Commissioning – The View from Both Sides

With Michael John O’Neill

Lessons learned from asking people to write plays AS WELL AS asking other people to let me write plays for them.

There used to be a road through here. And on a given day, depending on the weather, it was reasonably safe to follow it until it took you where you needed to be. But that road is long gone. So let’s talk about the realities of getting to where we need to be when where that is couldn’t be more unclear.

What you get:

– Open conversation on the process of commissioning work led by someone who commissions, has been commissioned, and would like to be commissioned more (please)

– Survey and analysis of the strategies, platforms and “opportunities” that are available and can be leveraged to build professional recognition

– Practical guidance on how to manage a career as a playwright

Attendees should come prepared to talk about a play they want to be paid to write.

Michael is a Northern Irish writer, dramaturg and producer based in Scotland. In 2019 Michael became the inaugural recipient of the Bruntwood Prize’s Original New Voice Award for his play AKEDAH. In 2020 his short monologue Sore Afraid was produced as a digital project by the National Theatre of Scotland, the Citizens Theatre, and BBC Scotland, and his short audio play Part Of That World was produced by Pitlochry Festival Theatre. His most recent full-length play, This Is Paradise, was produced by the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival 2021, where it got 5* reviews (Scotsman) and won the Popcorn Writing Award. His work as a theatre producer includes as Artistic Producer of the Tron Theatre (2014-2020), where he commissioned and produced such work as Isobel McArthur’s Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), which later went on to have a large-scale UK tour 2019-2020 and transfer to the West End in 2021.