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Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 12:01

And then I read this. Not sure what I make of it, but worth posting.

‘theatre people never seem to do something unless they can get some money for it’, 

http://ilivesweat.tumblr.com/post/13838799382/music-and-theatre-sho...

Comment by National Theatre Wales on December 8, 2011 at 11:31

Brad, you should probably join the Writers Guild - which negotatiates the agreements with TMA that most larger theatres adhere to.  Always ask a funded theatre what agreements it follows - there will probably one in place.  However, I think that the kinds of one-act showcases etc you are talking about are often where slippage occurs, and a slippery slope from opportunities to exploitation can open up.  I would absolutely encourage you to raise concerns if you have them.  Any theatre operating any kind of blacklist over anything doesn't deserve your work or anyone else's!

Comment by Brad Birch on December 8, 2011 at 11:20

I've felt hugely pressured to work for nothing in the past. Mainly on short plays. One glaring experience was where I had a short play on and the actors had to pay for a full ticket if they wanted to stay and watch the other shorts.

You end up losing money doing some of these as well. The last two shorts I've done I've had to pay for a rehearsal space. But there's certainly a culture where you can't feel like you can say no. Maybe it's a paranoia of being in a glutted industry but I imagine a blacklist - and if you reject a short then you're someone unwilling to pay your dues and therefore listed. Maybe I've just been in London too long...

This may seem a foolish questions but, as there's a Scottish Writers' Union, is there a Welsh Writers' Union? The reason I ask instead of just googling is that, if there is, then maybe this question is more about exposure because I've never heard of it, and I'd like to have thought I would've.

Comment by Kaite O'Reilly on December 8, 2011 at 11:11

I have a similar belief. If we're all working for nothing and are happy to do so, to get the work made (and perhaps have a challenging and inspiring experience with the collaborators) - fine, more power to all. Once there is not equality, the dynamic becomes problematic... which was the content of much of the debate on SCUDD, too.

Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 11:01

Thank you Kate. I've been offered projects - outside Wales I might add - for expenses, exposure, etc knowing full well that the director and actors were being paid correctly. I've refused, piqued I'll admit, but also convinced that any project so intrinsically disrespectful to a creative will be a wrong 'un. If they ever came to anything I never heard about it. If it feels wrong before going in, don't go in. Twelve thousand is still cheap at half the price, though.

Comment by Kaite O'Reilly on December 8, 2011 at 10:23

Rather like elsewhere in the UK, I guess there may be an official or preferred minimum wage/commission, but companies can't or won't pay that and so negotiations are made... I use TMA contracts, but I know others (usually young in career writers) who gratefully take whatever is offered, for the exposure - or enter 'competitions' or partake of festivals or 'opportunities' which pay what they can for eg short scripts - if they pay at all. Many of these, of course, may be unfunded companies who are just trying to make work happen - and more power to people who decide to work thus and keep creating, or find new ways to make work in this increasingly challenging economic climate. But there's still some really questionable practice happening. There was an interesting debate on SCUDD recently (standing conference for drama depts) following the posting of an 'opportunity' which was paying directors and administrators but looking for actors and playwrights to work for 'experience' - and possibly travel expenses - no fee. The debate was lively and fascinating - giving a host of examples where actors and writers were expected to work for free (even when the companies were arts council funded) but others in the industry (usually directors, producers and administrators) were paid proper wages for participation in the same project.... Re- Scotland, I can't answer specifically, Meredydd, as I haven't  been commissioned in Scotland - but I suppose if the company is using TMA/ITC-approved contracts (or their equivalent), the fee is protected, but individual contracts or agreements make any kind of fee optional and negotiable....

Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 9:50

12grand is optional or what? What does ideal mean? The confusion may be mine but...

Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 9:46

@price. Good luck to them. I'd like to hear what AD's outside of Scotland think of it. Well done the Scottish Writer's Union.

Comment by Phil John on December 8, 2011 at 9:45

"Content, sensibility, intention, aesthetic, dramaturgy, etc, "   gives critics something to say. ;)

Comment by Kaite O'Reilly on December 8, 2011 at 9:40

ps. The £12k commission is the ideal but not the usual my Scottish playwright friends tell me.... Vicky featherstone famously created a stir some years ago when national Theatre scotland broke through to the £10k commission for a new play... Of my 7 friends canvassed, all commissioned in Scotland within the last 9 months, none received £12k.

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