercises.

• Be strict about phone use - don’t look at phone when wake up, use BRICK or whatever you need. Try putting phone in grey scale or blocking certain apps (e.g Whatsapp) from using mobile data.

• Write whatever state you are in. Bring the energy you have that day to the page.

• Use Maternal Journal - online exercises, book of creative prompts and in person workshops and groups

• Gentle accountability - use peer support for deadlines, check in with a friend

• Not so gentle accountability - find a taskmaster. Use peer support to shout at each other to meet deadlines .

• Prioritise rest - rest and also reading are important to feed you creatively. Writing isn’t all at the desk. Justify things for yourself and crashing out.

• Artist’s Date - take yourself on an Artists date from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

• Use a timer - Make set time and be accountable.

• Body Doubling - find someone to work with

• Use ONLINE group writing sessions

  • Scribe Lounge -Daily online writing sessions (LWS not free any more).

  • Never Miss a Monday - Lisa Carol Monday nights session,

  • London Writer’s Salon

  • Royal Court Theatre - Writers Card Zoom Writers Sessions

• Write outside of your home - Finding your place to write - local cinema bar etc/ avoid domestic tasks.

• Set alternate writing tasks before you get to your real writing task. Even copy typing a scene from a play will trigger creative thinking. Find a low stakes creative activity to get yourself in to your writing place

• Find music or videos that to get you in right place.

• Read 100 Essays I don’t Have Time to Write by Sarah Ruhl - written as ‘starting point for someone else to finish.

• Try The Pomodoro Technique - 25 mins on 5 mins off

• Time Blocking (dived your day into strict time blocks with single tasks for each block)

• Try The Dangerous Writing App - chose a prompt and write into it. If you stop it will start to delete.

• Fill the well - even watching tv isn’t wasted.

• Include your children in creative sessions. Take children on Artist Date or set them equivalent tasks. Play storytelling games with children. One word sotries etc.

• Get organised. Try the Kanban system. Divide your Pin board into: To Do, Doing, and Done and move post its across.

• Have a dumping page on your laptop. ‘Living document’ for all spare thoughts and resources for a project. (living document and more writing tips from Anna)

• Leave a project halfway through a sentence to help get you back in.

• Put do not disturb on your laptop so emails don’t come through while you’re working.

Logistics and Practicality Finance, travel, networking, other work

• Work on your phone, folders in notes apps, voice notes, ai transcription, final draft app, colour notes, google docs

• Take Networking Online - networking is always challenging, use LinkedIn, Instagram etc, post regularly, keep up with you virtual network.

• Ask for meetings at times that suit you. Take more meeting online

• Find opportunities. Use online resources

• Lane’s List

• London Playwrights Blog

• Sian Mendez Williams - weekly newletter

• BBC WRITERSROOM

• Arts Jobs

• Find money. Apply for Grants and funding

  • Peggy Ramsay.

  • Charity partnerships - access to charitable grants if you partner with a charity. They can apply for grants on your behalf

  • The Uncultured (producers network) with funding templates and other resources

  • Apply for local grants - council grants

• Join the Union. Join the The Writers Guild! We’re stronger together. (They also have financial support.)

Identity Voice, communities

• Voice - Take pressure of product, just write ten fifteen minutes a day, morning pages, don’t worry about having a finished idea when you don’t know where you’re at.

• Give yourself permission to do nothing

• Be proactive creating communities for yourself.

• Build virtual communities on zoom, discord etc. Find moments in the evening or weekends to connect. Build post covid culture. Tap into creative parents WhatsApp groups, look at what’s available. Build a community that will help you get your identity back. Go niche! E.g if you write horror find a horror specific community. Use Discord (e.g independent horror society) more niche better.

• Leave chores in home, practise self care, prioritise time for self.

• Choose a buddy to make you accountable for deadlines. Make up deadlines and tasks for each other.

• Keep connection with communities you already have. Acknowledge it’s a season and you can step back in - your communities will be waiting for you. Ask for flexibility and be honest about your situation and pressures.

• Allow yourself to be number one, cultivate yourself, it’s not selfish. Being realistic and protective of yourself. You do have less energy than others.

• Move forward - accept you cannot go back to the older version of you - they don’t exist anymore. Embrace who you are now.

• Create structures that support you and other parents. Industry feedback - Why aren’t parent groups attached to theatres? Big empty spaces during the day; they should be local space for parent artists.

  

Guilt, jealousy, uncomfortable feelings.

• Accept that things are difficult and difficult feelings are common e.g..

  • Personal space - can’t go toilet or shower without having a child.

  • Becoming a parent sometimes does equal managing resentment

  • Wanting to kill people

  • Being jealous of people with more support

  • Being jealous spouse’s career doesn’t change at all

  • Not knowing what to say at the school gate. Oversharing and under sharing and feeling juvenile to other parents with ‘proper jobs’

  • It’s harder to find the time to self tape.

  • It’s hard to cope with rejection on top of other things.

• Find ways of talking about your work in layman’s terms to ask for the space you need dependant on size of the task. E.g Explain creative process via boulders metaphor - boulders (big work e.g. whole play to write), stones (edits), sand(emails). Boulders is the big heavy work needs time protected.

• Speak it out loud! Find the right people to vent to and share with. Manage and express feelings with help. Find community validates you

• Remember other people are coming from a different place

• External pressures can be ignorance ( and are not your problem)

• Find time be selfish. If you’re feeling resentful your partner has more freedom - take some for yourself.

• Take the pressure off. Past peers will overtake you sometimes. That’s the industry.

• You are not other people, other people can do more, that’s ok. Do what you can.

• If you feeling insecure what you are finically bringing in, calculate the childcare cost of your labour.

• Industry feedback (Dealing with ghosting.) Theatre’s need to be more honest about their capacity for feedback. Automated rejections would be appreciated. Need more transparency from theatre’s, put on website what they are looking for, who deals with submissions, how/if can submit.

• Accept that part of writing is resting and having headspace. Can’t feel guilty for that time even if it’s not measurably productive.

  

As part of our sharing we gathered a lot of useful resources that have been shared above but here they are in a handy list for you to refer to when you need:

BOOKS

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (Morning pages, Artist’s Date. Etc)

Writing Your Way by Renee Hartleib (40 short chapters with inspiring writing prompts)

WRITING PROMPTS and RESOURCES

Royal Court Theatre - Writing Exercises

Maternal Journal - online exercises, book of creative prompts and in person workshops and groups

100 Essays I don’t Have Time to Write by Sarah Ruhl - written as ‘starting point for someone else to finish.

The Dangerous Writing App - chose a prompt and write into it. If you stop it will start to delete.

TECHNIQUES

Pomodora Technique - Resources to improve focus and planning

Kanban system

OPPORTUNITIES ROUNDUPS

Lane’s List

London Playwrights Blog

Sian Mendez Williams - weekly newletter

BBC WRITERSROOM

ONLINE GROUP WRITING SESSIONS

Scribe Lounge -Daily online writing sessions (LWS not free any more).

Never Miss a Monday - Lisa Carol Monday nights session

London Writer’s Salon

Royal Court Theatre - Writers Card Zoom Writers Sessions

TECHNOLOGY

BRICK - Internet blocker

Dictation App Software

Final Draft for Iphone

GRANTS

Peggy Ramsay.

The Uncultured (producers network) with funding templates and other resources.

UNIONS

The Writers Guild

SUPPORT

https://pipacampaign.org/

Parents in Performing Arts

There will be so many more resources we are yet to discover so do share in the comments any other thoughts you have! Thank you for reading and here’s to many more of these sessions to come. The main thing we learnt was that we are stronger when we come together in community so lets keep the conversation going…

HOW NOT TO DISAPPEAR

The Site - Royal Court Theatre - 30th September 10.30 - 1.30pm

An open space style event for playwrights who are parents or guardians. We will explore HOW NOT TO DISAPPEAR WHEN BRINGING UP CHILDREN. 

Maybe that’s disappearing from the industry due to lack of time, headspace, or childcare. Maybe it’s a sense of your creative self disappearing now you’re responsible for a whole other human (or more.) Maybe it’s a sense of your identity disappearing, leaving you homesick for the You that you were before. Maybe you feel you disappear from your children when you go into work mode. Whatever it is, you’re not alone. 

Led by Anna Jordan and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, together we will vent, share, be heard, swap ideas, and support each other.

This is a free event. It will be available to book at Midday on Friday 21st August 2026, tickets are quite limited so please get in quick once it’s live.

If your child is under the age of two and not in childcare, please feel free to bring them along - however, we are not able to provide childcare/a creche as part of this event. This will be a relaxed event, you can take breaks when you need, you will be welcome and supported.

If you have an older child, and not being able to bring them would be an issue, please email artistsforartists24@gmail.com and we will explore options.

Also - lots of people asking about this - please note that additionally to organising this event, in the background we will also be looking into :

a) How this event can be replicated around the UK.

b) How this event can be run online.

c) How our findings can be shared in a safe and fair way.

We look forward to seeing some of you there!

An Honest Day In The Life of a Writer

Have you been keeping up with Morgan’s fabulous blog series - An Honest Day In the Life of a Writer? There are now a whopping 54 to catch up with. They are a sneak peak into what a good writing day looks like for these writers and what a bad writing day looks like. They are fascinating, insightful, comforting, encouraging, inspiring and often bloody funny! To receive them in your inbox on Mondays follow MORGAN’S SUBSTACK. Here’s a selection of a few below:

Read Hannah Khahil’s Honest Day

Read Stef Smith’s Honest Day

Read Eve Leigh’s Honest Day

Read David Eldridge’s Honest Day

Read Tanika Gupta’s Honest Day

Read Barney Norris’s Honest Day

Read Roni Neale’s Honest Day

Read my Honest Day! (Anna Jordan)

Also don’t forget if you’re based in (or interested in writing in) East London the co-writing scheme at Soho Theatre Walthamstow continues. AND it’ll be time to get a date in for the Playwrights Christmas Party before you know it, so watch this space.

Enjoy the rest of your summer

Much love

Anna Jordan (and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm)

x x x

Support Playwrights and the fab team at Soho Walthamstow have hatched a plan to support playwrights and screenwriters who live or write in East London. After a successful trial period here are the new dates! Socials, events, workshops to follow as part of the community, organised by Michelle Bonnard and me! (Anna J)

New Dates For Co-Working at Soho Walthamstow

When?

Monday to Wednesday - 10am - 5pm

CURRENTLY RUNNING TILL 11th NOVEMBER 2026.

What?

The Crosshall bar will be open exclusively for playwrights and screenwriters to work quietly. The foyer area is already open for the general public but the spacious, super comfy, frankly luxurious Crosshall will be for WRITERS ONLY – to be together and work. Completely free! 20% off hot drinks and deals on toasties and pastries with your WELCOME card.

Where?

Soho Theatre Walthamstow - 186 Hoe Street, London E17 4QH (Nearest tube Walthamstow Central.)

How?

Follow these simple three steps.

1. Join the WALTHAMSTOW CO-WRITERS WHATSAPP GROUP - the easiest way for us to keep you updated and communicate. This group is set to Admin only for info. Use above link or this QR code. (If you don’t have Whatsapp you should be fine as long as you do step 2)

2. Sign up online on the Soho theatre website for your WELCOME CARD. This will give you access to the Crosshall bar on the dates specified. Once you’ve filled in the form will be able to pick up your physical community card from the café when you visit as long as it’s during those times.

3. Just turn up on the specified dates! You can come with other writer pals – or come alone and find other writers to work alongside, or a quiet corner to work on your own.

The Rules:

Boo! Rules are boring. BUT – to help keep this working well for everyone:

· The Crosshall will be a quiet working area (although probably not completely silent.) So please keep chatting to a minimum and take calls, zooms and chats down to the foyer or outside. There’s lots of space to socialise and chat in the building so let’s keep the Crosshall focused.

· Please make use of the café as much as possible and don’t bring in drinks from outside.

· Aim to come with your devices fully charged as there are not lots of plugpoints in the Crosshall. You may have to charge in the foyer.

· Playwrights and screenwriters only! Playwrights and screenwriters of ANY LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE who would benefit from co-working in East London. (You can be just dipping your toe!)

· Keep your Welcome Card on you to access the space and to get your discount at the cafe. If you lose it - please let the cafe know.

We’re looking forward to seeing you!

Soho share our vision when it comes to the power of bringing writers together and creating community. Use the space as much as you can to prove how much it is needed in East London! And spread the word!

Any questions please reply to this email but bear in mind this mailbox isn’t monitored all the time. Much love all.

Anna Jordan & Michelle Bonnard

Wednesday 10th December, 8pm - 2am (it’s a late one this year!)

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS

All playwrights and screenwriters welcome at all levels of experience, from complete newbies to wizened old hacks. A night to come together as a community; chat, vent, laugh, and meet people. There will be some free drinks (while tokens last).

PLEASE NOTE - first come first served - there is a capacity which we reached last year at around 10pm!

As ever, come in your favourite festive jumpers and there’ll be a prize for the best one. Also, it’s fine to come alone. There’s a group of hosts who will make sure you feel welcomed.

See you there

Anna Jordan x

PS: If you are a writer based outside London why not see if your local theatre venue could give you some space for a similar event?

PPS: Subscribers to Support Playwrights get £5 off WRITING FOR TV: PITCH DOCS - a 3 hour workshop to help you create impactful treatments, outlines, bibles & one-pagers & understand exactly what these documents are! Use promo code SUPPORT. 13th January, 6.30pm with me - Anna Jordan.

Playwrights Flashmob (We don’t sing and dance, we write and chat) is back! The event at The Royal Court, London may be at full capacity but there are plenty of other theatres taking part. The venues below will be taking part in Flashmob from 1 - 4pm on Friday 24th October.

Want to make connections and kick isolation in the ass? Want to talk about what we’re working on and cook up ideas for a better future? Want to lurk and write knowing others are writing too? Then join a Playwrights Flashmob!

Dorchester Arts

Leeds Playhouse - Hosted by Dermot Daly and Naomi Sumner.

Lighthouse Poole - book your free place here.

Live Theatre Newcastle

Sherman Theatre - Hosted by Jennifer Lunn and Davina Moss

Theatrabilia Cornwall led by Timothy Norman.

And hopefully more to follow! You can contact venues individually for more information.

If you work at a theatre venue and would like to be involved please email artistsforartists24@gmail.com. Or if you are a writer why not contact your local theatre to see if they’d like to be involved!

Director Dermot Daly, one of the hosts at Leeds Playhouse had this to say about being involved in Playwrights Flashmob:

‘Writers are the lifeblood of theatre, the reason why theatrical hearts beat. Playwrights in the hearts of their theatres, meeting, talking, writing, thinking, making and doing it at the same time up and down the nation allows for a sense of community. Seeing this happen last year allowed for connection and a louder heartbeat; time to do that again’

Ticket offer for (the) Woman at Park Theatre, London

Written Jane Upton, directed by directed by Angharad Jones.

Our friends at New Perspectives are kindly offering a discount for Support Playwrights subscribers on tickets for (the) Woman at Park Theatre running until 25th October.

Fiercely funny and brutally honest, award-winning writer Jane Upton’s Bruntwood Prize shortlisted play shatters the glossy veneer of motherhood, exposing its raw, messy truth, and dares to question the definition of (her) self.

You can see the show that got five stars in The Guardian (“blends bellyaching humour with intimate revelations”) for just £15 by using code TWM15 when booking.

Enjoy!

Anna & Morgan

xx

Last July over forty theatre venues across the country simultaneously opened their doors to playwrights to co-work and chat.

Playwrights Flashmob is back at The Royal Court on Friday October 24th from 1-4pm. Come along for 90 mins of co-working then 90 mins of relaxed chat and socialising hosted by us! (Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and Anna Jordan.) Want to make connections and kick isolation in the ass? Want to talk about what we’re working on and cook up ideas for a better future? Want to lurk and write knowing others are writing too? Then join us. Coffee will be available for £1!

Book to guarantee your place for free HERE from midday on Fri 19th September.

Do you work for a theatre venue that you think would like to take part in Playwrights Flashmob simultaneously on 24th October? Please get in touch at artistsforartists24@gmail.com.

Hello! It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch, and it’s a whole year since the fantastically successful Playwrights Flashmob.

In the same spirit as the flashmob, we are inviting you to a Summer Social at Soho Theatre Walthamstow. Come for a chat, vent, laugh, even a dance. Come to make new friends or catch up with old ones. Come to be part of a community in these batshit times we're living in. No need to book - just turn up. For playwrights, screenwriters, and anyone who wants to support and celebrate them!

If you’ve ever been to a Playwrights Christmas Party, it works just like that. Come with friends or come alone. All levels of experience are welcome - from hardened hacks to absolute beginners.

We are thrilled that Soho Theatre, Walthamstow are supporting by hosting us in their gorgeous upstairs bar, just a few mins walk from Walthamstow Central Station.

Soho Theatre Walthamstow, 186 Hoe Street, London E17 4QH

There will be a group of hosts there (Including Anna Jordan, Chris Sonnex, Jon Brittain, Lou-Lou Mason, Waleed Akhtar, Jane Christie, Kieton Saunders-Browne and Gina Lyons) to welcome you. Drop in for an hour or stay all night!

Much love and see you there

Support Playwrights

xxx

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The event was sold out with over fifty attendees. People asked questions in advance and during the session and we (nearly) managed to get through all of them. We chatted HOW to contact a literary agent, WHEN is the right time in your writing journey, how to identify who would be a good fit, building a relationship, dos and don’ts in contacting them, what they actually do, invites and readings, how agents work with clients with disabilities, representation within casting and lots lots MORE! The session was facilitated expertly, as always, by Jane Christie.

Oh - the wonderful Morgan Lloyd Malcolm has started her own Substack - follow here!

We’ll keep you updated on future events and resources, and if you have ideas for the sort of Support Playwrights events you would like to see or any feedback - drop us a line!

Anna Jordan X

The Literary Agents Q&A session gave me direction. It was extremely informative, and I really feel equipped for the foreseeable future on where to go and what to do when advancing in my writing journey.

Kieton Saunders-Browne - Writer, actor, director

Being so far from London, it was a real treat to join a Q&A session with two writers’ agents. It was a super honest and quick chat about what to expect from an agent, what to prepare, and how to approach building relationships. As writers, it’s easy to overthink the first meeting with an agent, but Camilla and Jess’s responses really put my mind at ease. Insightful and reassuring - thank you.

David Tuffnell - Writer, director, producer

In response we have organised this online event - and we are hugely lucky to be joined by agents Camilla Young of Curtis Brown and Jessica Jones of Independent Talent for a 90 min Q&A and discussion.

Camilla Young joined Curtis Brown in 2010 and in 2013 became a fully fledged agent. She now shares an extensive list with Katie Battock and her clients include Arinze Kene, Dolly Alderton and Anna Jordan. Jess Jones is a Junior Literary Agent who has been with Independent since 2020, working with Ikenna Obiekwe and his extensive list of clients. She began taking on her own client list last year.

Come ready with questions or just to lurk and listen. The conversation will be facilitated by Anna Jordan.

BOOK HERE.

Tickets are £5 but if cost is a barrier please email withoutapaddletheatre@yahoo.co.uk and we will sort you a free ticket - no questions asked.

Please spread the word far and wide.

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“Community work has been a lifesaver because, as well as being incredibly rewarding, its almost always commissioned with a guaranteed production scheduled.”

Chris wrote her first play at 13 and got the writing bug after winning a young playwrights competition. When she first took a play to the Edinburgh fringe, no one came. So she tried again the next year with what she calls a ‘shamelessly commercial title’ and did much better. After several years of working minimum wage jobs and ‘sending scripts off into the void’, she landed a year long attachment at Sheffield Theatres, and a couple of months at the NT studio off the back of open submission script windows. At first Sheffield only seemed to trust her with their non-professional community shows, but eventually a new artistic director took a chance on her writing a studio show. After that work became more regular. There was no pivotal moment, more a gradual chipping away. 

One of the hardest lessons Chris learnt was that even if you have the best script in the world, a lot of places will only ever see it as a calling card, rather than something they'd actually stage. Best case, they commission a different show from you. She also says that, in her experience, the biggest looking breaks never tend to amount to much; it’s random cups of tea that tend to lead to something useful. Also, some things take forever. Chris’s show at the Almeida next year has been 7 years in the making after being picked up and dropped by other theatres.

HANNAH KHALIL 

“Don’t wait for people to notice your brilliance - ask for the meetings. The worst that can happen is they say no”

Hannah says she spent far too long hoping someone would notice her hard work. She says we should put ourselves in front of people. It took Hannah a long time to find an agent. She found the search demoralising. She kept hearing that people liked her work but didn’t know what they would ‘do’ with her, but when she found the right one, they had a good rapport from the start. 

TOM MORTON-SMITH

“The best advice I was given, and served me well, was to send your plays to the assistants. Whether assistant literary managers or agents’ assistants, they are often at a similar stage of career development as you. Those relationships are the most important to maintain as you will grow together.”

Tom worked for ten years at a minimum wage retail job whilst working on his career as a playwright. He says it was essential to view it as a career because the imposter syndrome around calling himself a writer and the ease of it being merely a hobby would have got him nowhere. 

Tom’s main advice is essentially that you get where you’re going because of the relationships and alliances you build. He concedes that upward networking is attractive; it’s lovely when someone you’ve admired or respected likes your work, but there will always be an inbuilt power imbalance. Tom sent his first play to the literary assistant at the Hampstead who took him with her when she became literary manager at Paines Plough, and then again when she became head of new work at the RSC. Tom believes lateral networking is the best kind of networking, but acknowledges departments have been so thoroughly gutted that there are barely any literary managers and assistants left. Even so, the idea that we should nurture relationships with our peers is sage. 

SONALI BHATTACHARYYA

“Find the people you collaborate well with and hold onto them! New writing is tough at the moment, but so important”

Sonali is another great believer in the power of building relationships - that we should talk to people we work well with about our ideas and dream up projects together. And that includes building on our relationships with theatres we may have already written for. Sonali finds building new relationships with commissioners one of the most frustrating parts of playwriting, so advises that we look after the relationships we have carefully - “Make it clear to them you have something to say and are hungry to say it.”

DAVID ELDRIDGE AND LUKE BARNES  

Whilst the word ‘career’ served Tom well, Luke Barnes and David Eldridge take a different view. Both say it implies a trajectory you can follow, when in reality it’s more random. David advises we make our best work and see what happens, emphasising the importance of economic survival within this. 

“I think you have to take seriously how you survive economically and subsidise writing plays. While many of us dream of that time when we earn a bit more money from our work, and can quit employment and write full time, in reality it's often unwise to give up the day job. Playwriting is often so poorly and haphazardly remunerated that only other part time or full time employment, or work writing for TV or Radio, effectively makes writing a new play possible and viable. Writers struggling to pay their rent or bills, or unable to afford to go and see plays or live a bit, rarely write well. One of the most pernicious myths (spread by non-writers) is this idea that a writer must be starving in their garret to be sharp. In reality, crippling worry about money stifles creativity and encourages bad short term choices. A prominent Literary Manager once waggled their finger at me and warned me not to get too comfortable. I gave them a piece of my mind! What the hell do they know?” - David Eldridge

“The best thing I heard was to look at the word ‘career’. In our heads it’s a logical path moving forward when it reality in context it’s more like: I careered all over the road and eventually stopped on the hard shoulder” - Luke Barnes

SARAH SIGAL

“Once you learn to structure a story and write dialogue you can kind of write anything.”

During the pandemic, Sarah finished a draft of a novel she'd adapted from a play she’d taken to Edinburgh. After years as a playwright, approaching literary agents for fiction gave her serious imposter syndrome. But she did it. The book came out last year and she’s working on another. Sarah’s agent told her it's much easier for playwrights to go into other areas than fiction writers to write dialogue, because dialogue is the hard part. Her advice is, if your play isn't getting made, turn it into something else, which is a helpful mindset when the odds seem to be stacked against playwrights at the moment. 

WALEED AKHTAR

“Think of the scale of the show - a one person show is much more of a safe bet for theatres”

Waleed Akhtar echoes the thoughts already put forward, adding that scale might be a deciding factor. He also reminds us that there are actors out there looking for great parts. If you know them, or don’t and want to work with them, their passion could help you get something on. Plus, they might have connections!

DAWN KING

“Follow the opportunities” 

As with most playwrights, Dawn’s journey hasn’t been linear. Her first rehearsed reading at the Royal Court was in 2001, but it wasn’t until 10 years later that she won the Papatango prize. Even after Papatango, she struggled to get commissioned. She wrote her next play on a seed commission and it got picked up then. She says she pitched her play The Trials around all over the place to no avail, and only after it was commissioned and shortlisted for a prize in Germany did the Donmar decide to take it.

“Unfortunately it seems to me that a lot of reading/workshop/short play opportunities, as well as the literary departments and managers, simply don’t exist any more. I think we are moving back to a situation where playwrights are likely to have to somehow fund the writing of very developed first drafts and get theatres to read them.”

She says that always having several ideas ready to pitch, and following opportunities where they lead are both important. While she’s currently being ‘savagely ghosted’ by some people and theatres she’s worked with in the UK, she will soon be working on a feature film for the same German director who picked up her latest play.

RAFAELLA MARCUS

“As someone who has had one single play staged which went well, for me it was a combination of years of graft in another role, and some blinding luck.”

Rafaella has been a new writing director and dramaturg for years, which she says put her off writing a play for a long time, because she knew instinctively how hard it was. But there was one idea that wouldn’t leave her alone. She says that knowing how to structure and having dramaturgical instincts already in place was a huge boost for her debut. Rafaella saw a company calling out for scripts online, and having just seen one of their shows she knew ‘the vibes were aligned’. They liked both the play and that she backed herself (having booked in two VAULT dates already). It went to Roundabout in Edinburgh, then on tour.

While she now has a calling card, the pools of literary manager talent drying up cited by others is a problem - lots of lovely emails and brief check-ins with literary departments saying how much they like the play but don’t have any commissioning money. Rafaella is writing her second play using seed commission from Women in Theatre Lab and subsidy from other work, both writing and day job. 

“‘We like the sound of this, bring us a script when you have it’ is not sustainable really, so I think of playwriting more as something I need to keep doing to satisfy my own curiosity and ambition within theatre and stagecraft in general, rather than a ‘career’, which is way too linear a word.”

SUHAYLA EL BUSHRA

Suhayla has mainly been commissioned to write adaptations since her first two original plays were staged, and has noticed that the industry increasingly wants existing IP because it’s safer. 

“There is also a racist/prejudiced element to it, I think. Original ideas about ‘marginalised’ people are even harder to get under way, especially if, like me, you tend to write big plays for larger casts.” 

Suhayla doesn’t see the situation changing anytime soon, so her advice is to keep doing adaptations if that’s what you’re being offered, or approach theatres with suggestions of projects you’d like to adapt yourself; just be bold and make them completely your own. In other words, use them to say what you want, rather than honouring the original.

NAOMI WESTERMAN

Naomi is just getting her first four week run after 9 years. She wrote her first play ‘by accident’ in 2015 and sent it to just one theatre, the New Wolsley in Ipswich, who accepted it and gave her £500. At first she thought ‘this playwriting lark is easy’ until that play went on at the Arcola with lots of attention but no offers. She started to seriously pursue playwriting in 2017 when she wrote her second play (which was performed at Vault Festival) and received her first commission from Graeae the same year. In 2018, she was chosen by James Graham to co-write the play Sketching, and received her second commission from the Bush Theatre (for whom Naomi had co-written two community productions). Naomi says she was shortlisted or won a lot of awards and received several commissions over the years, but this never translated to a full run, just lots of rehearsed readings or short runs. And she never wrote directly to theatres, simply because she didn’t know you could. She also founded a disability theatre company named Little but Fierce and started producing work by other disabled creatives.

Naomi’s story is another that attests to the non-linear narrative. After landing an agent that turned out to be the wrong fit and a handful of ‘career changing’ production offers that ended up falling through, Naomi found her way out of some personal and professional struggles over the Covid years and landed a publishing deal to write a non-fiction book. Then in 2021, the play she wrote back in 2017 won a playwriting competition which came with a four-week run; however it took the production company a further three years (and negotiations with five separate venues) before the production was finally contracted for a run at the King’s Head Theatre in 2025. Naomi points out that every production or commission she’s ever had has been the result of either entering a playwriting competition, or submitting a script to an unsolicited script submission window; she feels that as a working class playwright, she lacks the connections to pitch work directly or have meetings with venues.

ALEX KANEFSKY 

Al’s shows all have quite different pathways to production. He was commissioned to write Cable Street after producers saw some songs at Adam Lenson’s Signal showcases. Whilst this was a musical, there have been similar instances of extracts at scratch events leading to conversations with venues. 

Before Cable Street, Al self produced everything through his company, landing Arts Council funding for projects, tours, and R&D. It’s worth saying that this is work for family audiences, where the ecology can be quite different, but has resulted in a lot of his work being paid, and seen by audiences. Al doesn’t necessarily recommend self producing, at least not without partners or a company setup, but there are quite a few people in Theatre for Young Audiences that do it that way.

JON BRITTAIN

“When I was starting out, I internalised the narrative that the path to success was to get your first play produced upstairs at the Royal Court, your second play downstairs, then onto big shows at the National, in the West End, or on telly. In reality, most people’s paths are much windier and more interesting than that. After Rotterdam at Theatre503, I’ve not had a play on at any new writing venue in London. It’s all been through regional theatres, commercial producers and fringe theatre companies.”

Jon started out writing and self-producing small-scale plays at the Edinburgh and London fringes. During this time he met Steve Harper, the literary manager of Theatre503, and transferred a double bill of Edinburgh shows there. He applied and was selected for the 503Five and while the play he wrote was not selected for production, he took part in several shorts nights - including one which led to the creation of Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho, which became 503’s Christmas show in 2013 and a fringe hit the following year. Steve then gave his play Rotterdam to the director Donnacadh O’Briain, who had raised money for a production, and that was produced at 503 in 2015.

Following that, Jon wrote A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) for Silent Uproar, a theatre company in Hull. It’s important to note that they approached him, as it wouldn’t have necessarily occurred to Jon that a company would be looking for a relationship with a writer. Due to their location, they had access to different relationships, actors and funding streams than a London-based company might. Furthermore, when the play was made, they were very committed to touring it and giving it a long life because it was their company’s calling card as well as his own. 

During the same time, he also formed a relationship with the commercial producer James Seabright, who employed him as an assistant director on the Potted Potter shows and would later go on to take over producing Queen of Soho. James would occasionally approach Jon with pitches for shows and be very upfront about what he could pay for them - “I have this much money to make a show on topic X - would you like to do it?” Jon says the benefit of these projects was that, unlike a lot of commissions, they came with a production attached. As long as you could work within the parameters, that show would happen.

In the following years, he worked on shows for Francesca Moody Productions and for Sam Hodges, who ran the Nuffield Southampton Theatres before founding Tilted Productions. Jon says that, in general, independent producers tend to respond to a play or a pitch with a straightforward ‘yes or no’, and have multiple avenues to get a production on - without being constrained to one building or space.

Jon’s advice is to follow the work of both smaller theatre companies around the country and smaller commercial producers - you might find that they are looking to make the same sort of work that you are. 

This article was created as part of our No Silly Questions initiative, where we asked playwrights to ask us any questions they felt awkward or silly about asking. More than half were about getting your play to production!

Hope this was a useful read. We hope to see you at the Playwrights Christmas Party - 26th Nov 7 - midnight.

All love and thank you to the above playwrights

Anna

Article by Anna Jordan & Lia Burge of LBRWrites.

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It’s that time of year again. Join us for the 12th Annual Playwrights Christmas Party! This event has been providing a much needed space for playwrights and screenwriters to come together for more than a decade, and, let's face it, WE NEED THIS SHIT.

When?

Tuesday 26th November, 7pm - Midnight

Where?

Royal Court Theatre Bar, 50-51 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS (there is also an Online Event - see bottom of this page)

Can I just turn up?

YES. No need to book or anything.

Who is welcome?

All playwrights, screenwriters and adjacent creatives welcome at all levels of experience, from complete newbies to wizened old hacks. (NB: If you’ve been involved with the Support Playwrights initiative this year, but don’t consider yourself a playwright, you are still incredibly welcome.)

What’s the vibe?

A night to come together as a community; chat, vent, laugh, and meet people. Come with pals or come alone and make pals - the event is co-hosted by Jon Brittain (The OG Playwrights Xmas organiser), Lilly Driscoll, Vinay Patel, me and others! We will make sure you have someone to chat with and feel welcomed.

Will there be a meat raffle?

No. But we’ll have music, mince pies, and even some free drinks (while tokens last!) And, as ever, come in your favourite festive jumpers and there’ll be a prize for the best one.

I want to be involved but I can’t make the party in person - what should I do?

Well - we will be running a free online Festive Creative Check-In hosted by the brilliant Naomi Westerman from 7 - 8pm. Chat, vent, get and give support. Sign up here!

Please please please pass this on to all the writers in your life - much love to everyone

Anna Jordan & Support Playwrights Team.

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A chance to ask the questions you’ve always wanted to.

Something that became clear at the fifty-strong Playwrights Flashmob events which happened last month was that many playwrights have Questions They Are Too Afraid To Ask. 

They fear the questions are too silly, too small, too big, or they’re things they should really already know having spent X years in the industry. Questions like What does a Literary Manager do? How do I approach an agent? How do I format my script? How do theatres choose which plays they are programming? How much of the rehearsal process should I be there for? What if a director wants to change my words?  That sorta thing.

Well - this is your opportunity to ask those questions! Whether you’re emerging, submerged, shiny and brand-new, established, mid-career or completely f*cking lost, if you’re a playwright with a question we want to hear from you.

Using this Google form you can ask your question completely anonymously (but there is an option to leave your email address if you like so we can notify you when your question has an answer). Support Playwrights has many members - playwrights and theatre artists - all at various stages of our careers. We will do our best to answer questions either in writing, video form or even via a live event, sharing the answers on Social Media and here on Substack. And if we can't answer them - well, we will approach someone who can.

Ask HERE. And remember, no silly questions!

Edinburgh Creative Check-in For Writers on Zoom

Led by Laura Horton and facilitated by Jane Christie, 11am Wednesday 21st August 2024.

We are creating a special Creative Check-in for writers who have work on at Edinburgh Fringe.

Similar to our usual Creative Check-in, this one hour zoom is a creative conversation for writers who would like to share a space, chat, vent, give and get support.

Staying connected in challenging times can be hard, and the fringe can be challenging! Ticket sales, reviews, financial pressures, social pressures - it can be a tough four weeks. The Without a Paddle team invite you to join a drop in chat session led by Laura Horton whose play Lynn Faces is on at Summerhall, and facilitated by Jane Christie.

Laura Horton is a writer and was the Plymouth Laureate of Words from 2020 - 2023. Her plays include Labyrinth Diet at The Space and Breathless, Pleasance at Edinburgh Fringe, Soho Theatre and Brits Off Broadway.

This session is here to remind you that even in difficult times, you are not alone. Come with questions, ready to chat, or lurk in the background - we don't mind.

Tickets are £5 but there are unlimited free tickets for those in financial need. Please pay if you can but if you can't please do not hesitate to use one of these free tickets.

Book your place HERE.

Paines Plough and Playwrights’ Studio Writers’ Hub

For those physically in Edinburgh this fantastic FREE event is also running at The Roundabout, Summerhall, on the 20th August from 1pm - 6.30pm.

It’s Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland’s 20th year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe! To mark it, they’re joining forces with Paines Plough, who mark 50 years of supporting playwrights this year, to create a day that celebrates writers, writing and connection.

The day includes workshops, discussion and panel events with Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and James Graham.

More info and booking HERE.

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It’s one week since Flashmob and we wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone that took part!  We had 48 theatres involved, with playwright gatherings of 5 to 50, and so many of you came to meet, chat and work together. On Zoom Paines Plough hosted 210 playwrights who wrote together and joined in creative discussions. Thanks to theatres and also to our brilliant hosts. It was such a joyous event and many of you have said you’d love to do it again or more regularly.

We have had coverage in The Stage and Whats On Stage.

Theatres have said:  “We felt a huge sense of community, and the playwrights we engaged with were so positive.” and “It was such a supportive, generous atmosphere. Really good mix of people, with a range of experience levels and interests.”

One attendees have said “I came in lacking confidence but I left thinking I CAN DO IT.” And “This event gave me hope.”

Connections have been made between venues and writers, between writers and writers.

We are currently in the process of gathering feedback and capturing what happened. Some theatre have already expressed interest in making it a regular event and lots of our hosts have said the same so please watch this space for future meet ups. (We are also exploring the idea of a weekend based meet up for those who work in the week.)

But you don't have to wait for us, you can create opportunities for yourself. Meeting regularly with writers to help with your inspiration, sharing and interrogating ideas or just having a coffee and a chat - you never know what partnerships and work opportunities might spring from the network you have helped to create. Or simply rock up to your local theatre cafe and make the most of the space. Remember - we are playwrights. We belong in theatres.

This was the first of, we hope, many actions that the Support Playwrights Project are doing and we will be in touch soon with more. If you have ideas and want to get involved please contact us at artistsforartists24@gmail.com.

In just two weeks and one day we got this event off the ground, and it’s down to many people but especially Lou-Lou Mason, Suhayla El-Bushra, Dermot Daly, Suzette Coon, Rebecca Crookshank, Rob Watt, Jane Christie, Emily White, Naomi Westerman, Amanda Wilkin, Naomi Sheldon, Tom Wentworth, Waleed Akhtar, Eve Leigh, James Fritz, Abi Zakarian, Amy Ng, Brad Birch, Luke Barnes, Sian Owen.

Love, hope, and goodbye to a Tory government.

Anna & Morgan

Picture collage below of playwrights chatting, working, laughing, with theatre exteriors and playwrights flashmob signage.

Are you a playwright? Do you ever feel disconnected? Frustrated? Isolated? Would you like to make connections, with other writers and with theatres? Have a cuppa, talk writing or life or just spend some time working in a warm communal space?

Then attend a #PlaywrightsFlashmob on Tuesday 2nd July (We don’t sing and dance. We write and chat.)

Simultaneously, between 11am and 2pm, forty venues (and counting) across the UK are taking part in this event organised by Support Playwrights. Check out the list at the bottom of this page to see if there is a theatre close to you participating. All you need to do is go along and you will receive a warm welcome from a small team of playwright hosts (and perhaps some other theatre artists.)

We want to make connections and kick isolation in the ass. We want to talk about what we’re working on and cook up ideas for a better future. We want to lurk and write knowing others are writing too. 

If there isn’t a venue that works for you there will also be a Playwrights Flashmob event happening on Zoom hosted by the wonderful Paines Plough. Register HERE to make sure you get a place.

This event is for playwrights with ANY level of experience.

Please spread the word! Shout about this on socials using #PlaywrightsFlashmob. And tell your writer mates.

Are you a theatre or would you like to get involved as a host? Check this post.

Any questions? Email artistsforartists@gmail.com

Flashmob Venues

Royal Court Theatre, London

Tramshed, London

Kiln Theatre, London

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Sheffield Theatres

Leeds Playhouse

Watford Palace Theatre

Theatre503, London

Theatrabilia in Cornwall (www.theatrabilia.com)

Liverpool Everyman

Polka Theatre, London

Box of Tricks Theatre Company, Manchester

Wyvern Theatre, Swindon

Lantern Theatre, Brighton

Paines Plough (Hosting online. Register HERE to make sure you get a place.)

Barbican Theatre, Plymouth

Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Hull Truck Theatre

Iron Clad Creative

53two, Manchester

Live Theatre, Newcastle

Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

Exeter Pheonix

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Hall For Cornwall

Theatre Royal, Brighton

Dorchester Arts

The Albany, Deptford

Tron Theatre, Glasgow

Bristol Old Vic

The Y Theatre, Leicestershire

Battersea Arts Centre

Monkeywood Theatre, Manchester

The Edge Theatre, Manchester

Park Theatre, London

Omnibus Theatre, London

Mercury Theatre, Essex

The Studio Below / Make it Write, Liverpool

Lighthouse, Poole

New Perspectives Theatre, Nottingham

Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond

The Old Vic, London

Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London

Arcola Theatre, London

National Theatre, London

Barons Court Theatre, London

Bush Theatre, London

On Tuesday 2nd July between 11am and 2pm there is going to be a national Playwrights Flashmob. (We don’t sing and dance, we write and chat.)

Small teams of playwrights (and other theatre artists) will be stationed at our local theatre cafes, bars or foyers, all over the country. They will be HOSTS -  ready to welcome other playwrights who would like to come and chat or simply work. We want to make connections and kick isolation in the ass. We want to talk about what we’re working on and cook up ideas for a better future. We just want to lurk and write knowing others are writing too. 

Of course, there will also be a Playwrights Flashmob event happening on Zoom hosted by the wonderful Paines Plough. Register HERE to make sure you get a place.

I work for a theatre. We want to get involved. What do we do?

Brilliant! Are you able to put together a small team of playwright “hosts” who are connected to you through commission, locality etc. Or other theatre artists? 

If so please drop us an email at artistsforartists24@gmail.com with Yes to Flashmob in the subject line and we will add you to our list below.

If not please drop us an email at artistsforartists24@gmail.com with Help with Flashmob team in the subject line and we will get in touch.

Otherwise just make sure there's a bit of space in the bar / cafe / foyer. Signpost the space,  provide some name labels and pens. It would be amazing if you could do free or discounted tea, coffee or cakes but we don't need them. If someone from the theatre wants to come and join that would be fab - but not a prerequisite!

Also please shout about it on socials #PlaywrightsFlashmob and #SupportPlaywrights.

I’m a playwright - how do I get involved?

Would you like to be a host? If so contact your local theatre, a theatre you love or are connected with in some way and ask if they are involved. If they’re not, please encourage them and show them this page!

Email us at artistsforartists24@gmail.com with any questions or if you’d like us to help you find a venue.

If you’d just like to come along be part of it check out the list of theatres involved below and on socials using #PlaywrightsFlashmob. We will add to this list continuously. Or you could join the online version - which is going to be hosted by Paines Plough! Register HERE to make sure you get a place.

Royal Court Theatre, London

Tramshed, London

Kiln Theatre, London

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Sheffield Theatres

Leeds Playhouse

Watford Palace Theatre

Theatre503, London

Theatrabilia in Cornwall (www.theatrabilia.com)

Liverpool Everyman

Polka Theatre, London

Box of Tricks Theatre Company, Manchester

Wyvern Theatre, Swindon

Lantern Theatre, Brighton

Paines Plough (Hosting online. Register HERE to make sure you get a place.)

Barbican Theatre, Plymouth

Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Hull Truck Theatre

Iron Clad Creative

53two, Manchester

Live Theatre, Newcastle

Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

Exeter Pheonix

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Hall For Cornwall

Theatre Royal, Brighton

Dorchester Arts

The Albany, Deptford

Tron Theatre, Glasgow

Bristol Old Vic

The Y Theatre, Leicestershire

Battersea Arts Centre

Monkeywood Theatre, Manchester

The Edge Theatre, Manchester

Park Theatre, London

Omnibus Theatre, London

Mercury Theatre, Essex

The Studio Below / Make it Write, Liverpool

Lighthouse, Poole

New Perspectives Theatre, Nottingham

Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond

The Old Vic, London

Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London

Arcola Theatre, London

National Theatre, London

Barons Court Theatre, London

Bush Theatre, London

Notes & Actions 

Date of Event  - 5 June 2024 

Event Leader  - Anna Jordan 

Event Coordinator - Jane Christie 

Event support & minutes - Lou-Lou Mason 

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE 

Using the Open Space principles, we aim to create decisive action to support emerging playwrights. To do this we will be addressing the following question through a range of open discussions and break out groups: 

How can established theatre artists support new and emerging playwrights in these difficult times? 

AGENDA 

• Welcome & introduction 

• Exercise One 

Breaking down our overview question in sub questions. 

• Exercise Two 

Based on the questions raised through exercise one, topics will be collated for discussion through breakout groups. 

• Exercise Three:  

Bringing the discussion highlights in Exercise Two back into the main group for sharing.  

INTRODUCTIONS 

Broad spectrum of the industry are in the room and on the call – approximately 65 artists in total, comprising directors, writers, producers, dramaturgs, literary agents, casting directors. 

OPEN SPACE GUIDING PRINCIPLES 

• Whoever is here in this space are the right people 

• Whatever time we do this is the right time 

• Whatever place we do this in is the right place 

• Whatever happens is the only thing that could happen 

• When it’s over it’s over! 

Social media: 

The hashtag for the campaign is #SupportPlaywrights 

EXERCISE ONE 

The first thing we are going to do is identify sub-questions to break down our overarching broader question:  

How can established theatre artists support new and emerging playwrights in these difficult times?

RESULTING QUESTIONS:  

·       How can we identify those playwrights in need of support? 

·       How can they find me – the helpers and mentors? 

·       Is there a way to match me to those who will find it most useful? 

·       Can we do this geographically to create regional hubs relevant to geographics? 

·       How can we establish non reliance on venues to progress people’s careers? 

·       Can we go to where writers live? Shopping centres, community centres, fish and chip shops etc

·       How do we identify and direct junior writers to helpful resources better? 

·       How do we make support for playwrights truly accessible 

·       How do we manage our own deadlines and workloads with helping artists? 

• How to create more scratch nights? 

• Are there spaces that can be taken over as zones for creative activities (some immediate suggestions – suggested that we wait for the detailed discussion breakout groups). 

• How can we help new writers see what their career might look like and their writing career journey – the view of what possibilities are and what the lack might be? 

• How can established playwrights have a voice and become a force outside of buildings to help next generation of playwrights? 

• Is there a way to build support outside theatres, directing and dramaturgy - something like arts emergency? 

• How can we support the creation of work? For example, table reads with actors and drama schools 

• Programming – how can we encourage established new writing theatres to open their doors to make room for new writing, to fill the space? For example, at different times of day, rooms available, spaces available so artists can use it – expand their community outreach and programming. 

• How can we expand scratch opportunities? For example using longer format than ten mins. 

• How can we create opportunities to see read through for 10 mins/20 mins sections? Supporting writers to then properly hear a scene to support drafting/redrafting. 

• How can we create more paid opportunities and offer more support? Especially in the context of everything already being so limited and overstretched. 

• How can regular groups be set up for playwrights who want to work in devised context? 

• How can we work towards sustained work and efforts in this space, maintaining momentum so that the work is not spasmodic? 

• How do we lobby for transparency? 

• How do we fund new writing? 

• How can we convince people to take risks in risk averse climate? 

• How can we be realistic on the scale of need across what’s available? 

• Through what mechanisms did we become established that isn’t available now? 

• How can we access funding to set up events and projects that will set up emerging playwrights? 

• How do we better understand what is risky and what is commercially viable to support pitching etc? 

• How can we share info that might help others (without feeling this limiting our own opportunities the sense of scarcity is creating intense competition? 

• How do we better embed mentoring into the theatre industry? 

• How do we help the mentees make the most of their opportunities and the mentorship they have received? 

• Space – there is a lot of space, and a flawed ecology and space – so many spaces. How do we open the space?  

• What are the legal and personal problems of an unpublished play?  SUGGESTION: Community mentoring in Scotland – look to Olly Emanuel – wonderful playwright we sadly lost recently – as a model for mentorship and support.  

• How can established writers support emerging writers in a direct and meaningful way without this becoming just another form of who-you-know/potentially exclusionary practice? 

• How can a collective lobby the new government for funds to do any of this and how can new writing be promoted in schools and colleges to mean more young people engage with it in the first place? 

• How can we help find ways for emerging writers to experiment and practice their craft in a cost effective way? 

• How can we encourage better communication between organisations and writers at all levels? Especially with dwindling literary departments - who is the playwrights’ advocate within the institution? 

• How do we help playwrights believe in/trust/navigate the industry? 

• How can we pay for everyone's time? Established and emerging 

• How can we come up with new models to provide the kind of dramaturgical and career support that literary managers used to provide, given that they are fast disappearing? 

• How do we support a diverse range of emerging playwrights who feel that their stories are incomprehensible to the majority of theatre goers? 

• What kind of (collective/individual) pressure can established artists apply to orgs on behalf of new and emerging artists, and what would we ask for? 

• How do we get money/funding to freelancers to live/thrive outside of commissioning? 

• How do we make sure that any answer has equity geographically when it may not be at the forefront of regional arts spaces? 

• How can we leverage our knowledge and contacts sustainably and with care? 

• How do we find the new and emerging artists to support? 

Exercise Two: Topics for discussion 

Based on the questions above, the event team categorised the questions into topics for discussion.

Those topics are:  

1.              Opening spaces (theatres and otherwise) 

2.              Creating an independent body of artists to support playwrights 

3.              Accessibility (including geography) 

4.              All things mentoring 

5.              Getting work off the page (including scratch nights and readings) 

6.              Sharing knowledge and information 

7.              Interacting with venues 

8.              Getting paid 

9.              Creative risk 

10.           Education 

Exercise Three: Sharing the results of the discussion groups 

These topics generated some further discussion and further questions as well as suggestions, actions and work to be carried forward. Actions and suggested are clearly marked through each captured topic in the minutes below.

Notes for onward work and further discussion:

·      Owners for each action and onward work needs to be established.  

·      We were not able to discuss and share back every topic, or at the same level of detail across all topics.

·      Therefore, further work and discussion is required beyond this meeting across the discussion topics more generally as well as the specific actions recorded.

Opening spaces 

• Thinking about ad hoc spaces versus regular spaces. Supermarkets, museums, libraries, churches as ad hoc.  

• There is an opportunity to build on more consistency of space being utilised. Therefore annexing the space on a regular basis, whether dedicated or non-theatre related space. Creating a consistency that something is happening at a regular slot through the week/month, for example a church hall could be used every Wednesday for different projects/artists.  

• An opportunity to look at relationship with Councils and utilising council owned spaces. 

ACTION: need to nominate people to support working out how this works.  

• Creating a data base of space and activities that could support regular utilisation of spaces and events?  The strength in the community and network needs to be more regular.  

• Further ideas/models that we could tap into: 

·       Guardian buildings – can these be used by creative practitioners? 

·       The Theatre Deli model on using office space. Can we get them to come and do a workshop? 

·       Disused building doesn't charge rates if you’re a registered charity?? 

·       BOLD – rehearsal space offering 

·       London Writers Salon – will share the info about how to connect   

·       Creative check in – will share the info about how to connect   

ACTION: Anna/Jane/LouLou to share details of Creative Check In and LWS/Writers Hour.  

• There is an opportunity to look at how to harness the infrastructure we already have through the spider network – ie the network of contacts at greater degrees of separation between artists, both established and emerging. If we are seeking to develop and create space to practice, we should be leveraging the network better. How can we use this most effectively? 

• The most effective, most genuine change creation is done through leveraging our networks better, through cascading and offering info/mentoring/space. 

• Spider networks include options social media, subscribing to newsletters/leveraging newsletter content and tapping into connections and contacts that network people already have. If we were all in the forum able to share our networks among us, we could open a lot of doors! 

Creating an independent body of artists  

• We must acknowledge deep rooted multifaceted issues: 

• Developing artists must still remain a key role for theatre companies and venues 

• It’s not for established artists to fix necessarily all of these institutional issues 

• Formalising a group cannot create the remedy of this issue for free. 

• Creating a body of people to exchange and give network of development. 

• How is it funded? How is it sustainable? 

• This group could potentially be a lobbying force, bringing together activism and activist movements. Then how does that get paid for and what’s the structure of that group? 

• There should be no permission sought for creation. Everyone should be and is allowed to create.  The utopia is that, although utopia is not tangible so how do we break power dynamics in order to create abundantly?  

·       A good example that we could leverage is the abundance that we can see in online content, reels, YouTube, social media, etc. How can we create infrastructure/practice which generates/supports the same level of abundance and focusing on the joy of PLAY.  

·       This abundance should come through making creative practice open-source and not owned. It is in space which is both metaphorical and virtual.  

·       Creating work in this way can range from the small: character, scene, ten mins... but also can be bigger – pulling together all those threads everything discussed here into our Formalised Body to create an abundance of work. 

·       Breaking the power structures and dynamics, taking it from venues and maintaining a place of creation, while not worrying about the commercial value, the output, the product – instead doing the work and creating. 

·       Practicalities, artist led takeovers and that is where is the abundance is – we can JUST MAKE THE WORK and people will be interested.  

·       Make it attractive and they will come!  

Accessibility 

• Accessibility covers all forms of access: disability access as well as other intersections of access. It also includes geographic access and location based challenges.  

• Need to have these conversations to be around disability –where intersectionality dilutes the conversation it excludes disabled voices 

• Access should be at the START of every conversation and needs to be embedded from the start, to stop it being an afterthought. 

• Who are the top-down leaders and are there disabled people in leadership? 

• Access is often the last thing that is put in place and then it is done in a very clumsy way. Is there something we can have like access support workers: Access and Assistance for All etc.  

• We need to move towards eliminating tokenistic attitudes towards disability and breaking down both the stereotypes and the gatekeeping. There isn’t just one slice of the pie for access and other marginalised groups are all lumped in together fighting for access.  

• Need to have intersectional marginalised groups creators - need to have a list of plays and writers that are made by these groups of people.  

ACTION: create a list of plays written by intersectional, marginalised writers, so that we can share those titles widely. Crowd source.  

• Art is a human right not a luxury and its there for everyone. 

• Fighting against govt institutions who are breaking down the arts and trying to control voices and opinions.  

• Where people start in terms of school and how arts are represented in schools – should be viable skill and role and necessity not a nice-to-have.  

• Suggestion to have a writer in residence in every school which will encourage people from marginalised communities being seen regardless of identity and ethnicity. It is about having the same voice as you in the room about the history that you learn.  

• Actively creating places for additional value and perceptions that art brings to education. Art and artistic value being usurped, and the value that we bring isn’t ever truly valued. How do we change that?? Need a cultural purpose and brand change, broadcasting what artists actually DO. Needs to be a national programme.  

• Education and how to make art relevant and take it out of drama depts, make it relevant to other school departments and broaden the creative scope and use of plays.  

• The ability to diversify and develop isn’t there because we are too scared about losing funding that is allocated elsewhere.  

Working with Venues 

·       Engaging venues – could we set up a masterclass for this forum that travels around theatre venues? 

·       How can we encourage buildings to be more accessible.  

·       How can we get people into the season announcements so there is more exposure/inclusion for developing artists? 

·       Making our proposals to venues as easy as possible to execute so that so that venues it’s hard to say no. 

·       A campaign to get a writer on every single board member for all venues. However, it can be demonstrated that writers don’t pursue board application opportunities. In which case to transform this dynamic and support increased board representation, could we provide masterclasses and sessions on skills sharing across groups and boards. To create and increase more board member opportunities and provide career progression. 

·       Groups that we can leverage for this include the Creative Check In forum. 

·       Theatre 503 offering too – running the writers programme and a series of How To content.  

All things mentoring 

·       People who submitted answers to the questions mentioned mentoring as something they would really appreciate.  

·       How can we formalise and create a mentorship resource for new artists? Shadowing schemes and ensuring that expenses are covered to help people get into the building that wouldn’t normally be able to access. One of the key factors will be getting emerging artists into the building.  

·       Mentoring isn’t ‘I know everything’ but more ‘I'm a bit further down the road that you're on, and can help you navigate what is coming for you, but also sharing that established artists also don’t know what’s in front of them – creating allyship. 

·       Network of people and how we can help each other out. 

·       Making sure it’s safe and sustainable within bandwidth creating contract and set of expectations 

• Offer mentoring to people who emulate your practice or those who are different? How do we match mentors to mentees? Is there an overflow from theatres and venues of those that they aren’t able to expand their mentorship to? 

• How do you connect mentor and mentee? How does the exchange of work happen?  

• Buddy system? New writers with established writers – ongoing buddying and learning together? 

• Championing mentees and leveraging the power dynamic and privilege – emerging artists platforming their mentees. 

• Looking at previous models: platform presents, etc. Lily Driscoll has set up Demystify – paying people to train. ACTION ALL to support and amplify and then also talk to Lily to find out what the model is like and how we can use similar principles.  

Getting work off the page 

·       Hearing the work as an integral part of the development practice. But it was noted that getting the timing right is critical and needs to work within the comfort of the writer, for example rushing into a rehearsed reading–this can be a lot of pressure. How can we define supportive processes and infrastructure to getting work off the page?  

·       How hard it is to get actors together? 

ACTION: who in the forum has experience with setting up table reads and gathering actors. (LLM has loads and has an actor list). 

• Drama schools might want to support. Can we involve schools to support with creating table reads. 

ACTION: pull together network of contacts in drama schools for support with this.  

• When we talk about what people can give back – relationships with our previous drama schools? Building the bridge, when we have the contacts and supporting  those who don’t, who haven’t gone to DS. 

• Regular co-operatives set up by theatres/venues/companies, instead of making a one stop one-off shop, making it regular means that people will be able to fit it around their lives, jobs, work, caring responsibilities, etc. 

• Harnessing the desire to read and participate – creating a time bank to collate the voices and collaborators who are willing and have capacity for support. 

ACTION: Time bank coordination 

·       Feedback processes – How do we define and create feedback processes that are useful? Models that we could look at: Papatango is a positive example of written feedback is really great, and encouraging this.  

·       Scratch nights are often very disconcerting where audience feedback is so unmoderated or the feedback is live and not properly moderated by someone who knows how ask the right questions so new writers aren’t crushed by the critiques 

·       If people want to volunteer to lead a creative check in, please put your hand up!  

 
ACTION: Jane to create google form to send out 

Sharing knowledge and information 

• Information often comes in two categories, some that costs nothing and easy to give away and some feels precious. Unofficially can be through Socials / word of mouth etc, and then also formal schemes. Peer to peer and networking, etc.  

• How a person wants to share info, but also needs to protect your capacity and bandwidth. Playwrights could have something on their website, or our collective website, which provide FAQs. Or top five tips on your socials. And then when there is a reach out for contact, can point people to those FAQs/space for questions. 

• Emerging artists often contact us because they have particular resonance with different backgrounds, or they need info on rights and legal information. Another example is reaching out due to a commonality with emerging artists for sourcing this info, such as identity intersection. 

• How do we make information access feel less impenetrable? Including interacting with venues. 

Getting paid 

·       The shift from profit share to getting paid properly has created a contraction in the theatre production market.  

·       How do we create opportunities for paid work? How can we fund or maintain funding, or create new funding structures in the industry?  

·       The idea of 1% to create radical change – where writers who get huge paid work can donate a percentage of their pay to a fund to support emerging artists. This would also be tax deductible. Creating fund raising project, ‘TV for theatre’ suggestion – people who started in theatre and now work in TV donating money to support those struggling in theatre. (Aware many are struggling in TV too!)  

·       When creating funding structures, where is the money going to come from? Lobbying people who have money is like banging heads against the wall.  

·       Money and scarcity perpetuates the culture of scarcity. Supporting practice not just paying for projects specifically. 

·       Venues/production teams who are benefitting commercially, swooping up and taking the glory and the return on the investment. ACE symposiums philanthropists co producers to create funding to support the artists that we do. ROI will go back to the investors if the show does make money they will get ROI. 

• TaskRabbit type of support to disperse money out of venues, by hiring writers to work as freelancers, on big tasks support the venues, using the spare time of the writers, paying them for big one of admin tasks, like documentary archiving etc. Which also has the added bonus of getting them in the door to meet people.  

 Creative Risk 

·       What risk means, and with what venue, building, theatre goer. 

·       Seasons are curated and how an artists work could match – how do we find these themes ahead of curation?  Can we encourage venues with habits to break them and try a different approach? 

·       Finding newer spaces that take risks, then forget the venues we can’t change. 

·       Where can we create the spaces ourselves to avoid having to deal with risk averse venues.  

Education 

• Writers in residence 

• Using schools as venues 

ACITON: For further discussion

NEXT STEPS:  

What do we want to do, how are we going to progress, what happens next?  

UPDATE IN WEEK SINCE MEETING: 

Since meeting we have created email lists for those interested in supporting and a Whatsapp group for those interested in supporting the day to day activity of the Support Playwrights Collective.  First email going out today (Wed 12^th June) 

The following press coverage has been published:

The Stage:

·       Playwrights call for mentorships and scratch nights to fix 'broken pipeline'  7 June 2024

·       In difficult times, leaving the ladder down for others will be essential 27 May 2024

We have been contacted by the following organisations who are keen to support the work we are doing and Morgan and Anna are meeting to discuss the best way to move forward with this.  (updated 17^th June)

·       Theatre503 

·       Paines Plough 

·       Royal Court 

·       Methuen 

·       Theatre Centre

·       Cardboard Citizens

·       Sheffield Theatres

·       Leeds Playhouse

·       Off West End 

·       Nick Hern Books 

·       Wellbeing in the arts 

·       The Playwrights Club 

·       Chichester Festival Theatre  

·       Bruntwood Award 
Papatango Prize 

·       Curtis Brown

·       Polka theatre 

·       Finborough Theatre

We have set up an email address – artistsforartists24@gmail.com. This email address is purposefully non-specific in not mentioning playwrights as it means we can support other artists further down the line.  

Anna Jordan has scheduled a £10 online workshop called Self Care For Writers. This is scheduled for 21^st June at 7pm – 9.30pm. We’ll talk about we'll talk about defining self care, lowering the stakes, routines and rituals, changing things up, finding joy and pride in what you already do, tools for recovery and creativity, living a full life and cutting yourself some slack. If the £10 fee makes it difficult to attend please email withoutapaddle@yahoo.co.uk.

More to come soon.

How did this start?

With a meeting in London and online with 65 theatre artists meeting to try to answer the following question: How can established theatre artists support new and emerging playwrights during these difficult times?

I’m an established theatre artist. How can I get involved?

You can sign up for more info via email here.

Follow #SupportPlaywrights on Twitter and Insta.

I’m an emerging playwright, or I feel I would really benefit from support. How can I hear more?

Please keep an eye on #SupportPlaywrights on Twitter and Insta – and more to come soon about what we’re doing, please check back.