Sub Spree – Day 11

So, there goes a (one) script to a pro theatre…

I didn’t realise how much this spree was going to cost. I now wish that I had given myself a month’s notice and set aside a couple of quid to cover the costs.

Since the Royal Mail changed its postage charges it’s made submitting very expensive.

It wasn’t cheap before, but this is getting silly!

If agents/theatre/et al want to read new writing then they are going to have to wake up and realise that this is the 21^st century!

Email works… Indeed at work they have a rule…

I’ve been in the military for 10 years now. When I joined I was told to beware of answer phones and ‘voicemail’. Because you can receive ‘orders’ by them. These days we’re told not to ‘leave a message’ but send them an email – that way you have an audit trail. In other words, ‘orders’ by email – and back up to prove you made that order.

Military efficiency…

I can almost understand (given my military experience) why these people are reluctant to accept email submissions. After all, it’s far too easy to send one, so a slush pile would get far too deep, far too soon.

But with the advent of the new UK postal charges, they are going to have to change their rules.

Accept email submissions; but use the same rules are US literary agents: Only accept the first 10 pages of a script (which take 6 mins to read). If you haven’t hooked an audience by then, you haven’t got a play.

I know that these people will then try to complain about the possibility of encountering a virus.

But then I would state that what is wrong with RTF files…? As far as I know (and I would love to be corrected, and I have been working as an Information Technology Security Officer on and off for the last 5 years) there is no mechanism for an RTF to carry a virus, as they are just enhanced TXT files.

If they don’t wake up to email submissions, these people are going to find that they are going to lose new talent and have to accept that theatre is dead in this country – even though there are people out there writing for it to stay alive, but can’t justify the expense of being discovered.

Why do I say that?

This is day 11…

So far I guess that I have submitted/pitched over 60 agents/theatres (okay, only one of those)/AmDram groups. In that I have only received two email replies. Making my return rate less than 1.6%.

My calculations today indicate that I had gone purely postal I would have now spent in excess of £140. If I was posting manuscripts, and over £40 if I had posted pitches and the full manuscripts that I have sent.

Thankfully today, I also managed to pitch another 12 AmDram groups (free to me, if you don’t count my broadband connectivity).

But…

If we want theatre to survive in this country…

The pros have to wake up and realise that technology is not evil. The newest form of entertainment (the internet) can aid us to resurrect the oldest (and I mean theatre, not prostitution!).