Sub Spree - Day 3

First thing this morning I opened my inbox to find an email from the reviewer of Denim. Unfortunately she didn't feel that she had any useful professional contacts for me. But she did give me a couple of tips on where to find the addresses of theatre clubs to pitch.

I managed to get my 5 minutes with the director I mentioned yesterday. Not too much hope there, as he is looking for something with a large cast so that he can involve as many people as possible in his next production. The only play of mine that fits that bill is 'Denim', but as he is entering the Royal Navy Theatre Festival, he is more than aware that Denim won Production of the Year in that festival. Of course this makes him apprehensive of re-running the same play.

I now need to work out who I am going to pitch today... Back to the contact list.

_____________

The internet can be a great tool, but there are limitations. I have just sent of an enquiry to another (very big and well respected) agency in London. On one listing it states that this agent is willing to accept email submissions - and that is VERY rare in the UK market. But another listing includes a message from that agent saying that they are very busy and are unable to accept new clients at the moment.

Rather than flash this agent up, I decided to post a quick email asking if they are able to accept any stage play submissions, rather than clutter their inbox with another unwanted attachment. But I did make sure that I included the link to the website - who knows if they will click on it.

On that note, I checked the traffic to my site last night. I have one of those web trackers that tells you who, when and where people were browsing. So far, traffic has slightly increased - but it would appear that none of this new traffic was from London (and hence the agents I've pitched so far). Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I know that we are only three days into the Spree, but I feel good and concerned. Good - because this is something proactive and cannot do any harm. Concerned - because in the internet age, one would like to have responses far faster than the industry can provide, plus I feel the positive results may be AmDram biased.

Not that there is anything wrong with AmDram, but my goal is professional status.

_____________

Okay, so I got a response from the agent I pitched today. Quite simply, I am stunned by the response. I want this person to represent me after one email! Why? Because not only is this agency in the 21^st century by accepting email submissions… but this email response treated me as a human. There was humour, inspiration and encouragement in one email. Plus there was acceptance that not everyone pitching an agent can know what that agent is looking for.

So, as requested I forwarded a brief cover letter and a copy of one of my plays. The latter part was the hardest decision. I asked in my email what this agent liked best as a cast size. Their response was to send what was my favourite.

How could I choose between Prime, Denim and Mark? I love them all, for different reasons. I know that Mark is my most financially viable play, but my gut told me to send Denim, as it has the content closest to my heart. I did caveat to the agent that this is my most cast intensive play – and should me writing be of interest, but the cast size prohibitive, I would love the opportunity to submit Mark.

So that’s the first script physically under the nose of an agent in this spree!