24:7 Festival Call for Scripts 2015!!
The only limit is your imagination…
Yes, we know it’s a bit of a cliché, but this year, more than ever, 24:7 is on the lookout for exciting, challenging and innovative scripts; scripts that really push our writers to explore their imagination to the max, and in doing so keep our audiences – of all ages – shocked, provoked, astounded, amused and always entertained.
This year, there are no ‘rules’. If we get all the cash we need, plays can be set in a taxi, on a tram, or even in the air; they can be staged inside, outside, or a bit of both; they can feature multi-media, art, dance, digital content or good plain theatre; they can be wildly comic, thrillingly dramatic or just about anywhere in-between; and whatever your age, experience, location or ambition… we want to read your work! Take us to unexpected places, surprise and delight us, and introduce us to exciting new characters in previously unseen worlds.
And, if we don’t get all the funds, we may have to imagine we’re in a taxi, on a tram etc… but let’s not be limited by lucre…
2015 will see a Big Festival Weekend based in and around the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama at Manchester University and will take place between 24th - 26th July.
As well as plays, we are looking for monologues and site specific pieces relating to the campus area at the Martin Harris Centre, so this year performances can last between 5 – 90 minutes. Each play will be performed a number of times over that weekend, either as full productions or as works in progress. Some could also go into development for the 2016 Festival.
As in previous years, there will be a ‘blind’ adjudication process to ensure anonymity and impartiality, with written feedback given on every submission.
Each successful writer will become a producer of their play and this year 24:7 will act as co-producer, assisting in an even greater way to ensure each play gets the very best director, cast, technical support and marketing. We will also offer mentoring and dramaturgical support to your writing. And we will help your work have a life after the Festival, assisting with touring packs, funding bids and venue contacts.
Please note, we are not looking for plays that come with a production company attached. We want writers who are looking for ongoing development and who are open to new exciting collaborations with other creative people. We also expect that writers probably won’t direct or appear in their own work this year, as there will be enough to do on the writing/producing side!
At this stage, we are keeping our options open as to how many plays will be produced, depending on length, development needs and timetabling. What we do know is there is a wealth of exciting talent out there, across the UK and beyond, and 24:7 is the perfect launch pad for a new script, idea or writer.
And just in case you think there’s no chance of new writers being accepted, we have a lot of very successful cases to prove you wrong! Last year Gareth George, actor and recent drama school graduate, submitted to us, just wanting to see if he could finish his first ever script. His play, Anonymity, went into development on our mentoring/dramaturgy process and became one of the ten main productions, receiving rave reviews and being invited to take part in another prestigious festival in March 2015. So it can be done!
Further details about the submission process will follow in the New Year, when exact dates will be given and the submission window will open. Full instructions will also be available on our website and via our eNewsletter, so keep watching. The first call is likely to be at the end of January, with further calls in February and March.
24:7 2015 promises to be as exciting and innovative as ever, so start thinking, writing and redrafting, and have a creative Christmas!
*Please note that the exact nature of the Festival Weekend and the number of plays we produce will be dependent on funding. But there will be something happening…