Playwriting Advice

Recently I became an unpaid script-reader for Primary Stages. Their focus is on presenting first productions of new works (hence the name). Each week, I receive four to five scripts which I read, analyse, and write an evaluation of. Based on my recommendation, these scripts are either instantly rejected or given a second read. I can't name names or tell you any of the plots, as that would be really unprofessional. However, after slogging through twenty scripts ranging from mediocre to stab-me-in-the-head, I think I'm somewhat qualified to offer advice to you aspiring playwrights out there. These are all easy-to-do tips that will make your crappy script more bearable to read, and thus more likely to be produced.

1. Make your script and cover letter look professional. No handwriting. No weird fonts. No "design". Clean, typed letters, and well-bound scripts (no binder clips or staples). Your cover letter should introduce yourself and your script. If you know the literary manager you are sending it to, it's okay to include a personal line. Otherwise, don't. Stick to business.

2. Your title page should include your title (obviously), your name and contact info, and the genre of your play. I cannot tell you how often I get through a play and struggle afterward to figure out whether the author intended it as comedy, or if I'm just an asshole (probably the latter).

3. Have a character list. Your audience doesn't need to know all the characters right away, but I need an idea of whether you have four actors, or a whole army that Russell Crowe might lead into battle in his next film. If you do have an army of characters- don't. As a beginning playwright, your show will not get produced if it has more than six actors in it (and that's being generous).

4. Format your play correctly. Buy whatever software you have to. If I'm going to read tons of forgettable plays, I can't be forced to learn your particular style. If you do not format correctly, you run the risk of your play being tossed out before it's even read.

5. Minimalism is the way to go with stage directions. Don't add that someone says something "deviously" or "sarcastically". No shit, Sherlock. If you've written your script well, we will already know.

6. Spellcheck. Goddamnit.

7. Everyone begins their play with a phone ringing, an argument, or a knock at the door. Are we all really that creatively constipated?

8. Give the scenic designer something interesting to do.

9. Try not setting your play in the present. It could give you an edge that 99% of the other hacks don't have. That said, if you're delving far into the past (as in anytime before you were born), do your research, and make it authentic.

10. You know that ubiquitous advice to "write what you know"? Don't take it so fucking literally! I, for one, am really sick of plays about twenty-somethings set in an apartment in New York City. Or anywhere in NYC, for that matter. Things do exist outside of the five boroughs! Don't write about your traumatic (and boring) teenage years. Don't write about yourself at all, unless you can do it in a really, really creative way. And please, please, please- no more kitchen sink dramas. Sam Shepard does it, he does it incredibly well, and you can't outwrite him. So don't try. Do your own thing.

Now for the two difficult things- write a good script, and get an agent.