Being present...

written by Toksvig

This evening, a rather large group of musical theatre writers and composers are going to gather in a room with some representatives of the Writers Guild and the Musicians Union. Also in the room, we might find people from the Arts Council, some of the major new musical support groups, maybe some agents who represent writers, some academics, maybe a theatre critic or two... but predominantly writers and composers.

This event is about writers and composers. It's not for us, but about us.

It's certainly not for us to ask the people on the panel about the specific nuances of the business of writing musicals.

Mostly because none of them are musical theatre writers, but also because they already have all that information right there on the Writers Guild website, for anyone (even non-members) to download and read.

See the Musical Theatre section on the Rates and Agreements page for more info:

http://www.writersguild.org.uk/about-us/rates-agreements

If you didn't know that, and if you don't have the chance to read through all the info today, then feel free to throw your specific questions @AnotherNibble on Twitter. Either myself or someone else will probably have some pretty quick recall skills when it comes to what's in those documents.

Tonight's event certainly is about how we can broaden the business of writing musicals, to provide more of us with more opportunity to need specific answers about the business.

It's also about how we can empower the unions and support groups to do more of the supporting that they exist to do, to ensure that we're being treated fairly and equally, and to help us make more work, better.

I hope you've had the chance to watch some of the videos I've been putting online in The Larder's YouTube channel.

Not to worry if you haven't: I'm going to bring the main questions into the room and summarise, as an introduction to the event.

Don't forget that you can bring any question or discussion to the Twitter feed, and you can comment on these blog posts, and on the videos.

The only way to find out what kind of information you need is if you ask for it - on social media, or by email: the sooner you get the questions out there, the sooner someone can give you an answer. Or several possible answers, which I think is better: the more informed you are, the easier for you to choose what is right for you and your work.

Here is today's video.

Thanks for engaging in this series of videos and blog posts. After the event this evening, there will be more, so keep an eye out.

Thank you for your kind support...

written by Toksvig

In the video, I talk about the Arts Council and their Grants for the Arts. At the event on Thursday (which is, I'm afraid, now sold out) the wonderfully supportive James Hadley from ACE will be in the room to chat informally with writers and composers about applying to the Arts Council for support.

I urge you to bring questions about your applications to him, and if you don't currently have an application in progress or in mind... why not? What could you apply for? Maybe that's your question for him, actually...

Recently whenever I approach a potential production partner, the very first thing they say, before I've even asked, is "We don't have any money". It makes me crazy, because actually, I don't need money.

I mean, I do, obviously. But I can and do apply to ACE, and other places that really do have money. The other thing I need, though, is in-kind support.

The ACE GFA application form has a whole section for you to fill in on the in-kind support you're getting, and they will take into account the financial value of that support. Not to mention that collaboration is a great thing, and the more I have good and wise people supporting my projects, the better the work, the more fun it is to make.

So my current quest is to discover in what ways companies can offer in-kind support which isn't a huge drain on their resources, but which is truly, actively helpful to me in making work.

Here's some stuff I think might fall under that umbrella:

- Box office support for ticket sales

- Use of an empty space like a bar or something, out of hours, for a rehearsal or reading

- Marketing support in the form of advice, or the use of mailing lists, or even the printing/photocopying of posters or leaflets

- Advertising in their programmes / venue

- Dramaturgical support

- Set, costume, props, lighting/sound equipment from the in-house stores

- Script photocopying

- Desk space / use of a phone line for a day

Here's my particular favourite, which I can't imagine anyone saying yes to, but I really, really want it to happen. Everywhere. What if we could have the stage for a few minutes before each performance, to do a live trailer of our work for the audience?

Live theatre trailers. It's the future.

Here's today's video.

Don't forget to come and chat with us on Twitter @AnotherNibble