Two open calls: send us your works-in-progress for our next LIVE READS
Submit to be a part of the Messy Collective™️ method for shaping your work, with professional actors, in front of a live audience
Before we jump in - we still have a couple of tickets left for our first ever OVEREXPOSED: Live Dialogue ~ tomorrow night (Wednesday 27th) at The Glitch. Your chance to get the inside scoop on how to get into a writers’ room in the UK.
But mainly ~ we are excited to announce calls for submissions for not one but TWO Live Reads as a part of our Artist Residency at The Glitch, Waterloo. These follow the absurd success of our first Live Read back in August.
⚡️ WOMEN ON THE EDGE ⚡️
Feminine reflections on society & culture
Sunday 26th November 2023, 7pm, The Glitch SE1
🕊 PARTING WORDS 🕊
Loss, endings & hope on the page
Sunday 28th January 2024, 7pm, The Glitch SE1
We are seeking submissions to curate two evenings of 5-6 pieces of new writing. These will be read by professional actors in front of an audience, and then writers will take part in a Reverse Q&A, asking the audience for feedback.
The intention of the Live Reads series it to give emerging writers an open, supportive and collaborative space to hear their writing aloud, however messy, so they can develop it further.
Tickets for each event will be go on sale when we announce the writers, likely 2 weeks before the event.
What to submit:
Work that directly responds to the theme ~ WOMEN ON THE EDGE (feminine reflections on culture & society) or PARTING WORDS (loss, endings and hope on the page)
Extracts or full pieces will be considered. These should be 5-10 minutes of dramatic writing or 2-5 minutes of prose or other writing ~ this is 10 pages of a screenplay, or 1-3 pages of prose. We will not read more than this.
Pieces must meaningfully centre narratives from women, NB, Trans or other under-represented communities.
The piece must be a new work that would benefit from a live reading ~ this means it’s a work-in-progress that the writer would like to hear read aloud by actors, with a chance to ask the audience questions, and an intention of using this to workshop and improve.
How to submit:
Email submissions to messymessysubmissions@gmail.com
Please include the title of your piece in the subject line, and which open call you’re responding to, i.e. ‘MY GREAT WORK TITLE - PARTING WORDS’
Attach work as a PDF or Word Document
You must include a log line or brief summary of your piece
You must not have your name anywhere on the piece - in the name or on the front page
For WOMEN ON THE EDGE, the submission deadline is 11:59pm on Sunday October 29th, and we will notify writers by Friday 10th November.
For PARTING WORDS, the submission deadline is 11:59pm on Sunday December 24th, and we will notify writers by Friday 5th January.
Eligibility, T&Cs, FAQs, suggestions etc:
This opportunity is intended for works in progress - not polished work. We’re not asking you to write something new, either. We’re doing this to help you workshop pieces that are in that messy stage that could benefit from this process.
Lots of factors come into play when we’re choosing pieces. We select and curate those that speak to us, but also consider would work well with actors in front of an audience, connect to the theme, and combine to create a cohesive whole hour for the audience.
If selected, we may choose just an extract of your piece. We’ll work with you to select this, so that it’s still useful to you.
Please don’t put your name on the script or manuscript you submit - either on the title page or the title. This helps us anonymise the first stage of reading.
It’s not possible for us to provide feedback on submissions. Sorry but we are just three messy women with day jobs and a passion for throwing parties.
Being selected or not selected has nothing to do with the quality of your work. Sorry but, to reiterate, we are just three messy women with day jobs and a passion for throwing parties.
We cannot wait to read your work and see you at the super-fun events!
Big and all-encompassing love,
The Messy Women