Do It Yourself!

So, you're thinking about foregoing the usual route of courting a play publisher to handle your new play or musical-- and take the responsibility on yourself.  It will take a lot of your time and quite a bit of your money to pull this off-- but if you can do it, you'll never regret it.  There is a LOT of work involved.   

The following is not to be construed as an all-inclusive checklist.  If you want THAT, you have to pay for the workshop (Heh-heh).  This is just to give you an idea as to what I have come across in my efforts to market my own plays and musicals.

Write the Show

  • Make sure your show is good - This sounds obvious, but there are a LOT of bad scripts out there.  Ask any theatre that produces plays for kids.  They probably go through a stack of scripts before they find one that they feel is producible in their theatre.
  • Make sure your show is unique -- How many Little Red Riding Hood scripts does the world need?  But don't confuse "uniqueness" with "weirdness."

Produce the Show

  • Get it produced.  Find a theatre group to do it.  children's theatre, dinner theatre, community theatre, summer theatre, college/university theatre, high school drama club-- heck, form your own troupe and perform it at your local elementary school.  GET IT PRODUCED.  

  • You have to work the bugs out of it in front of an audience.  The best playwright in the world isn't 100% certain how a particular line or scene will go over with an actual audience. 

  • Try not to be in the cast.  You need to observe the audience's reactions to the performance:  Where do they laugh?  Do they laugh when they should?  Do they get restless at any point?  

  • Try not to direct the show yourself.  Having another director's viewpoint is critically helpful to the development of your show.  Chances are, s/he will also give you a lot of suggestions for script changes before rehearsals ever begin.  Weigh them heavily because they come from a fresh perspective.

  • Click Here for more about producing a show on your own.

Edit the Show

  • Go back and make the final revisions to your script based on the audience reaction from your performances.  
  • Don't let yourself get tricked into the mentality that your work is "art."  Most "artists" I know produce what they want to produce and offer it "as is" to the public.  Playwrights can't usually afford to work that way.  Consider your talent more as a SKILL that needs honing.  I am still making revisions to plays that I wrote 5 years ago.  It's a never-ending process.  The final versions of my plays will not exist until my death.

Print the Show

  • Are you going to offer printed script to the producing theatres?  Manuscript-style or two-sided booklet style?  I use Word Perfect to print all my scripts in two-sided booklets.  This makes them look just like scripts offered by other play publishers.
  • What printed materials are you going to offer the theatres?  I offer actors' scripts, director's scripts, lead sheets, and educational study guides.  Everything is printed on my computer with Word Perfect and Finale (lead sheets).

Record the Show

  • Are you offering a pre-recorded performance soundtrack?  With plunging budgets nowadays, you might want to consider this.  We offer our performance soundtracks on CD.  This way the theatre doesn't need to hire a pianist or orchestra to play for their performances.
  • Make sure the recorded accompaniments are high quality.  Don't think you can get by with just recording a piano for the accompaniment.  Use drums, keyboards, guitars, bass, strings-- the works.  Kids nowadays are used to full accompaniments to their music.

Market the Show

  • Don't even CONSIDER mass marketing a script before it has had at least one (hopefully professional) production.  
  • Attend conventions that are appropriate for your show.  I set up a booth at the American Association for Theatre and Educator's (AATE) and Educational Theatre Association (ETA) conventions.  Find out what organizations a theatre might belong to that would produce your show and see about getting an exhibitor's booth at the convention.  Get your name out there!
  • Put out an ad in one of the theatre trade magazines.  Find ways to get free listings in the "play publisher" sections of theatre publications.  
  • List your play with PlaysandMusicals.com - a FREE  online script database.  This is where producers go looking for scripts-- make sure they see your script there!  My shows are listed with them.

Customer Service

  • Offer "Positively Outrageous Service."
  • Be prepared to swallow your pride occasionally for the good of your business.
  • Be prepared to give away things for free.

 

Questions or comments?