Our summer writers party plus EDINBURGH FRINGE updates 🎭
AND all of the deadlines you need to know about!
Welcome back everyone!
We’ve all been a bit unexpectedly busy, with work, a broken foot and a writing lab, but WE ARE BACK with news of our upcoming SUMMER PARTY!
Our last party was at The Glitch in Waterloo, and it was a very chill, casual affair, but in July we are back to our usual spot in the crypt at Vout-O-Reenee’s from 7pm on the 2nd July! Be ready for more fresh roses, late sun in the smoking area and glasses of chilled wine, surrounded by the loveliest writers in London.
CALLING ALL EDINBURGH FRINGE MESSIES!
It’s nearly July, which means it’s nearly August, which means Edinburgh Fringe is nearly upon us! Fringe is a place of magic and creativity and wonder - one of the greatest places on earth - so if you’re considering making the trip, this is our solid recommendation.
We have tonnes of playwrights and writer-performers and actors in our community and we know that lots of you are taking work to the Fringe. It’s a huge and impressive undertaking and we want to support you however we can.
So we’ve started a WhatsApp group for people to connect before and during the festival - and you can join that right here.
It’s a designated space for you to share ticket links to your shows, partner up with other Messies who might be looking for +1s for shows, and to organise brunches or drinks or whatever else you might have time for. And generally to offer support!
And we want to do a special listing of all of the shows at Edinburgh that have Messy involvement - so please email us with all of your info and your ticket link! messymessywomen@gmail.com
We’re trying to see if we can throw some kind of a party for performers, creatives and inspired audiences - but venues seem pretty busy. Which is fair enough. Email us if you have any leads!
For those of you who can’t make it to Edinburgh, we have two Messies with shows with London previews coming up.
Skins star Megan Prescott - aka Katie F**king Fitch - writes and stars in her debut solo show about a child star turned sex worker, which you can see at Seven Dials Playhouse.
Lola Knight stars in Jukesox - ‘a dynamic sketch comedy show blending traditional sketches with improvisational humour, offering a refreshing take on the genre’ - which you can see at the Hen and Chickens.
Our WhatsApp is ‘popping off’
If you’ve missed it or joined the Messy Collective only recently (WELCOME!), our WhatsApp community now hosts several subgroups you can join to better find the people you want to connect with!
Among the most active ones are obviously Messy Screenwriting, Messy Directors, Messy Actors and Messy Producers but we also have some super specific ones people requested! Among those you can find Messy Parents, Messy Comedy and Messy Game Writers!
Speaking of our wonderful subgroups, there’s been some grand opportunities coming up in our Messy Contests & Opportunities chat, so we thought we’d share a few with you!
UPCOMING DEADLINES
Sir Peter Ustinov runs and annual Television Scriptwriting Award for non-US writers under the age of 30 with a drama TV script (half-hour or hour) 🎖️
Deadline: 26/06/2024
Application fee: £0
Rianne Pictures’ (AKA the amazing Women X Film Festival) are running a Script Competition for UK and Ireland based women and gender non-conforming people with short film scripts up to 20 pages 🌸
Deadline: 28/06/2024
Application fee: £18
Aluna Entertainment are running another Aluna Labs Talent Development Program focusing on a feature film by UK-based female-identifying and non-binary creatives who have produced, directed or written a body of short-form work and are looking to make the step to first feature, or those who have a creative track record of multiple screen works in another creative field 🦋
Deadline: 28/06/2024
Application fee: £0
Theatre503 are organising another International Playwriting Award for debut/early career playwrights with a play of over 65 minutes 👑
Deadline: 30/06/2024
Application fee: £0
Climate Spring and Film London are running another edition of The Hot House Development Lab aimed at screenwriters with a climate focus who have either an agent, had their short screened at a BAFTA or Academy Awards qualifying festival, have a writing credit for a feature/TV episode or have produced a play that ran for longer than two weeks 🍃
Deadline: 30/06/2024
Application fee: £0
New Writing North and Film4 have launched a Genre Feature Lab for Northern writers or writer-directors with a 15-page genre script sample 🚀
Deadline: 01/07/2024
Application fee: £0
SOHO Theatre is soon opening their next Writers’ Lab to support new writers to create a play over 9 months; they especially welcome applicants who identify as LGBTQ+, disabled, people of the *Global Majority and people living in the London Borough of Waltham Forest 🌲
Deadline: 16/07/2024
Course fee: £200 (bursaries available)
BFI NETWORK South East are developing Outline (previously known as Script Lab), a screenwriting development programme for writers or writer-directors of Black and Asian descent from the South East to develop a short film script 🪐
Deadline: 31/07/2024 (opens 01/07/2024)
Application fee: £0
There is also Lauri’s List of Screenwriting Fellowships, Labs, Grants, Contests and Other Opportunities, which includes an extensive list of worthwhile schemes running from January to December, so go check it out!
Come join our very sexy WhatsApp community and learn about these opportunities right away. It’s a really friendly and supportive space where you can often speak to people who have been successful in these or similar opportunities - a priceless resource!
And because it’s not all about chatting and shows and parties, and you actually have to have some work to meet those deadlines… a reminder of our standing invitation to come and write with us!
Please come and join us EVERY FUCKING SATURDAY at The Glitch for our Writual to get your weekly pages done. I personally have about 6 projects going on at the same time, but in slightly different stages, so on Saturdays I focus on the ones I’m most excited for instead of the ones I have upcoming deadlines for (as a little treat).
The Glitch is a beautiful, sunny space with great coffee and really nice staff, so if you want to come and join don’t forget to reserve your FREE spot!
Big love,
THE MESSY WOMEN
Jess, Isobel & Jess