Making Money as a Playwright Part 1

Making Money as a Playwright Part 1

How Do Playwrights Make Money?

The playwright Robert Anderson famously said in the late 50’s early 60’s that “one can make a killing in the theatre, but not a living.” The late Tim Kelly, a very prolific playwright for the school and community theater markets who passed away in 1997, published over 350 plays in his life, and would have about 6,000 performances of his plays every year, all over the world.  His pieces were translated into dozens of languages.  He adopted Anderson’s quote and paraphrased it for the amateur theater market:  “You can make a living, but you can’t make a killing”.

Most active writers, including playwrights, have an academic affiliation, which pays the bills. To get your play produced, which if it’s an OK play is relatively easier, by far the best way to do it is to be around people who make theatre: actors, directors, producers. If you can get them to read your play and they like it, there’s a chance they may produce it.

Overall, while making a living as a playwright is possible, it often requires a combination of talent, perseverance, and strategic career choices.

And you will most often need another form of income (or a supportive spouse or other family member) in order to continue with playwriting. You may not make a living with this art form, but it can be fulfilling in many other ways.

Playwrights can make money through various channels, including:

  1. Royalties: Playwrights typically earn royalties from productions of their plays. This is a percentage of the ticket sales or a fixed fee paid by theaters for the rights to perform the work.
  2. Licensing Fees: When theaters want to stage a play, they must pay a licensing fee to the playwright or their representative. This can include fees for amateur and professional productions.
  3. Grants and Fellowships: Many playwrights apply for grants and fellowships from arts organizations, foundations, and government bodies that support the arts. These can provide financial support for writing new works.
  4. Publishing: Playwrights can earn money by publishing their scripts. Some publishers pay upfront fees or royalties for published plays.
  5. Film and Television Adaptations: If a playwright’s work is adapted into a film or television show, they may receive a fee for the adaptation rights and possibly ongoing royalties from the production.
  6. Collaborations and Commissions: Playwrights may be commissioned to write new works for specific theaters or projects, which can provide a guaranteed income.
  7. Teaching and Workshops: Many playwrights supplement their income by teaching playwriting or conducting workshops, sharing their expertise with aspiring writers.
  8. Options: Producers give playwrights an option when they decide to produce their work. (There will be a time limit on the option.)
  9. Producing Their Own Work: Some playwrights take on the role of producer for their own plays, allowing them to retain a larger share of the profits.

Overall, the income of a playwright can vary significantly based on the success of their works, the demand for their plays, and their ability to navigate the industry.

So how do playwrights for the amateur markets make money?  Simple— volume.  The more productions, the more performances, the more money.  So, how do you get more productions?

Your Website and Play Catalog

You simply must have more than one play that’s ready to be produced. When you’ve finished one play, start the next one.

That being said, this is easier for playwrights than musical theatre teams, but the same volume is suggested for musicals as well. If you want to make money writing plays, you simply must have many different plays, in many different formats (full length, one acts, 10 minute plays, etc.)

The easiest way to increase your writing output is to join a writer’s group. One of the best things that a writers’ group can give you is a deadline. When you’re regularly meeting with a community of writers, you challenge yourself to continually bring new work to the group, and to continue to write. If you’re not in a writers’ group, I’d recommend finding other external deadlines, whether they’re playwriting awards or theatre submissions windows. Whatever it is, find a deadline (with a realistic timeframe) so that there is somewhere you have to send a finished play to in a specific time frame (no matter what state your script is in).

Which brings us neatly onto our next step: share the play.

Share Your Play With Those You Trust

Once you’ve written your play, it’s time to share it beyond your writing group. Have friends in for a “pizza reading.” Ask people you trust to sit in a Zoom reading and discuss it afterwards. Continue to write and rewrite, addressing common feedback responses. (Usually I advise writers to listen carefully to feedback, and notice when the same note is given more than once. Usually you should address it when it is mentioned twice. To those comments that sound like the audience member is trying to rewrite your play, a good phrase to remember is, “Hmmm, interesting. I’ll think about that.”)

Especially if you’re writing a new musical, plan a 29-hour Industry Reading. Make sure to record it using the highest tech standards you can afford (especially if you believe the work is ready for important industry people to see). This is a ten times more important if you’re holding your reading anywhere outside New York.

You learn so much about what needs to change in your play when you’re collaborating with a director and/or dramaturg, and when you hear it read by actors. The rewrites carried out on the play during the rehearsed reading process is an instrumental step towards it eventually being staged.

When you feel your script is ready to be produced, submit the new play to calls for submissions, to literary departments near you, to directors you know., etc. Send it out far and wide.

The important thing about sharing your work is it increases your chances of it getting produced. Someone might love it.

This feels like it has a lot to do with luck. It does. But realize that you can help create your own luck by:

  1. Writing a play that’s true to your artistic voice.
  2. Sharing it far and wide and then using feedback to develop it
  3. If a theatre shows interest in it, doing your very best to prove that you can deliver.

Remember, you get paid per performance, so you have to find someone to produce your play or musical.

(Part 2 is coming next week…)

 

What Are Your Writing Goals?

What Are Your Writing Goals?

Setting Goals: Who Do You Want To Be?

Goals are a means to an end, plain and simple. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it’s who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.

So maybe the key question you and I need to ask is, “What kind of person will I have to become in order to achieve all that I want?” This may be the most important question that you can ask yourself.

What kind of a person do you want to become, professionally? Who do you want to be when you grow up? I have decided that in my life I want to create new work as a dramaturg, I want to envision the production text as a director, and I want to put stories on stage as a producer. To learn how to do this I have pursued an education (B.F.A. in Directing, M.F.A in Dramaturgy, CTI 14-week for producing), but even then it took a few years of actual practice dramaturging, directing and producing professionally before I internalized the “I AM” that made me believe in my identity as a professional theatremaker.

When you start doing the work, you’ll realize that you ARE the person that you wanted to be.

 

Write Down Your Goals

When setting your writing goals, you should plan on becoming a produced playwright.  Once you see your plays on stage, with real actors in a real theater, then you will indeed be a professional playwright.

What would being a produced playwright feel like to you? Our writers here at CreateTheater have said all of these:

  • Being produced would give validation to friends and family that I am a professional writer
  • The joy of seeing my work actually take shape onstage is what I love most
  • Having a show on Broadway or Off-Broadway would be a dream, but I’d love a regional production to invite my friends
  • Making revenue from writing for the subsidiary markets is my goal
  • A production onstage would finally make me feel that I belong in the professional theatre world

The good news is that becoming a produced playwright is doable. However, just like learning anything, there is a process to master.

Take Daily Actions to Achieve Your Goal 

The best thing about setting a goal is that it gives you actionable tasks to achieve along the way. Through hard work, you can make the decision to be a success and achieve it.

What things do you need to do to become a produced playwright?

  • Write daily. Create a routine where you write at a certain time every day. If you’re a writer, you write.
  • Write in a variety of formats. Write musical librettos, write one act plays. Write a play for high school or college, and adapt it for middle school audiences. Write ten minute plays.
  • Create a catalog of plays. Volume counts – the more good plays you write, the greater the chances of multiple productions
  • Create a NPX profile, and upload all of your plays there. Read and recommend other writers’ plays, so they will read and recommend yours. (It’s a community.)
  • Join CreateTheater and The Experts Theater Company. The more theater friends you have, the more you learn and the more you’ll feel like a pro.
  • Get a website. Keep it updated.
  • Get an email list. Keep your fans updated on what you’re doing.
  • Take pictures of your progress. Post on social media.
  • Plan on taking focused marketing time twice a year to reach out to regional theaters and their artistic directors. Compile a database for yourself.
  • Get to know your local theaters. Buy tickets to their work, and talk to people while you’re there. Go to their galas and meet them.
  • Submit, submit, submit. This is one of the best ways to create opportunities for yourself.

(Notice that none of the above requires an agent.)

Does this sound like a lot of work? It is. One of our produced playwrights at ETC, Kim Ruyle, says that he remembers a quote someone once told him: “The playwright you envy works a lot harder than you do.”

Be Persistent

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So said Thomas Edison, who knew this through experience. However, persistence can be very hard to put into practice when nothing seems to be happening for you.

The best advice that every produced playwright can give you is to:

  1. Write everyday as a matter of routine.
  2. Submit as often as you can.
  3. Take focused time to create marketing databases and email twice a year.
  4. Network regularly. Follow up. Keep in touch.
  5. See lots of theater. Strike up conversations while you’re there. Go to galas.
  6. Network and hang out with theatre people as often as you can, both online and in person.

Be persistent. Don’t give up.

Embrace the risks and do the work — and drive the outcome you deserve.

October Spotlight: ETC Member Kim Ruyle

October Spotlight: ETC Member Kim Ruyle

From Broadway Student to Produced Playwright

Kim Ruyle, a playwright who has written nine plays—with six already produced and another in the works—has built his career on a blend of passion, preparation, and strategic relationship-building. His journey reflects a deep commitment to the art of theater and a disciplined approach to networking and honing his unique voice.

For over 20 years, Kim has traveled to New York at least three times a year, immersing himself in Broadway shows. “I’d see four or five plays in a weekend,” he says, always attending as a student of the craft. He watched closely to learn: How does a play start? What humor lands with the audience? How do the dramatic elements come together for a satisfying end? This habit of absorbing theater, combined with seeing about 50 shows annually, has been key to his growth as a playwright.

But Kim’s success goes beyond just studying the craft. He brings a three-pronged approach, borrowed from his influence coaching background, into his writing career: credibility, relationships, and a unique voice.

Credibility, for Kim, is built through preparation and continual learning. Relationships are forged through smart, subtle networking. “When I go, I pay attention to who’s directing, who’s the artistic director, and which actors stand out – I say, man, they did a great job and I would like to work with them someday. I often send them a friend request on Facebook afterward or compliment them after the show, which helps me build relationships over time,” he explains, noting that being a known face in local theaters has helped him make key connections that can open the door to productions.

Finding his unique voice has also been central to his success. “If you don’t have something original to say, why should anyone listen? Developing your own brand, your own voice is key. It takes time and effort to discover and hone that voice.”

He continues, “I write plays for mature actors that have an edgy quality to them. I tend to write ‘dramedies’ — stories with a mix of drama and comedy. Even in my most dramatic pieces, you’ll find comedic moments; I believe plays need to entertain and engage the audience. Not to say that I don’t have thought-provoking content in my plays – but they don’t promote a social agenda. I focus on telling a compelling story, one that makes people think, laugh, or cry.”

“I’ll add one more thing,” he says. “Early in my playwriting career I was on a drama skill webcast, and I heard playwright Phil Olson say something that stuck with me: ‘When you finish a play, dont start your next one until you get the first one produced.’ That really resonated with me, and I try to do that now. Out of the nine full-length plays I’ve written, six have been produced, and I think another is about to be. So, it’s not just about writing—you have to focus on getting your work produced as well.

 

Discipline and Persistence

Kim’s disciplined approach to both writing and networking has led to tangible results. He writes daily, and also makes time to attend theater weekly, dedicates two months each year to marketing his work, and conducts in-depth research to develop stories for new plays. “My current project is set in the 1880s Old West, and I’m deep into research. I think it’s a unique setting for the stage, and I plan to bring in my signature blend of drama and comedy, I hope.”

As Kim’s career shows, success in playwriting requires both craft and hustle—balancing creativity with strategic relationship-building, and always staying a student of the art. He’s an inspiration to me and to all of our ETC members in CreateTheater!

Find out more about Kim’s work at kimruyle.com and read his plays on the NPX.

CreateTheater is an artistic home for new plays and musicals. Thinking of joining? Click here for more information.

What’s the #1 Question I Get Asked?

What’s the #1 Question I Get Asked?

CreateTheater Develops and Produces New Work

 

Since 2016, CreateTheater has been working with playwrights and musical theater teams to develop and then help produce new work, through general managing industry readings, dramaturgy, writing groups, worksbops, and producing new work in the CreateTheater New Works Festival, the CreateTheater Cabaret, and through partnerships that produce new plays and musicals,

So what do you think the #1 question that I get asked?

Drum roll please: “Will you produce my new play or musical?”

 

It Takes Time to Produce New Work

 

Typically a new play will take 3-5 years to get produced; musicals seven years or more. And even if you’re in a position to independently produce your own work on stage doesn’t mean that you can “fast-track” the process.

Theater is the most collaborative art, which means that it takes time to pull the work together. Time to check your script with directors, dramaturgs and company members; time to present readings to see how the audience reacts to the work. Time to rewrite yet another draft, incorporating what was learned in the previous reading, writing group presentation or workshop.

Not every reading should be recorded, especially in the early drafts; you’ll want to change the script to incorporate feedback, rendering the recording outdated almost as soon as it’s edited. Save that for the music-stand industry reading, when you’ll need it to pitch to theaters, directors, producers and investors.

Getting back to the original question, “Will you produce my show,” in the beginning no one will love your show more than you do. But I will be a close second. My goal is to see you get your play produced; sometimes I will produce it.

But it takes time. Most important things do; y0u can’t shortcut development without taking the time to make it great.

 

So, How Do I Get Produced?

 

First, write the script (or libretto). Get input from your collaborator, a dramaturg, a writing group – or all three. Then find some friends and do a table reading, often called a “pizza reading” since you can compensate your friends with food.

Make changes to the script, incorporating your discoveries. Check out your new pages with your collaborator, a dramaturg, a writing group – and hold another reading. Make more changes. Do this until you (and your friends) are enthusiastic and feel your play is “ready.”

Ready to submit to theaters, festivals, contests. Ready to submit to possible directors or producers. Make sure that you upload it to y0ur NPX portal, so other writers can read and comment on it as well.

This takes time. But you know what? With each step, your play just keeps getting better and better. And you gain more experience, and get better at your craft, with each iteration. You may even decide to start another play or musical, just for the fun of it, while you submit and continue to develop your first.

These friends, these colleagues, who are so ready (and experienced) to help you with their smart feedback? Here at CreateTheater, these are your fellow playwrights and ETC members, all experienced playwright and musical theater writers. I’m proud that many of our members have been produced Off Broadway, regionally, and in television and film. Some members are actual Tony-award winning producers, looking for new projects.

 

When Do I Get Produced?

 

This is a relationship-driven business. First you perfect the work itself, in collaboration with other artists; then you present it to friends, colleagues, and new industry friends that you make through social connections in the business.

From there your network keeps growing. Soon, a friend-of-a-friend, a writing group member’s cousin that works with a famous person’s sister wants to listen to your musical. A theater discovers your play through a submission process and wants to produce it. Your industry reading is so funny that a producer you know asks for the chance to produce it.

These things happen. And they can happen to you, too. Perfect the work, keep writing new shows, keep submitting and making social connections. That’s how you get produced.

CreateTheater is here to help. Thinking of joining? Click here for more information.

The Value of a Theatre Community

The Value of a Theatre Community

 

The Need for an “Artistic Home”

Theatre is an especially collaborative art. It takes a dedicated creative team to create, develop and produce new work, and always have. Today, collaboration often happens on Zoom, one of the benefits from the pandemic. However, the definition of theater is “live” and must happen first with the creative team, then with the actors and audience in the same space.

As it stands now, a three-week rehearsal schedule is built for commercial success, not development. What’s needed is an “artistic home” to serve as a nurturing ground, to foster creativity, collaboration, and innovation, with other trusted artists.

What is an “artistic home”?

An artistic home, to me, is a supportive environment for theatre artists to explore and experiment with new ideas. It offers a ‘safe space’ where artists can take risks, challenge conventions, and push the limits of their creativity, without fear of judgment, crucial for the development of groundbreaking and transformative work.

Moreover, an artistic home can allow theatre artists a place to collaborate and exchange ideas with a variety of other artists – playwrights, directors, actors, designers, and technicians – within a framework of critical resources and support. Funding, mentorship programs, and networking opportunities are crucial for artists to overcome financial and logistical challenges that hinder the creation of new work.

A true artistic home fosters a sense of belonging, an identity of professionalism, and provides concrete networking channels leading towards production.

CreateTheater is a Theater Community

I’ve founded CreateTheater to be this community for theater artists.

This year so far we’ve:

  • Hosted the CreateTheater New Works Festival Reading Series to give an audience to developing new plays and musicals
  • Provided two residencies that financed two readings, one new play and one new musical
  • Provided networking and mentorship opportunities to both CreateTheater and ETC members
  • Provided dramaturgy and development to 42 new plays and musicals this year
  • Workshopped twelve new musicals with industry experts in our SMASH IT! musical workshops
  • Pitching opportunities to Tony-award winning producers and to artistic directors
  • Created writing groups, workshops and social events to grow your industry connections
  • I pitched 12 scripts to a company for touring and licensing
  • We locked down a large studio to present readings and development space for new projects
  • Creating a cabaret for our first-ever fundraiser (stay tuned)

Need to experiment with form? Let’s do it. What about trying out your latest draft with actors, to see if what you have on the page is working? That’s different than a typical reading, where you invite others in to see the work, or a cold “pizza reading” that you plan with friends to get some feedback. I’ve been to two cold musical readings with minimal prep time, that were absolutely outstanding. We’re now trying to help the work go forward.

I’m proud that CreateTheater has been considered an artistic home for our writers,  as it’s playing a vital role in nurturing new scripts and fostering artistic development. The New Works Festival has proven to be a platform for artists to showcase their work, gain exposure, and receive critical feedback from their peers and industry professionals, helping these artists to refine their craft, develop their unique artistic voice, and establish themselves within the professional theatre community.

I also want to say, as an artist with both a BFA and an MFA, that forming your artistic vision among other established artists gives you a foundation to become, in time, an established artist yourself. Mindset matters; community matters. People you trust to hear your work and offer feedback, matters.

An artistic home, within an engaged theater community, is essential to foster creativity, collaboration, and innovation. A supportive and nurturing environment can allow artists to explore new ideas, collaborate with peers, access resources, nurture emerging talent, and push the boundaries of our art form. By investing in such places, we not only empower theatre artists in the 21st century but also contribute to the growth and evolution of theatre as an art form – which needs some help right now.

Let’s Develop New Work Together

I’ve created CreateTheater as a space where artists can challenge traditional norms and conventions and create some groundbreaking and thought-provoking work. Whenever you gather creative people in a singular space, some wild things can happen… especially in a theatrical hotspot like NYC. The people are here. Is your work here? It needs to be, even if you live somewhere else.

Last spring I offered a free Collaboration Event to introduce creatives to each other online (where we’re providing the space to make their work happen in November), and people have been asking me to start up the ‘Cocktail Hours” that I held during lockdown. So, I’m starting it up again. Would you like to participate? Come join us on the last Sunday of the month, October 27th at 2pm EST.

Join our email list for the link and to stay “in the know” here.

Any other ideas? There will be a “Welcome to CreateTheater and ETC” meet-and-greet webinar on October 29th at 7pm EST. Stop by and meet us and see what we’re all about!