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…)