1. See lots of theatre – of all different types – and films, and TV – and read lots of scripts. Work out how things work. It’s a craft, you have to learn it.
2. Write the play you want/need to write – it’s pointless trying to second-guess the market, or create something you think theatres will want to produce.
3. Write the first draft as quickly as you can. Don’t spend months rewriting the first three scenes. Get to the end. Don’t get it right – get it written.
4. Then, the hard work starts. Leave it aside for a month or so, then read it again, and be tough. Really tough. Is it really doing what you set out to do? Be prepared to make BIG changes. Rewriting is not tweaking – it’s being prepared to lose huge chunks, and completely re-imagine if necessary.
5. Once you’re reasonably confident about it, show it to people whose opinion you respect. Listen carefully to their feedback.
6. Send it to NWP’s Script Reading Service. Our Readers know what they’re on about, and will give clear, honest constructive criticism.
7. Don’t be defensive. Receive criticism, and try to come to an honest decision about which of it is justified. Then use it to reshape your script.
8. Once you’ve got it as good as you can make it, think hard about what the audience for it might be.
9. Do your research, and send it to places which realistically might be interested in producing it. No good sending a polite, old-fashioned drawing-room comedy to a cutting-edge physical theatre company. Or foul-mouthed surreal political satire to a conservative provincial rep.
10. Don’t expect instant success. Don’t be made down-hearted by rejection. Learn. In the immortal words of Samuel Beckett Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
