Different Stages Conference Report

Federation of Scottish Theatre; Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; Scottish Society of Playwrights

11th & 12th November 2015

Contents

1. Introduction and executive summary ...... 3 2. DIFFERENT STAGES DAY 1 – SCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER ...... 5 3. Welcome to Different Stages from Hugh Hodgart, Director of Drama, Dance, Production & Screen, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland...... 6 4. Keynote speech from Fin Kennedy, playwright and Artistic Director of Tamasha Theatre Company ...... 7 5. Keynote speech from Julie Ellen, Artistic Director, Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling ...... 23 6. Presentation from Christine Hamilton Consulting ...... 25 7. Exploratory discussions ...... 32 7.1 Scotland: A Place for Playwrights? Fraser White from Christine Hamilton Consulting ...... 32 7.2 Short Plays ...... 39 7.3 Shared Authorship ...... 41 7.4 Development & Dramaturgy ...... 44 7.5 Scratch Performances & readings ...... 49 8. Question & Answer session chaired by Hugh Hodgart, with Julie Ellen and Fin Kennedy ...... 53 9. DIFFERENT STAGES DAY 2 – SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY 12 NOVEMBER ...... 56 10. Evaluation of Different Stages ...... 57

1. Introduction and executive summary

Different Stages was a two-day conference which took place in November 2015. It was the first partnership event between the Federation of Scottish Theatre; Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland; the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; and, the Scottish Society of Playwrights.

The Federation of Scottish Theatre (FST) The development body for professional dance, opera and theatre in Scotland, bringing the sector together to speak with a collective voice, to share resources and expertise and to promote collaborative working.

Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland The nation's only arts organisation exclusively dedicated to the long-term support, development and promotion of Scotland's playwrights. One of its key aims is to, “facilitate critical thinking about playwriting through encouraging and facilitating debate and discussion, and by advocating for Scotland’s playwrights.”

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) A national and international centre of excellence for performing arts education.

Scottish Society of Playwrights (SSP) A membership organisation representing the interests of professional playwrights in Scotland. It is affiliated with the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

Different Stages built on discussions and previous work between the different organisations. It was also requested by playwrights and other theatre practitioners as a follow-up to the Open Space event organised by Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland during their 10th anniversary year in 2014.

Different Stages aimed to:

 Discuss the issues around new playwriting in Scotland within a wider UK context

 Promote good practice in the commissioning, development and production of new playwriting in Scotland

 Encourage good relationships between playwrights and production companies, independent producers and directors

 In the longer term, encourage more new plays to be commissioned, developed and produced in Scotland through better quality of processes and relationships

 Raise the profile of new playwriting in Scotland

A core steering group of representatives from the FST, Playwrights’ Studio and the SSP met regularly from late 2014, to structure the programme, decide the content and agree each partner’s contribution.

This report contains notes from each of the sessions and a summary of the evaluation of the event.

Different Stages was funded in part from a wider project fund awarded to Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland by Creative Scotland as part of a Creative Economy (Sustainable Development) grant. Financial and in-kind contributions were made by the FST, SSP and RCS.

The partners would like to thank the following organisations and individuals:

Hugh Hodgart for chairing the conference.

The keynote speakers – Julie Ellen, Christine Hamilton and Fin Kennedy.

Fraser White for hosting a surgery on the research report from Scotland: A Place for Playwrights?

Nicola McCartney, Philip Howard, Barrie Hunter, Gemma McElhinney, Nicola Roy, Anita Vettesse, Mark Wood and Angus Miller for the script development workshop on Wolf Road by Nicola McCartney.

The FST Producers Hub and FST members – Sarah Gray, Rosie Kellagher, Michael O’Neil, Dani Rae, Lesley Anne Rose and Cat Tyre for hosting surgeries and co-facilitating discussions.

The SSP members – Peter Arnott, Davey Anderson, Kieran Hurley, Kathy McKean, Alan McKendrick, Martin O’Connor and Deb Jones for hosting surgeries and co-facilitating discussions.

Danny Frew for his graphic design expertise.

The CCA for physically hosting the conference as part of Playwrights’ Studio’s cultural tenancy.

Everyone who attended and gave so generously of their time, energy and enthusiasm!

Thank you!

Fiona Sturgeon Shea Creative Director Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland 19th May 2016

2. DIFFERENT STAGES DAY 1 – SCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER

Time & Venue Activity 10 – 11am Registration opens (CCA Front Desk and CCA café) Tea and coffee provided for delegates in CCA Café. 11 – 11.30am Welcome to Different Stages from (CCA Theatre) Hugh Hodgart, Director of Drama, Dance, Production & Screen, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. 11.30am – 12.30pm Keynote speeches from Fin Kennedy and (CCA Theatre) Julie Ellen

Fin will talk about his dual roles as playwright and Artistic Director of Tamasha and present some innovative ideas for developing artists and creating new work and opportunities.

Julie, Artistic Director of Macrobert Arts Centre, will reflect on successful models of collaboration and arts development, and pose some questions about leadership, ideas and places.

Questions from delegates. 12.30pm – 1.30pm LUNCH BREAK (lunch not provided) 1.30 – 2pm Presentation from Christine Hamilton (CCA Theatre) Consulting Christine Hamilton from Christine Hamilton Consulting will present some early findings from the recent survey Scotland: A Place for Playwrights? commissioned by Playwrights’ Studio and the Scottish Society of Playwrights. 2 – 2.30pm Introduction to Exploratory Discussions (CCA Theatre) Fiona Sturgeon Shea, Creative Director of Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland will explain the format for the afternoon. 2.30 – 4.30pm Exploratory Discussions (CCA Theatre, Cinema and Clubroom) Short Plays: Facilitated by Davey Anderson and Mhari Robinson Shared Authorship: Facilitated by Kieran Hurley and Mary McCluskey Development & Dramaturgy: Facilitated by Peter Arnott and Rosie Kellagher Scratch Performances & readings: Facilitated by Deb Jones and Lesley Anne Rose Scotland: A Place for Playwrights? Fraser White from Christine Hamilton Consulting will also present some statistical findings from the recent survey. 4.30 - 5pm BREAK (CCA Cafe) Tea and coffee provided for delegates in CCA Cafe 5 – 5.30pm Reflections from Exploratory Discussions (CCA Theatre) Opportunity for facilitator pairs to offer feedback from each exploratory discussion. 5.30 – 6pm Panel Discussion with Fin Kennedy and (CCA Theatre) Julie Ellen Opportunity for final questions from delegates 6pm Drinks Reception - delegates are invited to carry (CCA Café) on the conversations in the bar.

3. Welcome to Different Stages from Hugh Hodgart, Director of Drama, Dance, Production & Screen, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Hugh opened the conference by welcoming the delegates to the beginning of a conversation - an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas. He then gave a brief outline of the day, with a few thoughts on where the conversation might progress during the two days.

“This is the most culturally ambitious government that Scotland has ever had. We believe that public funding of the arts is a fundamental good and we want the opportunity to take this to new heights - carried on a wave of aspiration, optimism, energy and confidence.” Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs.

“New writing is the lifeblood of Scottish Theatre,” Creative Scotland Theatre Sector Review.

Hugh reminded delegates of the question the conference sought to explore, “working together, how do we ensure that excellent new plays are written, developed and produced? How can we better serve the audiences of Scotland, and beyond, with the best and most diverse new work?”

Hugh went on to describe the nature of the Scottish theatre sector as, “something really, really special. But it’s brittle rather than fragile. It’s big enough and also small enough. There’s no more than one or two degrees of separation across the whole Scottish cultural sector. There’s a spirit of collaboration and shared interest. There’s a generational change. Austerity is a focusing mechanism. In times of uncertainty there are always opportunities.”

Hugh then talked about some wider strategic issues:

 The will is strong at Scottish Government and Creative Scotland level but there is a reality about resources. Standstill cuts and real cuts are an issue.

 Skills development - do we have the right skills for Scotland to really thrive?

 Diversity and Equalities - is everyone getting a fair chance to make art and enjoy it?

 Growth and economic impact – the Creative Industries are now more important to Scotland than Oil and Gas sectors.

Hugh then ended on a quote from the playwright, Davey Anderson, who had been part of the group organising Different Stages:

“This is a time of great opportunity for theatre-makers and audiences in Scotland. We have a growing hunger to discover new voices, new stories and new ways of telling those stories in live performance, which is leading the sector to expand and diversify.

However, it is also a challenging moment for professional playwrights and other theatre- makers navigating this changing landscape, especially when it comes to questions of working terms and conditions in an environment where resources often lag behind ambition.

This event is a timely invitation to explore answers to all these questions and more, through discussion and sharing of each other’s experiences. We are delighted that Playwrights’ Studio, the Federation of Scottish Theatre, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Scottish Society of Playwrights are teaming up to make this happen. Please join us. We look forward to a vibrant and illuminating conversation.”

4. Keynote speech from Fin Kennedy, playwright and Artistic Director of Tamasha Theatre Company

Fin Kennedy Playwright and Artistic Director, Tamasha www.tamasha.org.uk

Government cuts to the Arts Council 2011-2015 • 29.6% cut in 2010, effective from April 2012 • 206 former National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) culled in 2012-15 funding round • In-year cuts of 1-2% to NPOs from 2012-14 • 8% cut to Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in 2014 = 5% cut to ACE • Majority of venues on standstill funding at 2014/15 levels in 2015-2018 funding round. • Autumn statement Nov 2015: DCMS asked to model for 25-40% cuts…

In Battalions: An accidental lobbyist

“Arts Council cuts are having no effect” - Ed Vaizey, UK Culture Minister

www.finkennedy.blogspot.co.uk

In Battalions (2013)

Key findings

Impact of budget cuts on new writing production

• Cancellation of one or more productions since April 2012 – affecting nearly two-thirds of respondents (16 out of 26) • Fewer new plays being produced – cited by just over half of all respondents (14 out of 26), when comparing seasons programmed since April 2012 with seasons prior. • Theatres experiencing multiple funding cuts – affecting just over half of respondents (14 out of 26). Includes cuts from City and County Councils, trusts and foundations, reduced fees from venues buying in touring shows and decreased box office revenue.

Key findings

Impact of budget cuts on writer development opportunities

• Fewer full play commissions for writers – cited by just over half of all respondents (14 out of 26). • Cuts to new writing Research and Development spending – cited by two-fifths of respondents (11 out of 26), when comparing 2010-11 with 2012-13. • Putting new plays on for shorter runs – cited by two-fifths (10 out of 26). • Having to insist on smaller cast sizes cited by half of all respondents (13 out of 26). • Having to limit workshop time on new plays – cited by two-fifths (11 out of 26). • Cutbacks to playwrights’ residencies and attachments – cited by nearly one-fifth (5 out of 26). • Cutbacks to new writer development schemes cited by just under one quarter (6 out of 26. • Cutbacks to open access workshops (free playwriting classes open to all) – cited by just under one quarter (6 out of 26). • Cutbacks to unsolicited play readings – cited by two-fifths (10 out of 26).

Key findings

Other measures being undertaken in response to budget cuts: • Offering lower commission fees to writers • Producing more revivals • Reducing rehearsal periods • Working with fewer touring partners • Downsizing offices

Common Themes: vox pops

• Serious concerns around professional development for early and mid-career playwrights, particularly ‘bridging the gap’ between early writing experience and sustaining a professional career. • The disproportionate effect of the cuts on regional theatres. • Serious concerns over small scale touring. • Interconnectedness: cuts to one affecting several. • Fear of risk: the effect on theatres’ programmes. • Concerns over young people’s theatre and work in the community. • The loss of writer development agencies affecting regional writers in particular. • The burden of fundraising redirecting staff time away from core artistic activity, and the sustainability of this. • The wider economic background affecting audience’s abilities to spend.

Lost Arts:

“Arts and culture are being attacked from all sides, caught in a perfect storm of Government cuts, local authority cuts, audiences with less money to spend and increasing competition for what philanthropy there is … There is a startling lack of understanding among decision-makers of how the sector works and what it has the power to do – including the contribution it can make to Britain’s economic recovery.”

Open letter 12 June 2013

Signed by: Matthew Dunster Anders Lustgarten Melly Still David Edgar Duncan Macmillan Sir Tom Stoppard CBE Sam Adamson David Eldridge Ian MacNeil Peter Straughan Bola Agbaje Samantha Ellis Prof Frank McGuinness Colin Teevan Oladipo Agboluaje Sir Richard Eyre CBE Dame Helen Mirren Jack Thorne Michael Attenborough Vicky Featherstone Abi Morgan David Tse Ka-Shing Deborah Aydon Michael Frayn Tom Morris Laura Wade Sam Bain Robin French Lucy Morrison Harriet Walter Simon Beaufoy Peter Gill OBE Anthony Neilson Dawn Walton Richard Bean Lisa Goldman Rufus Norris Matthew Warchus Jack Bradley James Graham Nick Payne Steve Waters Howard Brenton David Greig Lucy Prebble Timberlake Wertenbaker Leo Butler Edward Hall Rebecca Prichard Sir Arnold Wesker Caryl Churchill Sheila Hancock CBE Andre Ptaszynski Samuel West Ryan Craig David Harrower Mark Ravenhill Peter Whelan Martin Crimp Alison Hindell Dan Rebellato Amanda Whittington Tim Crouch Robert Holman Ian Rickson Roy Williams OBE John Crowley Judith Johnson Mhora Samuel Penelope Wilton OBE April de Angelis Dennis Kelly Max Stafford Clark Nick Dear Lucy Kirkwood Polly Stenham John Donnelly Mike Leigh OBE Emma Stenning Dominic Dromgoole Rebecca Lenkiewicz Simon Stephens

Media coverage

Ed Vaizey challenged in Parliament

Delphi study research question

"In what ways can theatres, theatre-makers and the Arts Council work together to protect risk- taking on new work for the stage, without creating significant extra expense?"

In Battalions Delphi Study (2014)

Ideas to protect risk-taking on new work for the stage

Delphi study Parliamentary launch

Hosted by Kerry McCarthy MP (Labour, Bristol), chair of the Performers’ Alliance All-Party Parliamentary Group.

Speakers:

Neil Darlison, Arts Council England Dennis Kelly, playwright David Edgar, playwright Elizabeth Newman, Bolton Octagon Giles Croft, Nottingham Playhouse Jack Bradley, Sonia Friedman Productions Ed Kemp, principal, RADA Sudha Bhuchar, Tamasha

Speech in the Lords

Earl of Clancarty:

“The arts organisation most at risk is the organisation of one, the playwright, the individual artist who, if not wholly, certainly significantly provides the raison d’être for the existence of the larger arts organisations … If that crucial individual risk-taking and experimentation is not nurtured, the arts will not progress but stagnate.”

Possibly a result?

Many voices: What Next?

Many voices: My Theatre Matters

Many voices: Soho Theatre/ACE infographics

Arts Council / Centre for Economic and Business Research report (2014)

The contribution of the arts and culture to the national economy

• Arts and culture makes up 0.4 per cent of GDP • A significant return on less than 0.1 per cent of government spending. • The industry generates more per pound invested than the health, wholesale and retail, and professional and business services sectors. • Arts and culture businesses make a turnover of £12.8 billion, providing 0.45 per cent of total UK employment • This contribution has grown since 2008 despite the UK economy as a whole remaining below its output level before the global financial crisis. • Culture plays a significant role in attracting at least £856 million of tourist spending. • Subsidised arts and culture plays an important role in supporting the commercial creative industries, which make up nearly 10 per cent of GDP and 11 per cent of UK service exports.

The diversity deficit

Sudha Bhuchar, Tamasha:

“Subsidy is essential so artists and theatre companies can take risks! Tamasha's East is East and our musical Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral both started life as huge shows with big casts, bursting out of tiny studios. Both went on to have various remounts on the middle scale with East is East the film being named as the point of cross- over of British Asian culture into the mainstream. My children's play Child of the Divide about the experiences of children during the partition of India would be deemed too risky in the current climate and would never get commissioned. It is now on a recommended reading list for A-level and AS level English literature. All this work could not have happened without proper subsidy. Cuts are endangering diverse voices from coming to the fore. Even proven classics and revivals from BME artists are harder to realise. It is essential that work from Britain's multicultural communities comes to the fore to truly reflect our changing society.“

ACE gets serious? • 13% of people employed in the ACE portfolio are from black and ethnic minority (BME) groups • National average = 15 % • On TV and radio 96% of actors are white. • Musical theatre = 70% white. • National Theatre = 85% white. • Fewer than 1 in 10 arts leadership roles are BME.

““Too often, talented black and Asian recruits have been thrust into performing instead of being encouraged to progress towards leadership.”

- Peter Bazalgette, ACE chair

Oh dear

The Mulberry School connection

“Fin Kennedy and Mulberry School for Girls … the best writer/education partnership there is”

- The Scotsman

My Name Is… by Sudha Bhuchar (2014 and 2015)

www.tamasha.org.uk/my-name-is

Blood by Emteaz Hussain (2015)

www.tamasha.org.uk/blood

Tamasha Developing Artists (TDA)

“I am a writer and without Tamasha I’d still be a taxi driver. My voice as a northern Asian would be muted and my attempts to open a window on a largely unexplored world would be firmly shut.” - Ishy Din, writer of Snookered

Funding backdrop

Tamasha has absorbed: • 11% cut from Arts Council England in 2011. • In-year cuts of 1-2% from ACE every year from 2012-2014. • Included in the 2015-2018 NPO portfolio on standstill funding at 2014-15 levels (5% cut in real terms). • 100% cut to local authority funding (GLA) • Cuts equivalent to £80,000 p.a. in an organisation with c.£500,000 turnover. • Touring costs (Equity/Writers’ Guild rates, travel, accommodation, materials) continue to rise. • Box office income (ticket sales and guarantees) continues to fall year on year – in line with most touring companies.

New initiatives: Catalyst

Tamasha 25th anniversary gala fundraiser at the May Fair Hotel

• Drinks and 3-course meal for 150 guests • Staged readings from back catalogue • Speeches, testimonies, short film • Emphasis on ‘next generation’ • Fundraising raffle and live/silent auctions • Live music • £20k raised (less £10k costs)

New initiatives: Donor matching

May Fair Hotel theatre:

• 201 seats – largest private theatre in zone 1

• Offered to Tamasha pro bono for future fundraising

• Performances/readings planned of forthcoming shows for invited audience of patrons

• ‘Adopt-a-Playwright’ model

New initiatives: Tamasha Playwrights

Aims

• Long-term career development in a supportive environment to 8 emerging playwrights per year from culturally diverse backgrounds.

• To train playwrights as producers, fundraisers, workshop leaders and project managers, as well as offering craft-based session on playwriting itself.

• To support and encourage group members to be the creative leads on their own project ideas, to empower them to make a living as artists in between play commissions.

• To factor in regular showcase opportunities to promote the writers and their work to the professional theatre industry.

Projects

• Scratch night and digital publication

• Leila & Justice, Inc. – audio drama podcast

• The Agency – diverse playwrights-for-hire to schools and youth groups, for workshops and bespoke commissions.

New initiatives: Schoolwrights

• UK’s first centrally managed and quality controlled playwrights-in- schools training scheme.

• Draws together 2, 4 or 6 local schools into a network of host organisations for playwrights’ residences.

• Runs over entire school year.

•Playwrights and students as co- creators of new plays

•Professional development for teachers as well as students.

•Performs on main stage of partner venues – ‘parity of esteem’ with main work.

www.tamasha.org.uk/schoolwrights

New initiatives: new partnerships

Migration Museum:

• Partnering to deliver series of schools workshops inspired by the museum’s collection.

• Delivered by Tamasha TDA artists, trained and overseen by Tamasha.

•5 x schools around UK in pilot year.

• 5 x 30-min plays for young people performed and digitally published.

New initiatives: Taxi Tales • Site specific community project

• Playwright works with real-life minicab drivers to develop monologues for the drivers to perform to customers on the back seat.

• 2015 pilot 3 x 10-min monologues with 3 drivers in Stockton-on-Tees.

• Monologues audio recorded and Audience feedback 2015 pilot: (eventually) added to interactive map of the UK. “Fantastic! A completely immersive experience and sensory journey. Unique. Intimate and could really connect with drivers.” • Format trialled and costed up for further development in Stockton “I loved being in the taxi it felt so real...such a journey...Please and Bradford in 2016. come back to Stockton!”

“Love the concept and actually being in the taxis – the drivers www.tamasha.org.uk/taxi-tales did an excellent job! Amazing!”

New initiatives: Emerging company mentoring

Three emerging companies attached to Tamasha for a year for free advice and mentoring:

• Beyond Face, Plymouth – BAME youth theatre led by theatremaker Alix Harris.

• Mulberry School’s Alumni Theatre Company, Tower Hamlets – for former students 16+ led by trainee producer Afsana Begum.

• Reaching Higher, Croydon – new theatre company for care leavers led by playwright Titi Ige.

The elevator pitch: it’s about Value not Cost

The right-wing default position is to be hostile to direct state subsidy (of anything) because they thinks it breeds laziness and rewards failure. Tories have an unquestioning belief in the power and morality of the free market – i.e. if our work can’t attract enough paying customers to cover its costs then it has no right to exist.

The trick is to get them to understand:

a) The limits of the free market on the small scale. b) To be open to broader definitions of value (i.e. non-financial)

Point out:

Due to the size of the auditoria (75-200 seats) small-scale theatre is basically economically unviable. Unless you are going to charge £100 a ticket, which no-one would pay, it will never make back more than it costs on box office alone. That isn’t our fault, it’s a bricks-and-mortar issue every generation of theatremakers deals with.

This then leads to the second point because once you have established this you can then ask: Does that mean small-scale theatre has no value?

Non-financial value Patently it does have value and you can list them:

• An entry point into the profession for new talent and indeed all other media including very lucrative ones like TV and film. • Cultural entitlement for audiences in hard to reach places or communities. • Representation of the full breadth of the nation on stage. • Opportunities for young people, especially literacy, articulacy, self confidence and emotional intelligence. • The chance address the big issues of the day, usually ignored by more commercial fare. • An open and tolerant society and showing this to the world. • UK Plc and its exports, including the ‘soft power’ of an internationally-respected cultural scene. • A smart and educated modern society prepared to reflect on itself and to give all citizens a chance to do so • A healthy and cohesive society; empathy for others you might not meet in real life.

None of this makes money (at least not at first) but then plenty of things don’t make money and we recognise their value: • Schools don’t make money • The NHS doesn’t make money • The military doesn’t make money • Parliament itself doesn’t make money Does that mean they are without value too?

If all else fails…

Turn the argument around. If profit is the sole arbiter of value then the UK’s greatest cultural achievements, the high water mark of our civilisation , are:

• X Factor • Tellytubbies • Harry Potter • One Direction • 50 Shades of Grey • Grand Theft Auto • Big Brother.

Links

In Battalions report 2013 bit.ly/1JGFe1A In Battalions Delphi study 2014 bit.ly/1KVXnCZ In Battalions campaign summary finkennedy.co.uk/in-battalions What Next? www.whatnextculture.co.uk My Theatre Matters www.mytheatrematters.com Arts Council / CEBR report 2014 bit.ly/1M9SLxH My Name Is… by Sudha Bhuchar www.tamasha.org.uk/my-name-is Blood by Emteaz Hussain www.tamasha.org.uk/blood Tamasha Developing Artists (TDA) www.tamasha.org.uk/developing-artists ACE Catalyst scheme www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply- funding/funding-programmes/catalyst-arts Tamasha Playwrights www.tamasha.org.uk/tamasha-playwrights Schoolwrights www.tamasha.org.uk/schoolwrights Taxi Tales www.tamasha.org.uk/taxi-tales

5. Keynote speech from Julie Ellen, Artistic Director, Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling

A Journey Towards Excellence

Julie began her speech by talking about how she is still passionately committed to playwrights, five years from moving on from Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, where she was founding Creative Director.

Playwrights and me – a personal perspective over 10 years She then talked about her personal perspective over 10 years at the helm of Playwrights’ Studio and how Scotland got to where it is now in relation to playwrights. Playwrights are delivering an incredible quality of work. They have driven projects forward, and are contributing to new theatre-making methods.

When Playwrights’ Studio was founded, it felt like the nation was investing in the idea of Scotland as a country of playwrights. This built upon key milestones like:  The legend of the great playwrights’ strike - a significant stimulus for playwriting in Scotland.  The commitment to the FST/SSP contract was strengthened following that.  The Traverse took steps to lead the way on playwright development.  A Play, A Pie and A Pint was formed. This provided a practical form of opportunity for plays and playwrights.  The National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) was formed, with a founding director, Vicky Featherstone, who was firmly from a new writing background, having previously run Paines Plough and had a successful career as a freelance director of mostly new work.  RCS started the MA course in Classical and Contemporary Text. Playwrights’ Studio contribute by facilitating the commissions for the playwrights, and engage directly with the students (the emerging actors and directors on the course). This brings together the benefits of what playwrights and new plays can create.

Julie was interviewed by playwrights themselves for the founding Directorship of Playwrights’ Studio. The first thing that Julie and her colleague Caroline Newall (now at the NTS) did was ask playwrights to come in – both on the board and as Associate Playwrights - to move the organisation forward. With the mandate of playwrights and the strong tradition of playwrights as leaders, Playwrights’ Studio was able to grow support for the play and the contribution of playwrights to the larger theatre scene.

Who Cares? Why I think playwrights matter After three and a half years at Playwrights’ Studio, we noticed that 70% of the submissions to Fuse (now the National Script Reading Service) were coming from men, but 70% of those attending workshops were female. This is levelling out and diversifying, but not nearly fast enough.

Television and newspapers and most controlling voices come from a very narrow place – we don’t even trust the BBC anymore. We need stimulus to our thinking to keep the oxygen coming in. As we age, we have to work harder to stop our thinking from becoming reactionary. Observing performance is, as the playwright Jo Clifford describes it, “an empathy gym.” How do we help people widen their thinking and their feeling?

The single authored play is something worth protecting. Many countries sought Playwrights’ Studio out to ask how we developed playwriting in Scotland. Shared voices are important on stages, but a single authored play can also chime through the process to an individual. That translated, modified dialogue is really important. Playwrights are key stimulators.

What are we talking about? Translating ideas to fill seats The pressure to sell seats is always there. There is an audience there. Our future strength will come from our dialogue with wider society. What does it mean to be an artistic director in a non-producing theatre? What is meaningful to the lives of wider society?

Provocations 1. How might you help to lead the process - as a playwright or as a theatre-maker? What is the most effective way to protect the sector for the future?

2. Where is the urgency in your work, so that you can help the venue translate that to audiences?

3. How can we make sure that there’s enough activity around the production of new work to translate that to audiences?

6. Presentation from Christine Hamilton Consulting

Scotland: a place for playwrights?

Background Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland and the Scottish Society of Playwrights commissioned me and my colleague Fraser White to undertake a consultancy looking at the condition of playwrights and playwriting in Scotland today. The aim was to better understand the context in which playwrights operate and to uncover more about individual needs. We were also asked to identify areas of growth and development.

There are two major aspects to the study. One is a survey of playwrights to ascertain the amount of activity and earnings in 2014/2015. The other is a series of interviews with playwrights, producers and others involved in funding and developing theatre in Scotland. We also interviewed some people outside Scotland who have knowledge of, or interest in, this work. Through these interviews we explored in more depth the issues raised in the survey. This conference is part of this fact-finding/consultation.

We are on course to report early next year. The survey has been completed and analysed and most of the interviews now done.

Before we bring the data together into a final report with conclusions and recommendations, we want to use today as an opportunity to present some of our findings and get feedback from you.

What I am going to do in this session is to lay out some of the issues which are emerging. Later Fraser will present some of the detail from the survey.

What is the problem to which we are seeking a solution? In our proposal, we summarised the context for playwriting in Scotland as we saw it at that time.

On one hand:  Playwriting in Scotland is flourishing thanks in no small way to over a decade of work by Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and the efforts over 40 years of the Scottish Society of Playwrights.  Larger theatres and companies such as NTS and Citizens’ are programming new writing. There is an audience for new work - underlined by recent research published on new work in the UK.  Scotland’s playwrights have their work performed all over the English-speaking world as well as being translated into a large number of languages.  Playwrights have been seen to take a leading role in ‘civic Scotland’ with their engagement in the wider political discourse - not least during the 2014 Scottish Referendum campaign.

And yet:  There are concerns about the rewards to playwrights for their work.  Where do playwrights go next after the development work by Playwrights’ Studio and others? Life is tough for mid-career writers. While a few plays get more than one production.

 Accessing international networks is difficult for the playwright and TV appears to be a closed book in Scotland for most (perhaps not true of writing for radio).  And there are gaps – plays in Gaelic, plays by non-white writers and migrants from elsewhere in Europe, and the ever-concerning issue of gender balance. Therefore, the aim of this research was to uncover the evidence that tells the story of the current place of the playwright and playwriting in Scotland today and potential areas of growth.

So what is the story? These were our assumptions, and that is our aim, but what is the story?

At the start of this process, I was clear that if all that came out of this work was the conclusion that playwrights earn less than required to sustain themselves from writing, then we would have failed. While it is true and important that very few can earn a living from writing for theatre alone, we were and are determined to get beneath this and look at the position of writers and new work in theatre. This is, of course, about the playwright but it is also about the producer, the audience and wider civic society.

Let’s start with the good news:

In Scotland The survey was distributed to a closed group of 186 playwrights who either live in Scotland or have a strong Scottish connection. One-hundred-and-twenty-nine responses were obtained in total (69%), 106 of which were complete (57%), making it the most comprehensive survey of Scottish playwrights ever carried out.

The survey identified 152 Scottish commissions in 2014/15. Twenty-four of the 152 were radio, film or TV commissions. Radio was the third highest source of commissions after the SSP/FST commission and A Play, Pie and a Pint operates under different, negotiated, terms.

In the same period, 57 playwrights, about half the respondents, wrote at least 98 new plays that were produced in Scotland in 2014/15.

The survey also identified a large range of theatres commissioning work including the regularly funded theatres and companies as well as those in receipt of project funding - NTS, Citizens, Lyceum, Dundee, Traverse, Tron, Horsecross, Mull, Eden Court, Macrobert, Pitlochry, A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Lung Ha’s, Fire Exit, Vanishing Point, Stellar Quines, Catherine Wheels, Random Accomplice, Magnetic North, Company Chordelia and many more. A full list will appear in the report along with analysis of length and size of the commission.

Thirty-four playwrights (29%) had at least 62 second or subsequent productions produced in Scotland in 2014/15 which is at least reassuring that some plays do get revivals.

I will come back to the issue of earnings later (and Fraser will go into this in more detail in his session). In broad terms:  The SSP/FST contract for full commissions is better than similar agreements which exist in England and there is no evidence, from the survey and interviews, that any of the Creative Scotland funded organisations are breaking that agreement where it applies. It is, of course, the role of SSP to intervene where this happens and Creative Scotland is clear that its funding is conditional on industry rates being paid.

 The development work of the Playwrights’ Studio is well-regarded in particular the mentoring scheme which is credited as having been responsible for developing a strong network of playwrights. Internationally  The largest number of non-Scottish commissions came from, not surprisingly, England - 22 in all (including the National Theatre of Great Britain and the Royal Court), two from the United States, and one each from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Italy. Three of these were translated into another language.  21 playwrights (18%) wrote 21 new plays produced outside Scotland in 2014/15  29 playwrights (25%) had at least 68 second or subsequent productions produced outside Scotland in 2014/15  23 playwrights (20%) said they had written plays originally produced in Scotland that went on to tour beyond Scotland in 2014/15. Countries visited by Scottish productions in that year include England, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, United States, Canada, New Zealand, China, India, Brazil, Jamaica, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Trinidad.

So in summary, Scotland has a strong playwriting culture. The community of playwrights is well connected, encouraged in no small way by the role of Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and in particular through its mentoring scheme. It has an international reach and strong reputation. And, what’s more, is recognised by Creative Scotland as being important in terms of the international reputation of Scotland’s culture.

Crisis or not? Few suggest that there is a full-blown crisis in Scotland’s playwriting but most we spoke to believe there is fragility in the system. While all had concerns about what is happening, no one was absolutely clear about where the problem lies or indeed how to tackle it. As one playwright put it: It would never occur to me not to write a play because I was not getting paid for it. There is me. There is the audience. On the other hand I want to be paid for what I do. […] Sometimes when I hear, “I really want to write this play but no one will pay me,” I think, “well you don’t really want to write the play.”

This reflects the complexity of the issue. The urge to write and have work produced versus the need to be paid and make a living.

First, some of the survey findings:  48% of playwrights in our survey did not receive any commissions in 2014/2015 and therefore not surprisingly 45% earned nothing from playwriting in that year.  The most common category of Scottish commission length was ‘up to 60 minutes’, which made up 42% of the total. Marginally less than a quarter of Scottish commissions were ’60 to under 90 minutes’ and a similar number proportion were ‘over 90 minutes’. Eleven percent of Scottish commissions were ‘up to 30 minutes’.  We gathered some important information on the profile of playwrights, most interestingly on the issue of women playwrights. While women made up 55% of respondents, when analysis of gender was applied only to those who had received commissions within or outside Scotland in 2014/15, the distribution was marginally more evenly split: 53% were female and 47% male.  However when we looked at the FST/SSP contracts: of the 60 identified in the survey, 39 (65%) went to men and 21 (35%) to women.

 Survey responses also suggest that females received more short commissions than men (60% of commissions up to 30 minutes went to women) while men were commissioned to write more long plays (70% of commissions over 90 minutes went to men).

Issues from the interviews Development v production Starting with the support for new and emerging playwrights, there is a view that maybe development is seen to raise expectations and mask a problem: It is almost as bad to have development of work with nowhere to put it as having no development at all. At least if there is no development at all you can see the problem but there is an illusion that masses is being done for Scottish playwrights - lot of money for readings and workshops - but what any living playwright needs more than anything else is a paid production.

On the other hand, in responses to the survey and in interviews, many put huge value on the development opportunities via the work of Playwrights’ Studio, or initiatives by the Traverse or the Tron, or scratch performances, play readings, platform events, etc. Putting the work in front of an audience – especially a work in progress - is invaluable to many and of course can and does lead to commissions.

One relatively new writer said: I am a Playwrights’ Studio graduate but don’t feel like I want to graduate yet! Everything has been wonderful but every year there are 6 new playwrights and 4 new awards - what do you do next? What is that next stage? I would still love a mentor and dramaturgical support.

The challenge for emerging writers is where to go next and for SSP how to ensure proper rates are paid for the job while not standing in the way of good development opportunities.

A Play, a Pie, and a Pint It is important at this point to underline the fact that Glasgow Lunchtime Theatre has an agreement with the SSP which licences the play to A Play, a Pie, and a Pint. There are several examples of plays presented in this way going on to be fully commissioned for further touring/presentation. A Play, a Pie, and a Pint is acknowledged by emerging playwrights as a great step in their career and for the more established a chance to present work/ idea which are a good fit for a full length play. And A Play, a Pie, and a Pint is popular with audiences.

A concern for the SSP is how do you hold the line on A Play, a Pie, and a Pint when other theatres want to do the same — especially now A Play, a Pie, and a Pint is receiving Creative Scotland funding? Just as concerning is the view which comes from Creative Scotland that this kind of work is evidence of a healthy playwriting sector and the responsibility for giving a space to new writing lies with A Play, a Pie, and a Pint which is clearly not that and never pretended to be that.

So, one aspect of the impending crisis is that Scotland’s playwriting will exist on two parallel but unbridgeable strands: A Play, a Pie, and a Pint on the one hand and large scale productions happening by the NTS, the Citizens Theatre and Lyceum on the other with a bit of platform and play readings in between. Many spoke of ‘the ladder’ for playwrights which existed in the past but no longer is clear.

This becomes an issue for the Traverse, the home for new writing in Scotland. There is no criticism of the Traverse’s artistic leadership - and indeed they share this view. The recent cuts to its budget from Creative Scotland leaves it facing a challenge in being able to produce more full length new plays - although it has commissioned a number of works which are about to be delivered. The problem lies with the number of productions they are able to stage annually.

Changing face: rise of the auteur The rise of the ‘auteur’ or theatre-maker is a key point of discussion. It is described as theatre that comes out of the experience of the theatre-maker, and is produced, directed and performed by them. Often they are developed in collaboration with other artforms - dance, music, video etc.

There is a perception that the auteur-led work is somehow changing playwriting. “Are we framing it as a crisis because change is always hard and difficult?’” one artistic director asked. Yet there is a view – but not much evidence - that younger writers are shying away from ‘the play’- described by one in these terms:

Everything has its place but audiences like stories- don’t have to be conventional story- or traditional. You can do it in a variety of different ways but if you have a script, you have longevity. It can be done again and we ignore that at our peril – because you can create a hit at the festival – one off - and do another amazing thing next year, but it is fragile - of its moment. You cannot repeat.

It might also be about fashion and trends, “the cooler thing to do is to be an emerging theatre-maker and not a writer.”

However, it is difficult to see how this strand of performance/writing is diluting the form since it is not being favoured in funding or commissions. What is true is that Creative Scotland has identified this as a new trend in writing and, as several suggested, this kind of work implies a level of impressive entrepreneurialism – which does not suit everyone - but does impress Creative Scotland.

The issue as ever is about getting the work on stage and providing opportunities for that to happen. As one put it: You only get a body of work when playwrights know they are going to get their plays on. As soon as that possibility is reduced you start to get other things. They become theatre-makers.

And here is the reality: Those [theatres] most likely to do the high value commissions are the most squeezed financially. All the major producing venues have had their funding on standstill- effective cut – for about 10 years now. And in the case of Lyceum and Traverse had a cut and really are squeezed.

So, it is less about different styles of work and different ways of producing crowding out the full-length play but more about the funding and resources to present new full scale work.

Other opportunities As indicated earlier, BBC Radio is a big supporter of Scottish writing with 60 hours a year on drama and readings. In contrast, BBC Scotland’s TV output is, many said, in a very poor state with few drama commissions coming to Scotland. River City is an important training ground for writers wishing to work in television but it is not seen as being the answer to

29 drama output from Scotland. Film commissions and production is also an area in which a few have worked but again despite funding from Creative Scotland, it still remains a patchy area for Scottish writers.

The other main issue raised about TV work – and film – is the method of working. “Brutal,” is a term used by some. Although learning the craft of screen writing and storytelling in those media is one which many find challenging and interesting. It is important to recognise that, unlike theatre, the writer is not the most important person in the room. You need to have a thick skin and a particular temperament to work in TV. For those who are commissioned to write for TV network drama, the rewards are good and can sustain a life in the theatre.

Role of agent One piece of advice which established playwrights often offer to new ones is, “get an agent.” This is normally less important in theatre - especially theatre in Scotland where there is a strong support network. It is also interesting to note the number of SSP members who had spent time on the [governing] Committee [of the SSP], who said they knew the contract as well as the theatre managements.

However, for film and TV and for international work, an agent is vital.

There are no play agents in Scotland and the best way to get one from London is to have a show on at the festival or manage to get a transfer to London. This is of course a challenge for emerging playwrights.

How bad can it get? As pointed out above, the SSP/FST rates for a play commission are higher than the rates negotiated between the Writers’ Guild and the UK Theatre and Independent Theatre Council. In England, new writing is focused mainly in London - and some SSP members currently live there and some also have transfers/ or commissions.

The Royal Court is a beacon of new writing – not just in England but across the UK and the National Theatre of Great Britain also has a hugely important role to play on the large as well as smaller scale – and both of these organisations pay a proper commissioning fee, rehearsal attendance money and of course royalties.

On the other hand, there are many venues known for new writing – some funded by Arts Council England, some not, where commissions for a full play are as low as £2,500 with no paid rehearsal attendance. As they are smaller venues royalties are rarely significant. Indeed, in the case of one venue, you essentially pay to get your play on. As one writer put it, “writing is a game for the independently wealthy.”

This is not raised to suggest Scottish theatre should engage a ‘race to the bottom’. Quite the opposite. There are areas of real concern in Scotland and if these are not tackled then not only will playwrights struggle even more to survive but the door will be closed to those who do not have private means - as exists in London.

Themes and content It is not the intention of this consultancy to examine the content of Scottish theatre in the 21st century but some interesting observations were made about some of the trends and influences on Scottish theatre over the last 30-40 years and indeed the role the playwright has played in civic Scotland. Now not all writers want to write plays which have a Scottish accent or deal with broadly political issues. But from the 1970s onwards you can detect in both style and content a strand of work which strives to define who we are and what it means to be Scottish or live in Scotland. An interesting question which was raised is – following 30 devolution, the Independence Referendum, the General Election has civic Scotland caught up with what playwrights (and indeed other artists) have been saying? And if so, what is the role for the playwright now?

One comment: Are Scottish artists going to have a crisis of identity when they had nothing to rub up against? Scottish culture is one of opposition.

And another on the types of plays being written: That sense of the big new play you don’t see very often- the big serious new play- the political new play - discussing what we are doing and who we are. Maybe that’s a cultural thing and maybe we just don’t do that. Our writing has been more grassroots.’

I am not detecting any sense in which this is a crisis, more a re-alignment – as one said: If the job of Scottish theatre and literature [since 1979] has been about staking a claim for unique cultural identity so yes on those terms civic Scotland has caught up with cultural Scotland. I don’t see that as a threat for the need for art.

It was interesting to hear both producers and writers raise the question of, “where do we go from here?”

Re-framing the debate The purpose of today is to understand the story around playwriting in Scotland uncovered in our work. The next stage is for us to draw conclusions and make recommendations.

At this stage my instinct is to find a way of re-framing the debate from one about the earnings of one group of artists to one that is about the future of Scottish theatre. That is not to say I am denying the importance of earning a living but perhaps the argument has to be made on different territory. The SSP of course must do what it has to do as a union fighting for its members but perhaps there is scope to develop a new writing plan for Scotland, an idea supported by SSP, which unites theatre.

So some rhetorical questions:  If new work is the lifeblood of Scottish theatre then surely cutting off the supply harms all?  If we are investing large sums of money in running buildings how can that be justified if there is nothing to go in them?  How do can we collectively increase the number of productions and the remuneration of the writer, without destroying the valuable and valued development work going on?  If Scotland’s playwriting is regarded as a key means of promoting Scotland internationally, then how much damage to soft diplomacy is the Scottish Government willing to see happen?  How can we ensure that a diversity of voices are heard if the only people who can afford to be playwrights are the independently wealthy drawn from (probably) white and male, minority?

7. Exploratory discussions

7.1 Scotland: A Place for Playwrights? Fraser White from Christine Hamilton Consulting

Survey of Scotland’s playwrights, 2014/15 Aim: to better understand the context in which playwrights operate and to uncover more about individual needs

Quantitative & qualitative information & data: • Plays, productions and commissions within and outside Scotland • Professional development needs and opportunities • Playwriting as a source of income • Demographic data

Who was surveyed?

• Sent to 186 playwrights living in Scotland or with strong Scottish connection

• 129 responses obtained (69%);106 complete (57%)

• 55% female; 45% male

• 40% Glasgow; 21% Edinburgh; 9% outside Scotland – 23 of 32 local authority areas represented • 31% aged 35-44; 24% aged 45-54 – None under 25; 3% aged 75 or over

Geographic spread • 40% Glasgow; 21% Edinburgh; 9% outside Scotland – 23 of 32 local authority areas represented Local authority area Responses Local authority area Responses Glasgow 51 North Lanarkshire 1 Edinburgh 27 Orkney 1 Highland 4 Perth & Kinross 1 Midlothian 4 Shetland Islands 1 Scottish Borders 4 South Ayrshire 1 East Dunbartonshire 3 Stirling 1 Fife 3 Aberdeen 0 South Lanarkshire 3 Aberdeenshire 0 North Ayrshire 2 Angus 0 Renfrewshire 2 Clackmannanshire 0 West Lothian 2 Dundee 0 Argyll & Bute 1 Inverclyde 0 Dumfries and Galloway 1 Moray 0 East Ayrshire 1 Na h-Eileanan Siar 0 East Lothian 1 West Dunbartonshire 0 East Renfrewshire 1 Outside Scotland 12 Falkirk 1 Total 129

Age range and gender

45% 40% 35% 30% 25% All respondents 20% 15% 10% Respondents 5% commissioned in 0% 2014/15

Male, Female, 45% 55%

Commissions within Scotland • Survey identified 152 Scottish Commissions in 2014/15

Professional FST/SSP contract

A Play, A Pie and a Pint licence/contract

Radio commission

Other

Other professional, industry-recognised contract

Film or television commission

Non-professional contract

Self-commission

‘Seed' commission

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Lengths of Scottish commissions

11% 24% Up to 30 minutes Up to 60 minutes 60 to under 90 minutes

42% Over 90 minutes 23%

Scottish commissions by gender • 52% of respondents received at least one Scottish commission in 2014/15: 53% of these were female and 47% were male • Men received 57% of Scottish commissions; women 43% • Even gender divide across all contract types except professional FST/SSP contracts – 65% of these went to men 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 Males 10 Females 0

Scottish commission lengths by gender • 60% of commissions up to 30 minutes went to women • 70% of commissions over 90 minutes went to men

30 Males 20 Females

0 Up to 30 Up to 60 60 to Over 90 Total minutes minutes under 90 minutes minutes

Non-Scottish commissions • 16% of respondents (19 in total) received non-Scottish commissions in 2014/15 – of these 10 are female and nine male • 29 individual non-Scottish playwriting commissions were identified in the survey – 18 for men and 11 for women – 22 from England, two from the United States, and one each from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Italy • Responses about commission lengths suggests there were at least 36 non-Scottish commissions in 2014/15

25% Up to 30 minutes 36% Up to 60 minutes 60 to under 90 minutes

25% Over 90 minutes 14%

Productions

• 57 playwrights (49%) wrote at least 98 new plays that were produced in Scotland in 2014/15 • 21 playwrights (18%) wrote 21 new plays produced outside Scotland in 2014/15 • 34 playwrights (29%) had at least 62 second or subsequent productions produced in Scotland in 2014/15 • 29 playwrights (25%) had at least 68 second or subsequent productions produced outside Scotland in 2014/15 • 23 playwrights (20%) said they had written plays originally produced in Scotland that went on to tour beyond Scotland in 2014/15

A little more about respondents’ work in 2014/15 • 15% said they had plays published • 17% worked as writers on devised shows • 19% were employed as dramaturgs • 97% write in English, 34% in Scots and 4% in Gaelic (and two writers specified other languages they write in, namely French and Croatian) • 6% translated plays in 2014/15 – they translated plays into English from Russian, German, Italian and Quebecois; into Scots from Quebecois; and into Gaelic from English

Works in progress

• 50% said they had presented work as a ‘work in progress’ in 2014/15:

– 41 respondents (36%) said they had presented 66 pieces of work as rehearsed readings – 33 respondents (29%) said they had presented 48 pieces of work as scratch or platform performances with some staging – Six respondents (5%) said they had presented 12 pieces of work as some ‘other’ kind of work in progress performance

Playwriting as a source of income

• Approximate information and data relating to 2014/15 earnings: – Playwriting – Associated activities such as mentoring and dramaturgy – Grants, bursaries and residencies – Other arts employment – Non-arts employment • Broad earnings categories: – Nothing at all – Something less than £1,000 – £1,000-£4,999 – £5,000-£9,999 – £10,000-£19,999 – £20,000 or more

Playwriting as a source of income

• Earnings from playwriting in 2014/15 (among those with at least one commission): – 8% said they earned nothing at all – 56% earned more than £5,000 – 41% earned more than £10,000 – 22% earned more than £20,000 • Other arts employment appears to play the biggest role in topping up active playwrights’ earnings: – almost 70% earned something from employment of this kind – 22% said they earned over £10,000 from this type of work in 2014/15

Playwriting as a source of income • Broad earnings response categories make it impossible to assess individuals’ total earnings • Possible, however, to project minimum and ‘maximum’ possible earnings of an individual (up to a ‘maximum’ of ‘more than £20,000’) – E.g. a response of ‘something less than £1,000’ replaced with £1 to project minimum earnings and by £999 to project ‘maximum’ earnings • Minimum and maximum median earnings: £10,000 £5,000 to £20,000 to £9,999 or more £19,999 ▀ Min Playwriting ▀ Max Playwriting + associated activities ▀ Min ▀ Max

Playwriting + associated activities + grants, etc ▀ Min ▀ Max Playwriting + associated activities + grants, etc + ▀ Min ▀ Max other arts employment All earnings, including non-arts-based employment ▀ Min ▀ Max

Playwriting as a source of income

Conclusions • For most of Scotland’s active playwrights, income from playwriting alone is insufficient to sustain them: median earnings (i.e. the earnings of the ‘average’ playwright) fall in the £5,000 to £9,999 range • It is clear that other forms of work are important in supplementing the incomes of Scottish playwrights • The earnings figures sound low, and they may well be low, but they should be treated with caution: – ONS states that ‘Self-employment income is generally underestimated in surveys since their income generally comes from a wide variety of different sources which can be difficult to recall exactly’ (‘Self-employed workers in the UK’, 2014, www.ons.gov.uk) – ONS surveys found that median self-employed income was £207 per week, which is around £10,700 per year, in 2012/13

Agreed rates of pay

• 42% of respondents said they received Scottish Society of Playwrights/Federation of Scottish Theatres agreed rates of pay for all work, while 58% said they did not receive agreed pay rates • However, it appears that A Play, A Pie and A Pint rates have skewed the survey results (our fault!) – the rates are different, but they have been separately agreed by SSP • Over 40% of those who said they did not achieve the agreed pay rates for all playwriting work received PPP contracts in 2014/15 • However, in some cases: – the nature of the work meant writers were content not to seek such rates – respondents worked for less than the agreed rates because they felt it was necessary to gain opportunities to work and develop their writing – the rate they were paid was dependent on the work’s success at generating income and keeping costs down – devised shows can lead to writers achieving rates of pay lower than those agreed by SSP and FST

Professional development opportunities in 2014/15 • 23% had undertaken mentoring-based development • 19% had undertaken dramaturgy-based development • 20% had taken part in a residency or attachment to an organisation • 18% had participated in a writer’s retreat • 29% had used a bursary or grant to develop their work

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Not at all useful 10% 0% Quite useful Very useful

Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland • Respondents’ ratings in PSS delivering its four main aims:

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50% Very well 40% Quite well 30% Not at all well 20% Don't know 10%

0% To strengthen and To actively promote To facilitate critical To increase the provide vital support Scotland’s playwrights, thinking about efficiency and and resources to playwriting and plays playwriting, plays and sustainability of Scotland’s playwrights playwrights through Playwrights’ Studio for debate, discussion the benefit of and advocacy Scotland’s playwrights

Scottish Society of Playwrights • Four key ways SSP has benefited respondents:

Dispute resolution

Lobbying on behalf of playwrights

Yes No Advice on contracts

Advice on commission or pay rates

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

7.2 Short Plays Facilitated by Davey Anderson and Fiona Sturgeon Shea

The aims of workshop were, to: ● Look at best practice in the creation and production of the short play form ● Discuss participants’ direct experience ● Discuss positives and negatives of the form and their production

Noted examples of short form drama in Scotland (current and past) ● Village Pub Theatre – Leith, Edinburgh (writer led/combination of complete works and segments, monthly theme, unpaid) ● Three Minute Thursdays – A Play, a Pie and a Pint at Oran Mor (short works performed before main event, chosen by open call and some writers went on to other commissions. Led by Gary McNair, playwright) ● Wildfire (not current) ● Cumbernauld Theatre Short Play Award (12 plays work-shopped with 4 produced) ● Play Pieces Shorts – Highlands and Islands (evenings of 10/15 minute plays/event produced twice per year ● The Progressive Playwright ● Five Minute Theatre - National Theatre of Scotland ● Western Isles – 3 shorts commissioned to produce outdoor pieces in communities to employ local artists and performed in repertoire ● One Million Tiny Plays About Britain ● Letters Home - Grid Iron ● Newsboy – led by Edinburgh MSc graduates, presented at the Tron ● Sure Shots – Adrian Osmond, presented at the Tron (fully produced productions that utilised the Celtic Connections audience) ● I’ve been looking for you my whole life open call out for plays resulted in 10 (5/10 minute pieces) being performed on buses – Asylon Theatre in Edinburgh ● Traverse 50 – 50 Plays for Edinburgh - 5 minute plays complete in themselves chosen from over 600 submissions ● Whatever gets you through the night - Cora Bissett ● Bite-size Plays (Fringe) ● Traverse breakfast plays ● Additional past projects at Tramway/Traverse and the Arches were noted

Positives of the form and its appeal to writers/producers/audiences: ● It may appeal to the short attention span of audiences as new technology impacts the popularity of the ‘quick bite’ ● Can provide a ‘pick & mix’ experience for audiences when produced as segments of a longer performance and provide a taste of something different ● The short form is more easily produced requiring less resource and presenting less risk to producers ● Can be used as an audience engagement tool ● Writers get to take creative risks ● Creatively they are very readable and their focus can be clearer and grasped in one sitting ● Audiences can hear multiple voices in one sitting ● Multiple narratives can be built into a layered whole piece ● Can have a positive and accessible educational and community purpose ● Can use random spaces and repeat performances to rotate small intimate audiences ● Writers can write very personally for a small audience 39

● Accessibility and share-ability on other platforms ● Can give writers a feeling of productivity while writing other longer works

Challenges for writers, producers and audiences ● Creating a fully formed narrative in short form ● Short plays perceived as easier but writers invest as much time and creativity in crafting characters regardless of length ● Producers underestimate the time involved to create short pieces ● Issues around ticket pricing and if the work is valued less financially ● Financial expectations of audiences – they will pay for quality but only if they understand what’s being offered ● Short works are often programmed together and will rarely be revived individually ● Some are just small ideas rather than pieces that could be developed into full length plays ● Assumptions that they are work in development rather than fully formed ● They aren’t perceived on a par with their literary equivalent of the short story, which is often valued as just as crafted as the novel ● Producers can be more inclined to ask for the work for nothing if it is very short

If the form is trending what issues and questions does that raise? Where is the threshold for paying writers and paid performances– 30/20/10/5 minutes – number of plays shown together?

Is it reasonable that the length of performance is reflected in the price? Crave by Sarah Kane is 35 minutes long but is considered a masterpiece.

Writers may expect to give work if it’s in development or community work but not for any commercial productions.

If you relate the form to music, artists do get paid for three minute songs and jingles. However, there is a different audience and you don’t have to travel to a venue to experience a song. Short form could be experienced on other platforms but this would remove the three dimensional experience of theatre.

Radio plays get paid by the minute so why not the short play?

Do venues use it just to make easier money?

Short plays do provide opportunities for venues to develop audiences and encourage audiences to appreciate longer form.

Is there a danger that the popularity of the form will impact on overall quality of theatre – in terms of the available quantity of work?

Will there be fewer opportunities for long form due to the lowered risk for producers and funders to produce short plays?

Will it get harder for writers to make a living if a quantity of work is being given free? They are often performed as readings and as such unpaid (but could lead to future commissions).

Writers want to write long form so the trend could result in fewer funding opportunities for long form.

Available opportunities make the gap between emerging and established much bigger. Where is the progression?

There is no natural progression from a 5 minute to a 90 minute play.

Too often short form and work in progression are seen as synonymous: they are not.

Other proposed models  One play staged by three different directors or performed by different groups at the one performance. This can frame an evening for an audience without the need to thematically link separate works.

 Provide interactive activity around the shows.

 Programme alongside other art forms.

Quotes “If it’s worth putting on – it’s worth paying for.”

“You can have a combination as small as six words: and it’s a play.”

“Stop pretending that playwrights can learn long-form skills from lots of short-form opportunities.”

Key points ● If it’s being used as a development tool, then payment need not be mandatory ● If being produced, at least minimum rates should be paid ● Short form should not be conflated into work in development ● We should look at a best practice guide for developing short plays ● Apply the SSP/FST contract to 5 minute plays

7.3 Shared Authorship Facilitated by Kieran Hurley and Mary McCluskey The FST/SSP contract works well for the old-school commissioning model but there are a lot of practices that don’t fit into this model. How can we use the contract as a starting point for best practice guidelines? What are the challenges in terms of crediting, payment, royalties, rights etc?

What do we mean by ‘shared authorship’, e.g. when director takes role in making the work but involves the playwright in this, e.g. Vanishing Point, Vox Motus, Cora Bissett/Pachamama. And also applicable in devising processes, when the playwright puts a framework on work largely created by performers.

Participant example one Commissioning new work has evolved. We are trying to involve young people in the creation of the work. So, that reflects on how we work with the playwrights. We present the idea to the playwright, then we have initial playing weekend with the young people, then the writer will go away and come back with the idea and then we’ll have another weekend with the young people. That gives them more ownership and it also makes the play more ‘true’, with more authentic language. But playwrights are sometimes worried about exposing their draft so early to the young audience.

We also have a devising course: sometimes it would involve a playwright and sometimes not. In 2013 we brought a dramaturg on board and devised a play. The dramaturg worked with young people during the day and then prepared notes, scripted the play at night and came back to it. A problem arose when a TV broadcaster wanted to film it and then play it. Then it was how the piece would be credited. The writer did get a credit. It said: scripted by: XXX. In this scenario, after the performance, the rights belonged to the writer.

Participant example two: Script development with actors in the room, sometimes for a couple of weeks, when the actors contribute but they never get credited. The idea behind it is not to get bogged down with Intellectual Property.

Participant example three: If a songwriter brings a song to the musicians and they have contributed to the arrangements, the song is still the songwriter’s.

An example of when things get developed with other artists (e.g. musicians) when it says, “written by: xxx, with contribution from: xxx.” There is a relationship of trust within this team, so the writer owns the rights to this play. We developed a sub-contract with an agreement for the lyrics to be reproduced in the play. So that when someone puts it on, they only have to contact the writer. But the songwriters own the rights to their songs, so they are still getting PRS money and credit. It was a complicated arrangement but one that made sure that the lawyers weren’t more interested in the play than other artists. Trust is very important in this process.

Participant example four: X had the idea for the script but, in the end, only wrote the prelude and the prologue and the rest was written by another two writers. But there was a relationship of trust and they acknowledged that, without her idea, it wouldn’t work. So all three own copyright, but have an agent who is the only person to contact, for simplicity.

Participant example five: We brought a writer into the process late, when things were already developed. So the credits were quite long - created by: writer, performers, choreographer. The royalty split was hugely complicated. Co-authorship of the script and also co-authorship of the production.

Comparison to film, where the actors are rarely credited with origination of the script, even when a lot of work is improvised.

Would it be helpful for a producer if an organisation like FST could develop principles and guidelines? But they can only be principles rather than rigid rules, because there must be flexibility to allow for the kinds of complexities that arise within productions.

It’s tricky to sign a contract when things may change half-way through the process. What if it was in the contract that it will get re-negotiated half way through? And what if not everyone wanted to renegotiate?

Quantitative and qualitative issues – potentially someone can only have 10% of input but their ideas are extremely good.

Participant example six: In academia, the Ethical Clearance Framework doesn’t allow actors who have been involved in research to be identified, but they are paid. Are they research subjects or collaborators? 42

Research Councils are a great source of funding and the line between research and performance diminishes. This may be how more and more work gets done in the future.

Participant example seven: Two playwrights who work together described how their partnership works. It starts with a concept. One of their first projects was a development of a site-specific play. The divide came when it came to subsequent productions around ideology and wanting to achieve financial gain. It was difficult as, during the development phase, there were a lot of private conversations where ownership wasn’t nailed down and it was difficult prove whose ideas were whose. So, now they choose the route where the actor is still using the script but s/he adapts it depending on the audience. They’d rather not have their name put to it.

After this experience, they went on to do a play which involved interviewing a lot of people and doing a lot of research. One of them was told a story relating to the topic by a third party, which was a beginning of the process. They are lucky because they keep having conversations about the play outside of the room. Everything is under scrutiny from the other person. The notion of a writer’s voice is challenged as they work separately and together. They feel that individual writing style is refined and embellished by this collaboration. Question: what about rights of the people they interviewed? They felt it was hard to negotiate because they were interested in contributing. Would signing a contract be a step back in this trust?

The two writers want to get rid of unhelpful power dynamics. They will take a draft to the people they interviewed and will ask them whether they are happy with the way they are represented. Then a contract will come into place. Contracts should be an assertion of your rights, not signing off your rights.

When used well, the contracts help with difficult situations. (For example, ceasing to co- operate after a period of time and what then happens with the material written together before the split.)

Participant example eight: A writer had an idea and worked with three other people but they didn’t complete it. The writer now wants to finish the piece but should they consult with the rest of the writers? Would they need to relinquish their rights? Would the writer buy them out? Could they keep a share of royalty rights? They would also get a credit. But the rights to the play would belong to the writer who finished the piece. That would be good planning, should the piece become a hit. One view was that lawyers have been known to say such a contract is impossible because of moral rights. However, several people in the group had experience of writing such contracts. Another point from the group is that royalties are very small in Scotland, so it is more a gesture than actual money.

A process should include a contractual review of rights built in half-way through. If there is a contract at the beginning and it’s not flexible, it can become a tricky place if things change, e.g. someone didn’t do as much work as predicted etc. Another idea is that, e.g. 50% was paid for the first part of the contract and then, half way through the contract, it would be re- negotiated.

Writers who work together rarely identify who wrote which part of the play.

Participant example nine: A play was developed by the actors with a help of a dramaturg. The credits said it was created by the whole company, not a single person. In the process of having the script

43 published, this would need to be re-negotiated and, in theory, any of them could protest against it.

Another participant commented that, in the case of devising work, everyone in the room gets paid the same daily rate, including the director.

There is no steadfast rule as to who gets credited and how, e.g. a performer sharing or not sharing authorship with a musician and a director who help them with developing their idea. The suggestion is to make this agreement clear before the start of the idea-generating process. For a musician, this may not be an interesting or lucrative enough opportunity. The royalty that they are entitled to is an additional royalty but not the same royalty as for shared authorship.

Having checking-in points to see if the agreements from the initial contract still hold was reiterated. This requires a lot of open-ness.

Discussion on fees for music for a show, e.g. when a musician who composed the music for a particular show then employs musicians to record an album, the company agreed with him that he keeps all the money from the sales of it.

In summary:  Value each person’s contribution and reflect it in remuneration

 Suggestion for FST and SSP to create guidelines

 Understanding the principle that you are coming in on. Coming back at certain points to renegotiate. But that shouldn’t apply to the actual fee, more to the royalties and other rights.

 Contractual clarity at the very start of the process

 Trust and the importance of it. Important sub-point to all the conversations. A lot of advice is valid only when there is trust between people.

 Plan for a project to be a massive success. That will make you think about all the details.

 If you start monetising every creative exchange, then you end up with a process more interesting to lawyers than artists

 The guidelines should have a note to agents in them

7.4 Development & Dramaturgy Facilitated by Peter Arnott and Rosie Kellagher

The session began with the question, “dramaturgy – what does it mean?”. And the following provocation:

In Germany, for instance, a dramaturg is a person who facilitates the work of everyone in the creative team and is often a full-time member of staff, embedded in the theatre. Here, it can be a fancy name for literary manager – which, in turn, is a fancy name for a flak catcher! Development can be what happens when playwrights want their play produced, but producers don’t! Every writer wants to be told they’re a genius and don’t need development. Because not everyone gets their work put on. There’s little chance of most of the work done by 44 playwrights being put on. We have a model of development that leads to professional development but it’s a chimera. It’s not going to happen. Playwrights find themselves writing plays that will never be put on.

So do we need a new model? Other people posed different definitions of dramaturgy. For example, working as a dramaturg in non-text based work (e.g. dance or children’s theatre); being, “the audience in the rehearsal room,” and “minding the story.” Acknowledgement of being a ‘flak catcher’ at some points but also being a midwife for the play so that the play is the best, and crucially, clearest work at the end.

A Dramaturg was compared to script editor in TV - the middle person between producer and writer. Theatre is seen as more collaborative than TV, Radio or Film. But is it? Some have found that TV is more adversarial.

The nature of theatre was discussed, and various questions posed and opinions expressed:

Theatre, at its most functional, is very collaborative, where there are many equal voices in the room. Is compromise and collaboration being equated as the same thing? For some, but not for many. Is there a way of making collaboration systematic? Participants discussed different experiences of collaboration.

When writing, do you think about the future collaboration of your work? Or who you might be working with?

Some people, “write to cut,” then the director contributes the cut. Some knew the cast before they wrote. This really helped the work.

There’s still a model of writers on their own in a garret but playwrights need to engage in the reality of production with their play.

The development process can start with the first cup of tea that you have with a literary manager. And then there’s a seamless line between that cup of tea and the West End transfer! There’s a difference between this and working with a dramaturg.

Theatre-makers often devise work and need an outside eye or a collaborator. The script often comes last. A dramaturg can be in charge of the, “world of the play,” but their working relationship has to be productive.

Some playwrights aren’t good at the, “cup of tea,” commission which implies selling or pitching an idea to a theatre. Some people aren’t natural extroverts. Some playwrights want to be commissioned based on their previous work or experience.

Some participants had great experiences working with dramaturgs who were interested in story that the playwright wants to tell. Bad experiences included being tested by lots of questions. Playwrights don’t want the, “if I was writing your play this is what I would do,” approach.

The “cup of tea,” relationship doesn’t always work for the dramaturgy/literary manager because of the separation in time and space that this entails. They cannot always provide such a long-term level of support.

How many people have officially worked with a dramaturg? Has anybody worked with a director who fulfilled the role? Has anybody had a play produced where they didn’t receive support or notes? 45

One participant’s first commission was like this, where no time for rewrites was available. That writer will not choose to work in this way again.

There’s something important for the playwright about being present in the rehearsal room.

Sometimes defensive habits can arise if playwrights don’t open themselves up to the process.

Wish list for a dramaturg:

1. Be focused and kind

2. Provide practical, written notes because conversations can be exhausting

3. Don’t try and change the play from what it is, but try to help the playwright find what is not working with the play.

4. Encourage early engagement and build trust.

One participant described their best experience of writing a new play. Two years before the play went on, there were two weeks of workshop development with actors and a director and a composer with the story and no script. In that fortnight, they improvised the whole play and then the playwright went away and wrote the play. The director was the, “guardian of the story,” as director and de facto dramaturg.

There’s been a cultural shift with, for example, Stage to Page and Tron 100/Progressive Playwright, where artists are expected to work together, not having had a chance to create that trust before going into the rehearsal room. With these models, directors are not necessarily sent a script in advance, and have rarely met the writer.

Fear of arts spending in the future. Without the full scale show, is there an art form in the work that only gets seen once?

What impact do people think that Stage to Page and Tron 100 and other artist-led development have? In other words, taking the development out of the direct hands of the producer/director. Tron 100 – it’s brilliant. Worked on play with 4 actors and it was dramaturgically useful. Actors as crucial, scrutinising the text very closely.

Development is an alternative way of employing actors. There are some actors who are brilliant at development through lots of experience.

Script feedback from big theatres is not always as useful.

A public reading doesn’t always happen at the right stage of development. The writer needs to know what they want to get out of the process.

Rehearsal room experiences give you the skills to write for actors, and ask the questions that the actors might ask before it gets to the rehearsal room. People who work with co-writers have that experience earlier on.

Do plays get dropped through the door at a theatre and get put on? Yes, but rarely. Reasons for this include money, production slots, and quality and stage of development.

Open commission is becoming rare and this takes the trust out of the hands of the writer. An open commission might not fit with a theatre or company’s programme.

New writing companies that have lots of commissions outstanding have their hands tied in responding quickly to new ideas and unexpected plays that come in. With a long timeline, is there still something urgent in what the writer wants to say?

Lottery funding is based on a number of measurable social goods. Is that box ticking reflex going to progress all the way to the commission? This forces the question: why do I want to do this play now?

One participant’s experience of their first commission included being given an opening date, a number of actors and, “we want it huge!”

What is role of a dramaturg in a producing house? In theory, the dramaturg wants to put on work that will connect with the audience and represent a wider range of society, not just a traditional theatre-going audience. Theatres don’t always want to tell one kind of story in one kind of way.

Abbey Theatre – Waking the Nation controversy is an example of where nobody was minding the audience. Institutionally, that comes about because people running buildings create a bias they aren’t always aware of. This can be one of the problems with an open commission.

If you give someone an open commission, you will usually have worked with them before, there is a place for them.

There should be space for multiple dramaturgies.

Are there any opportunities for development of dramaturgs?

Not many. The Script Factory (for screen) and Live Theatre train script readers. There are other companies that have formal and informal ways of supporting dramaturgs. Grassroots initiatives like Stage to Page can be a starting point into dramaturgy or directing. Historically, it’s not a role that has existed in Scotland very often. Ella Wildridge’s job title in the early 1990s at the Traverse was Dramaturg, as was David Greig’s in the early days at the National Theatre of Scotland.

Participants were encouraged to contact new writing theatre companies across the country. These kinds of opportunities might be ad hoc or not advertised. When you’re just starting out, don’t overly define yourself. You can be more than just one title.

There are lots of writers who want help but might not know that ‘trainee’ dramaturgs are out there who would like to work with them.

What else is out there like Stage to Page and Tron 100 (e.g. artist-led, voluntary)?

Wee Theatres Glasgow, the Village Pub Theatre, Discover 21 were given as a few examples. Every month the Tron 100 have a workshop session with actors, writers and directors.

It is important to get feedback at the right stage. Examples of where the audience ‘votes’ for plays make some people uncomfortable.

Historical examples include the Little Lyceum and Edinburgh Playwrights Workshop where there were open submissions and scripts were read in the order that they arrived in. That

47 used to be the only informal drama development in Scotland, but out of it came Rona Munro, Chris Hannan, Jo Clifford and others.

There are different ways of engaging with an audience through development. Stage to Page, for example, is seen as supportive by many. Some examples are not as supportive, the work isn’t ready or it’s primarily focused on showcasing the work, rather than development.

There are issues around rehearsed readings where an audience are paying money to see it, as if it’s a production. There’s something about protecting the writer and not allowing things to be railroaded or to be pushed down a certain path.

Liz Lerman’s Critical Review Process was recommended as a response framework and a positive way of getting feedback from an audience or from peers.

David Rush’s essay on how to do a reading states that specificity is the key.

Someone had an experience of accidentally leading a post-show discussion. It was difficult to frame.

What are people’s experiences of workshop days or workshop weeks? When there isn’t a sharing. What’s been successful and what hasn’t been unsuccessful?

Ideal combination is the long leisurely development with a production date. Writing for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s MA in Contemporary and Classical Text is sensational for this. It’s a brilliant process for actors and directors.

The MSc in Playwriting at Edinburgh University is invaluable for the playwright.

Development hell = being constantly offered scratch nights, closed readings, script development on the same play. Put it on or stop developing it!

A week-long run in a middle-scale theatre can essentially just be a, “try out,” too. Does this ignore the audience? And the writing for the one-off reading is also for an audience. It’s to do with clarity.

A play is a piece of art that can make a larger ripple the bigger the audience it has.

Are some people just not good at reading plays? What do you do when you have a good draft to go on with? Examples were Progressive Playwright or self-producing.

For emerging/early career playwrights – how hopeful do you feel about your future career as a playwright?

 Trying to learn it all: screenplays, radio plays and stage plays. You’re not owed anything by the arts industry.

 It depends on the day! Sometimes excited and sometimes depressed. It’s competitive. How can you make a living?

 Open Space run by Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland inspired someone to move back to Scotland. The Scottish theatre industry seems vibrant and open to someone who has just moved back.

Do you know where to go if you want dramaturgical or developmental support?

 Maybe not if you haven’t got onto a scheme (e.g. through Playwrights’ Studio, Paines Plough etc.), or if you haven’t got the money, or if you don’t know people.

 In a void. Not worried about getting exposure (through grassroots initiatives etc.), but instead sustaining your life through writing.

 Some examples of people who came to Scotland to write in their twenties and 10 years later are doing very well.

 The Arches closing has had a negative effect on the provision of developmental support in the form of space etc.

What are the really good processes that people have undergone and would like to replicate in the future?

 A team of 3 – mentor, dramaturg and director. Support in general.

 Facilitation – good development from directors and actors.

 Structure – there’s an economic structure. Actors there from the beginning. Dundee is exciting as it’s a repertory theatre. Actors need to have the skill and experience.

Organisations that are best at best development are not always building-based – Untitled Projects and Magnetic North are good examples. Building-based companies don’t necessarily want to have work that is long-running as their audience has seen it already. Non-building based companies might prefer to have a repertoire of tourable work so the more developed, careful work is better.

There was a general discussion about directing work or working as a playwright-dramaturg. Some had done this accidentally – working with other artists as an outside eye. Script reading was discussed as a way of training dramaturgs and playwrights. Visual Arts now bordering on theatre. Other influences include live music and work presented in museums and galleries.

Other topics within the discussion included how to establish yourself as self-employed, seeking guidance through the Cultural Enterprise Office for instance; making a website to promote your work; how to develop skills to run yourself as a business.

7.5 Scratch Performances & readings Facilitated by Deb Jones and Lesley Anne Rose

This discussion began by asking people for their individual definitions of, “scratch.” These included:

 Selection of new ideas, new work that isn’t finished yet. Audience are seeing work for the first time

 Undertone of experimentation

 Chance to gather feedback, gather in evidence, building from the bottom

 Hearing other people’s thoughts might help develop the work

 Asking the audience to take part

As a venue, scratch nights can be poorly attended. Should venues be charging more?

It can be a privilege for the audience to come and see work at such an early stage. By charging, we’re showing that this is how we value it so the audience should value it just as much. It’s letting the audience in. It’s sometimes a pressure to artists when work is new. Charging more is closing it off to a certain demographic e.g. other artists. For some scratch nights, the audience pays what they want. You put the decision in the audience’s hands. Scratch performances are often more devised and can involve shared authorship. Readings are more about a single writer who has written a play. People who attend scratch nights are often students and independent theatre artists. With readings, it was felt that there might be more chance that industry people will come. There are certain book festivals where writers aren’t paid. The promotion is the payment. Often with readings, writers are not being paid but the other members of the creative team are. Readings done properly with Q&A sessons as a part of developing the play can be useful.

Are scratch nights a cheap way for venues to put on new writing?

It can be frustrating that some venues don’t approach the artists and work together in a more collaborative way. It is surprising that venues aren’t more transparent about the reasons for readings. What support in-kind is available? There is a critical mass of writers living in the central belt of Scotland. Venues elsewhere are working with writers in different way. Is there more competition in the central belt? One writer working outwith the central belt felt that some venues didn’t offer support after passing the 18 – 25-year-old bracket. A participant, working as an actor outside the central belt, was surprised at how many people showed up for the reading by a local writer.

Is there an opportunity for writers to engage with their audience at scratch nights?

Use them as an opportunity to see who is responding to your work or to sell your published play later down the line. As a playwright, you don’t necessarily think of your work as literature in that sense. As playwrights, this might be an opportunity to look at work in other ways. There’s a difficulty in getting work published before it’s been produced. Role of education – plays being used on the curriculum outwith English and Drama. Does theatre have an advocacy role to help build audiences in the longer term? There is an issue of finance, but it’s about building partnerships. Public buildings like schools can be used for rehearsals and as venues. Venues could help build these relationships with education. Whether this would have an impact beyond scratch night all depends on transparency. As long as artists know what they are getting, and what the venue is giving as well as getting. For example, certain places offer free filming of readings for future promotional use by writers. Scratch performances have great value and, if there’s no money, other in-kind contributions would be valuable.

Idea of theatres/venues contributing to wider exposure of work. Is that in the role as producer or as a mentor?

Issue around future royalties if a play is successful. Alan Ayckbourn, for example, had his own company for many years, but kept his playwriting agent. Venues are not geared up to be agents – promotion needs to be beyond the UK. Grateful for readings: in-kind support is valuable and most people understand that there needs to be a charge if it is to cover costs. Option to stage scratch/readings in other places e.g. site specific. Lack of open-mindedness about new issues (terrorism, abuse). Is there a fear of experimental work? How do writers take things further? Edinburgh Festival Fringe has a care package about where to go next. 50

Could venues provide something similar following on from scratch/readings? The Arches was a place that helped artists move their projects forward. Is an X-Factor culture in scratch and readings emerging which is creating competition between artists in order to give it an edge? Are venues perpetuating this? Could this be destructive to those new to the industry? Some feedback sessions can be challenging. Is competition a reflection of the reality?

How do venues, or the artists themselves, manage feedback?

Feedback is very useful but there needs to be a clearer model that facilitates this in a safe way for the artist and the work. Written feedback in particular is useful once the writer has had the chance to digest what has just happened in the scratch performance or reading. Maybe venues need to be provided with guidelines from writers about how to facilitate feedback. In one participants’ view, England needs to get back to having more playwright development agencies. How do venues complement the work of Playwrights’ Studio? Tamasha provide written feedback typed up by company. The writer is not obliged to respond during feedback sessions. An option is for the writer to observe the feedback session rather than actively participate. Experience through the FST Early Dialogue Day was incredibly useful for one participant.

Are playwrights now being expected to be producers as well?

There is a sector-wide issue of lack of support, guidance and mentoring in the business side of theatre, for both playwrights and freelance producers. Playwrights don’t always know the language of, for example, pitching ideas, making funding applications and responding to subsequent feedback about plans or bids. Important to use your own voice and be yourself whilst still being professional. This isn’t a skill that every writer has. Not compromising yourself but needing to communicate who you are. It would be useful to know more about mechanics, processes, rules and etiquette of meeting producers and venues. Is it about money, or audiences for venues? Is it a business? Would give artists more confidence to approach venues if they had more training about how to talk to producers/venues.

Is it about the value of the work? As a new artist, your value is unknown. If you have a proven track record, your value is seen to be higher. Venues genuinely value the work but are constrained by what they can do.

What could the models look like?

 Production company attached to venue  Hot desks for writers in venues  Mentoring about the business as well as the creative side  Pilot nights at Birmingham Rep as an example, involving a consortium of producers.  As artists, we have to learn what we want from venues and make it reciprocal. If a venue offers a scratch performance for their audiences, ask for two days for development/rehearsal beforehand  Venues seeing scratch nights as more e.g. offering networking or professional interactions with the industry, rehearsal space  A scratch night before a performance of a professional production for the paying audiences  Useful to put scratch piece in front of different audiences  Tendency for them to be self-contained 10 minute plays/sketches – can it be progressed from this?  Having themes can be good writing prompts but can also be restrictive.  Sharings of extracts of work useful at the end of a process e.g. mentoring. The connection between the development and the public sharing is clear.

 Is there a model to take scratch outwith the theatre venue? Do you still need the venue for it? Examples of this in spoken word/performance poetry.  Feeling that feedback can be dominated by certain personalities. Still a need to facilitate.  Site specific scratch – still a need for curation.  With the loss of the Arches, what’s the next natural fit?  Artists don’t know what venues want  Difficult to put work on. Venues looking to artists to get own funding.  Certain venues in Glasgow not offering the support they could  Scratch connected to communities – playwrights want to work with communities, venues want to engage with their communities.

In summary:

 Venues could collect audience feedback from scratch/reading more effectively and share audience data with writers to allow them to develop their own relationships.  Workshops/training for playwrights about how to pitch, talk about work etc.  Explore different ways of facilitating feedback and ways of recording scratch pieces/readings  Most important is the lead up to readings. Should be about development  Is the text or the production the piece of theatre? Even productions are ethereal  Focus on the journey. The production is part of the development  Playwrights need a promise of production. Writers aren’t paid for scratch/reading so productions are vital  Writers: enterprising versus entrepreneurial  Idea of marketing yourself can be horrible. Writers need to be both introverts and extroverts. Writers need space to switch off.

8. Question & Answer session chaired by Hugh Hodgart, with Julie Ellen and Fin Kennedy

The session kicked off with the joke that the ancient Greeks might have had supressed women and had slaves but they subsidised their theatres!

How does Fin balance being both an artist and a producer now?

Fin found that he had to develop his skills from being a playwright as he couldn’t survive on commissions alone. But that led to him to do more with less. Playwright in the creative driving seat AND in the project management driving seat.

Are there problems with self-censorship if companies are accepting sponsorship income?

Tamasha is community-focused, not commercial, and ensure that they work with sponsors who understand the ethos of the organisation. They work with artists that are linked to them, not chosen for any commercial imperative. Producing does not suit every writer but some writers are up for a bit more of creative and commercial control of their careers. The traditional role of playwright is passive, but this is changing.

Hugh mentioned that the playwright David Greig will soon be taking over at the Lyceum in Edinburgh which will challenge the traditional hierarchy of theatre.

Julie talked about learning being a lifetime story. All the information tributaries feed in. A pragmatic response doesn’t have to be a divorcing of the self. One of the glorious things about difficult times is that people can be a lot clearer about what they believe in. Artistic returns versus commercial concerns are always going to be a tension in theatre.

Reflections from Exploratory Workshops

Short plays The group looked at very short plays. Is there a trend towards these? The Cumbernauld Short Play Award, Adrian Osmond’s Sure Shots at the Tron, Dear Scotland and 5 Minute Plays were given as examples. What draws us to very short plays? The risk you can take and the experiments you can do. The audience experience. The distinct voices. Combining drama with other art forms. Challenges: lots and lots of short plays written by lots of lots of writers. Is this detracting from full commissioning opportunities? Are playwrights at risk of not learning to write longer plays? You don’t tend to get full productions of short plays, which is a great shame.

Shared authorship This covered a lot of things - co-writing, devising, long-term or just one project, including dance or chorography or visual art. The group discussed the artistic process when working in a really collaborative manner. How does this translate to rights and payment? It presents a challenge when accounting for this. Issues that arose included the importance of valuing someone’s role, and understanding the role you’re coming in as. Sometimes there is a lack of clarity on this, especially as roles change through the process. Clarity at outset sometimes conflicts with the malleability of the process. It’s important to have a check in along the way. There is a cloudy issue of trust and it’s hard to legislate for this. The main principle of writing a contract seemed to be - always plan as though the project is going to be a massive

53 success. It would be really good if the SSP/FST could come up with guidelines/principles that could inform people setting out a collaborative process.

Dramaturgy and development The group attempted to define what dramaturgy is, and what a dramaturg is - a flack-catcher – someone who is in between producer and writer, but also, a collaborator, someone who was part of the artistic process. There might be a generational difference in people’s views. The dramaturg being the critical friend and the advocate for the story. Writing often being a solitary activity. Development Hell was also discussed, where there was a lack of trust in the writer or not the budget for developing the play fully to production. Discussion around what it’s like for an early career theatre artist.

Scratch performances and readings Group was predominantly made up of artists rather than producers or venues, who felt that they needed more support from producers or venues. You don’t just go into the venue, do one scratch night, and then the conversation doesn’t continue. Discussion included whether the artist should be more proactive about negotiating with venues about what they need. Often, the writer isn’t paid for scratch or readings yet the venue charges – is this right or fair on writers and audiences? What is the best way to get feedback from a reading – written, recorded? The importance of a facilitator to guide the questions away from the unhelpful. The value of scratch performances or readings was discussed. Should more be charged for them to imply that they are worth more in playwriting culture? The group decided that workshops about how to approach venues, what language to use, would be invaluable. How to fill the gap after the closing of The Arches? Examples included Tramway. Will Glasgow lose artists who used to work in the Arches? Should artists be more proactive about developing their own audiences?

Scotland: A Place for Playwrights - findings from Recent Survey Nearly half of the playwrights that responded from the survey hadn’t had a commission in the last year. The call to action is about producing, touring and funding. It’s a collective responsibility to look at export and co-production. Also, gender split – men get the larger commissions, women get the smaller.

Panel Discussion with Fin and Julie Fin and Julie were asked to observe the group discussions and report back anything that struck them as interesting.

Fin is heartened by the amount of new work opportunities that are available in Scotland. However, progression from hobbyist to next stage where you can sustain a career remains a challenge. There’s no clear career plan or structure. Some of the more well-trodden pathways are no longer as relevant as they used to be. The infrastructure seems to be behind the curve of the way that individual artists are making work. Fin observed a gender and generational split over the way in which dramaturgy was discussed. The older, male generation that talked about it in the language of war! Younger, often female, writers and theatre-makers were not necessarily recognising that. Gender research shows that there are several layers of barriers between women playwrights and production. It would be worth people reading about Lucy Kerbel and Tonic Theatre as she is very interesting on this subject. The traditional, “language of war,” maybe limits women.

Julie was disappointed that the legacy of Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process training in 2005 was still not being felt. She observed the strength of feeling about the gap left by The Arches and the need for more conversation around that. The funding of tours and the relationship with the wider ecology was being talked about. She heard people talking about Creative Scotland’s Open Fund timeframes which don’t seem to be working. There’s a tangle

54 there which they themselves are trying to respond to. We are all going to have to try and inch along together through difficult times.

Julie asked Fin, regarding In Battalions, “if you could go back, knowing about the issues you were about to face, what would you have done differently?”

Fin felt that everyone involved had lobbied as well as they could although possibly they could have been more joined up. The ideal next stage would be time and space where cultural professionals and politicians are welcome and safe. The twitter hash tag #ChallengeVaisey isn’t something he would repeat as it seems unnecessarily divisive and combative. However, it was the David and Goliath story that gave it a narrative. The Arts Council England cuts and the UK Government’s response caught the English subsidised sector unaware. Fin’s advice to us was that we should play our part in gathering the facts and then other campaigns will be able to draw on them.

An example of this in Scotland is the formation of Culture Counts, led by a range of organisations across the cultural sector who have been meeting and talking to politicians over the last four years. Culture Counts has been gathering data and information and putting them to use. There is also a toolkit of different ways to lobby and advocate for the sector.

It was observed that the arts in Scotland don’t have a given place, but they have taken their place. The arts in Scotland have been given rhetorical support over increased monetary support. It seems that the arts here are important to politicians.

The debate needs to be widened beyond our own sector, but we need to fight our own corner. The arts in Scotland are close to civic Scotland. There was a strong sense that we need to collaborate across different sectors of public life. It feels like there’s a growing understanding about the necessity of culture and its value in a wider sense.

The important thing will be to avoid the confrontation that #ChallengeVaisey implies. But the amount spent on arts is relatively minimal. The arts don’t cost much for how much they give back in value.

Being clear about who we are trying to communicate with is incredibly important – and to invite them openly into the conversation, help the audience understand what conversation you’re inviting them in to. A strong public mandate would strengthen our position.

The final words from Hugh Hodgart were that it’s about conversation, and engagement rather than entitlement. If we can be useful, then we can demonstrate our value.

9. DIFFERENT STAGES DAY 2 – SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY 12 NOVEMBER

Time & Venue Activity 10am – 11am Registration opened (CCA Front Desk) 11am – 1pm Open Script Development Workshop (CCA Theatre) Delegates had the opportunity to observe a live, open script development workshop for Nicola McCartney’s new play Wolf Road.

The director for this workshop was Philip Howard and the actors were Barrie Hunter, Gemma McElhinney, Nicola Roy, Anita Vettesse, Mark Wood and Angus Miller. 11am – 1pm ‘Ask a Producer’ and ‘Ask a Playwright’ (CCA Cinema and CCA Club Surgeries Room) Throughout the day, experienced playwrights and producers were available for 30 minute, one-to-one surgeries which were booked in advance via Playwrights’ Studio.

There were also a number of script surgeries where emerging playwrights were able to have 50 minutes of discussion about their plays with experienced, professional playwrights.

1 – 2pm LUNCH BREAK (lunch not provided) 2 – 5pm Open Script Development Workshop (CCA Theatre) The live, open script development workshop on Nicola McCartney’s new play Wolf Road continued. 2 – 6pm Surgeries from Federation of Scottish (CCA Cinema and CCA Club Theatre and Scottish Society of Room) Playwrights The 30 minute, one-to-one surgeries continued. 5 - 7.30pm BREAK 7.30pm Rehearsed Reading of Wolf Road by (CCA Theatre) Nicola McCartney

10. Evaluation of Different Stages

Attendance

One hundred and ninety-eight delegates registered to attend Different Stages. Because it was a free event, there were some people who cancelled or simply didn’t turn up. We continued to run a waiting list so it is unlikely that anyone who wished to attend was prevented from doing so because the conference was sold out. There was a higher number of attenders for the first day, due to the specialist nature of the second day.

Evaluation questions and responses

1. Had you heard of any of the partner organisations before this event?

There was a good general awareness of the partner organisations. The lowest awareness was for the FST at 67%, the highest was for Playwrights’ Studio at 98%. This is related to the next question concerning how delegates heard about the event.

2. How did you hear about Different Stages?

Fifty percent of delegates heard about Different Stages through Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland. This includes through the website, newsletter and direct mail, and might partially explain why Playwrights’ Studio was the most familiar partner. Thirteen percent of delegates heard about Different Stages through social media. Of the delegates who heard about the event through social media, 66% specified Facebook. One specified Playwrights’ Studio’s Twitter feed.

How did you hear about Different Stages?

Playw rights’ Studio Email/New sletter Social Media

Creative Scotland

FST New sletter

Word of Mouth/Friend

Playw rights’ Studio Website MSc in Playw riting Website Stage to Page

Scot-Nits

SSP

11. What were your expectations before the event?

Most delegates approached the conference with an open mind. Networking, debate, discussion, big-picture thinking, and to find inspiration were the most commonly cited expectations. There were some specific expectations, such as:

The coming together of theatre arts professionals to be challenged to re-think and explore different ideas on making theatre.

I didn't have very strong expectations. I'm a theatre-maker but not really a playwright, so was hoping for greater insight into the mechanics of commissioning and networking and also that I could apply some of that, and creative learning in my own practice.

Find out more about the level of commissioning of plays in Scotland today and new models, conditions for playwrights and new work.

Anything organised by Playwrights Studio Scotland is always interesting so I expected a well- organised, informative event - and I was not disappointed.

Thought it would be a good chance to network catch up with the current thinking and developments in opportunities for playwrights. I thought sitting in on the play development would be useful and the one-to-one sessions would be particularly useful in terms of making people aware of our company and addressing some specific questions about our direction.

4. Did today's event meet these expectations?

Yes: 70% In Part: 23% No: 7%

5. Would you attend an event like Different Stages in the future?

Yes: 98% No: 2%

6. Please tell us anything further about this event or future events you would like to attend.

Comments included:

The calibre of the speakers and surgery practitioners has been excellent. The discourse in group discussions was educational and informative.

Really enjoyed both informative and creative aspect to the event. Think if more producers & funding body delegates here available to come and contribute to discussions, it might take the discussion in different ways. Also think workshops about funding applications might be useful.

Exciting to see play readings by very experienced playwrights as they take the next step on their journeys more of this please! Go Nicola Go!

My expectations were actually surpassed. I really enjoyed the keynote speeches and found it very easy to approach people. The breakout sessions provided live (and lively) debate and exchange of knowledge/information. I just feel that there should be a way of involving decision-makers (government; Creative Scotland) in events like these to effect real change.

There needs to be more events like these around more issues such as diversity and, in the light of no Arches, an event around live performance.

Particularly enjoyed Fin Kennedy's presentation. That was both insightful and inspiring. Would like to see more national speakers with new models of practice and that have strategic importance in provoking us to consider how playwriting models could change in the future.

The conversations were deeper than expected. That was great. How exciting to be able to talk about the detail, the role, the politics, the value of playwriting! Thank you.

I think there was a missed opportunity at lunchtime to support networking in the same location by having lunch together. I recognise this has budget implications but I think it should be a priority in the future if possible.

Maybe it's just me but I felt the break for lunch pulled my head out of the conference-space, as it were: any chance future programmes could be somehow staggered to continue on through a traditional lunch-time? You might even get more delegates attending ON their lunch break.

I'd really like you to at some point organise an event based around translation, and the 'versions' culture which has sprung up to replace the actual literary translation practice which Scotland was so notably strong in through the 80s and 90s. This could be something aimed at current modern languages students for example as well as industry professionals. Just a discussion about what our country's stage translation culture has been, presently is, and what we might like it to be...

As a freelance dramaturg it would be good to have a bit more discussion about this profession and its current standing in Scotland. It would also be good to structure the discussions in such a way so that they had a bit more of a formal element at their core, and so that they were repeated at a later date - I think repeating these discussions might allow what was discussed to be built upon further.

Understand emphasise on playwrights but as was advertised for producers etc. too would have been interesting to explore producer role more with context of discussion.

I liked the one to one sessions. So much better to have dedicated time with someone than trying to catch them during the course of the day. More of that.

7. Was today's event interesting?

Strongly Agree: 52% Agree: 44% Disagree: 4%

8. Was today's event useful?

Strongly Agree: 52% Agree: 45% Disagree: 2%

Only one person strongly disagreed.

96% of respondents found Different Stages interesting and 97% of respondents found Different Stages useful.

9. Please rate the performance of a) Keynote speeches Excellent: 67% Good: 32%

59 b) Exploratory discussions Excellent: 30% Good: 67% Poor: 7% c) Script Development Workshop Excellent: 45% Good: 45% Poor: 10% d) Ask a Playwright Excellent: 60% Good: 30%

One person felt that their surgery had been poor. e) Ask a Producer Excellent: 43% Good: 50%

Only one person felt that their surgery had been poor. f) Script Surgery Excellent: 43% Good: 28%

Two people considered their experience to be poor or very poor.

10. Please rate the organisation and promotion prior to today's event

Excellent: 62% Good: 35%

One person felt that this had been very poor.

98% of respondents rated the organisation and promotion prior to Different Stages as Good or Excellent.

11. Any other feedback included:

The event was a great new development for the playwriting sector in Scotland. The keynotes and research were particularly interesting to me and I think the breakout discussions will become better focused in years to come. As someone who sits outwith the sector, I wasn't as clear beforehand that it was targeted mostly at the playwriting sector, so would encourage better clarity over this in years to manage expectations for external people. Well done on a brilliant first year!

Although more geared toward playwrights as a theatre-maker I still felt part of the wider theatre making community and the discussions gave me a voice. It was great to be in a room with so many creative people who were wholly supportive.

Really positive attempt to bring together the different strands of Scottish theatre. It was interesting and informative and I loved the fact that it wasn't exclusive. As a fledgling, it was really important for me to be there as it became a reality check for me. It was a great opportunity to be amongst my future peers. Thank you Playwrights’ Studio. 60

Was really interesting, I think more of an acknowledgement of the non-writers (as there was a large amount) that were there in the discussions would have helped move the discussions forward at points. As the different roles highlight different views to the development of plays.

The similar Open Space in previous years were much more useful. It really allowed for discussions rather than people talking about their experiences in majority. The event was much more formal with prepared topics, which in a way left no room for discussing issues people wanted to discuss

Selected Tweets:

Photos:

Delegates gathering for Different Stages

Fin Kennedy’s keynote speech

Reading of Nicola McCartney’s Wolf Road