What Goes On in a Producers Mind?
What I’m going to say will annoy and offend probably every playwright who has ever spent hours and hours, sweat buckets of blood, and damaged relationships just to finish their play.
Now that the writing is done, that’s the easy part.
The real work, the hard work, can now begin.
WHAT?
I can hear the cries of outrage. The REAL work IS writing the play, Pat! Everything else are just the non-creative details.
Well yes, if you want to put your play away and start working on your next play.
BUT if you actually want other people to SEE your play onstage, those non-creative details become as important – if not more important – in the next step towards production.
And these “non-creative details” are the details of the work that that each playwright must take an interest in if they are to participate in the on-going development of their play.
Why a Producer Would Be Interested in Your Play
What if I said to a writer, “Your play is great. I can’t wait to see it. Let me know when someone puts on a production. I’ll be there. And because I know you, can you comp my ticket??
The write would probably say, “I brought it to you for you to do it”!
But think of it from a producer’s point of view.
- Why would a producer ever want to do your play?
- Why should they spend their money and their investors’ money on something that will at some point stop providing them with revenue, but continue to provide the playwright with cash? After all, the playwright owns the play, not the producer.
Does that sound reasonable?
There are two reasons a producer will mount a production of a play:
- If they are a commercial producer they will do it because they think the play will make money, and they will share in it enough to make their involvement worthwhile.
- If they are part of a not for profit theater company, they will do it because it advances the mission of their company.
So What’s a Playwright to Do?
There ARE things a playwright can do to make a producer feel comfortable about doing your play, however.
I’ll talk about what they are in next weeks blog. 🙂