How to find playwrights and sketch writers in NYC?

May 16, 2005 11:29 PM

A friend and I are producing and directing a biweekly variety-type theater show. We've run our own weekly show much like this with our own creative crew for a number of months, so the production angle is quite familiar, but we need fresh writing blood from outside our social circle. We'd like to open our submissions to playwrights, sketch writers, monologists, and the like, but it's an awfully big city. What are the best ways to find such people willing to submit writing, especially in NYC? Craigslist leaps out as the obvious choice, as does flyering up colleges, but there must be other options as well.

We'd also be fine with people outside NYC, as long as they don't mind not seeing their material performed in person. Oh, and we can't pay people, although we can give Scout's Honor that we'll credit them appropriately and not perform their work without their permission, and so on and so forth.

posted by Sticherbeast to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Have you tried posting flyers at area improv theatres? I don't know the NYC scene, but here in Los Angeles places like ImprovOlympic, The Groundlings, and Acme have more sketch artists than they have slots to fill.

Also, you're likely to get a better caliber of material this way. The signal-to-noise ratio at a place like Craigslist for any sort of written material must be terrible.

Sort of that, you may want to try an ad in "Backstage East" or some similar screenwriting publications -- however, writers are sometimes afraid to post to these things out of fear their material will be taken from them, and someone else will profit from their hard work.
posted by herc at 12:36 AM on May 17, 2005

Yeah, I specifically wouldn't go to Craislist for the reason herc says -- I'd expect 99% crap that way. The improv theatre suggestion is great. Are there other similar venues, like performance art spaces, coffeehouses, etc. that have open mic nights for monologues? As for online word-of-mouth, I think you'd get a lot more mileage out of a specific theatre mailing list or discussion forum -- i'm thinking of something like BigCheap here in LA. Also, if you know anybody who teaches improv/playwriting/solo writing/etc., could you ask them to announce it in their classes?

oh, and for those of us out of NYC who might be interested in submitting, how might one go about getting your submission info?
posted by scody at 12:54 AM on May 17, 2005

Try Shooting People, a electronic mailing list for film types. I haven't read their New York list, but I subscribe to their London list, and it frequently has this sort of request.
posted by yankeefog at 2:56 AM on May 17, 2005

Helium Knowledge - lots of playwrights and screenwriters hang out here.
posted by ericb at 6:45 AM on May 17, 2005

Try working the NYC Fringe Festival network. You should be able to find lots of playwrights, actors, and performance artists who are open to new ideas and looking for exposure. Try contacting the Fringe office to see if they have upcoming events planned, or if they have some kind of bulletin where you could post a call for submissions. Or try attending events and passing out flyers to people who attend. Since Fringe Festival artists are vetted by committee in NYC, you can be assured that they'll be consistently professional and generally talented folks. In my experience, it's tough to just post for creative talent--you have to do a lot of the legwork and networking yourself. Find communities that are doing work that interests you--find out where all the playwrights stage rough readings, for instance--and get involved.
posted by hamster at 8:27 AM on May 17, 2005