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Literary Manager - Jane Fallowfield
Our Literary Department accepts unsolicited new plays. Scripts are dealt with by our Literary Manager and a team of script-readers in association with the Artistic Director. We are looking for plays and new writers specifically for the Finborough Theatre, not just 'good' plays, so please carefully read the notes below before going to the time and trouble of sending your work to us.
HOW IT WORKS
In addition to your script, we ask you to provide a one page synopsis of your work. The synopsis will be reviewed by the Artistic Director and - although all scripts will be looked at and considered equally - he will ask the reading team to take particular note of any script which has content that he feels would interest Finborough Theatre audiences.
We also ask you to provide a short writing CV (to include details of any readings / productions you may have had). Don't worry if this is your very first play - it just helps to know!
The reading team will then read the scripts and report back to the Literary Manager and Artistic Director who will then read those works that the scriptreaders recommend.
Unsuccessful scripts will be returned if a SAE is provided.
This decision is final and no further correspondence will be entered into regarding rejected scripts.
Successful writers will be contacted for a meeting. We are dedicated to developing scripts over an extended period, with writers we believe in, but writers need to be realistic about the time and dedication this takes. As an example, the play Albert’s Boy by James Graham (now our Pearson Playwright-in-Residence) took over two years from first reading to production in the Summer of 2005. We should stress too that the Finborough Theatre is completely unfunded and we cannot guarantee a production.
MONTHLY WORKSHOPS
The Literary Department also runs monthly workshops, with a writer selected
from the scripts we receive. We select writers we feel would benefit from
the workshop process, and whose work we are interested in producing at the
Finborough. The
workshop is led by Kate Wasserberg, our Associate Director, and is a closed session involving the writer and our in-house company of actors.
Each workshop has a definite focus - the emphasis is on helping the writers
to answer a specific question about their script, and hopefully assisting
them in the rewriting process. Previous workshopped writers include Hannah Ashwell, Jacob Tindle, Jennie Coles, David Hutchinson, Anders Lustgarten, as well as the Playwrights-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre.
WHAT WE WANT
The Finborough Theatre normally programmes:
New writing on political, social and cultural issues.
Music theatre (please provide a CD and allow longer for us to review it).
Plays about the local area, local history or personalities.
Plays in Celtic languages or on Celtic themes.
Adaptations of obscure books written after 1850.
We welcome big ambitious plays and have no problem with plays with large casts.
We are particularly looking for "theatrical" plays - not work better suited for film, radio or TV.
Have a look round our website to get a better idea of the work we programme.
WHAT WE DON'T WANT
Plays about urban middle-class “twenty/thirtysomethings” moaning about their relationships and/or emotional problems!
We are not programming plays about paedophilia or paedophiles for the foreseeable future.
We unfortunately do not have an audience for childrens plays.
Plays that have been previously produced in London.
We only programme plays written post-1850, and likewise we don’t often programme historical or biographical plays set pre-1850, in particular we are not interested in biographical plays about Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Oscar Wilde, John Clare or Dr Johnson.
Film, TV or Radio scripts.
Adaptations or versions of texts written before 1850- i.e. Shakespeare, Homer, Buchner etc
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
We aim to return the script within 2-3 months if if is not suitable for us. Please be patient. If the process takes longer than 3 months, it is usually because we are seriously considering your script.
BASIC TIPS
Please don’t send your only copy of a play. Although every care is taken with your work, we cannot be held responsible if it is lost.
It helps to have your play bound and please number all the pages and include your phone number or email on the bottom of each page.
Is this your first draft? If so, don’t send it off! Ask friends and family for constructive criticisms and then rewrite. After the third or fourth draft and when you're happy with it, you have your first complete draft.
SCRIPT SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
A copy of your script
A one page synopsis of the plot
A Writing CV (to include details of any readings / productions you may have had)
A SAE. Please include an SAE for our reply, even if you don't want your script returned.
We can only reply to you or return your script if a Stamped Addressed envelope is supplied.
Please do not call or email us to check the progress of your script. If you want to be sure that we have received it, please also included a stamped addressed postcard that we can post back to you when we receive the script.
Please do not send your script via registered post or any method that involves signing for a package. Please also ensure that you have affixed correct postage for your script.
Please do not deliver your script by hand. Please post it.
We cannot accept scripts by email.
Please send to
Jane Fallowfield, Literary Manager
Finborough Theatre
118 Finborough Road
London
SW10 9ED
or email
literarydepartment@finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Please only use these methods of contacting us about literary matters.
OTHER INFORMATION
For hire details, please email us for a copy of our information pack here
For all the information you might need on new writing, visit Writernet
