5 Types of Packets You Can Use For Producer Submissions!

  Written By Melvin Tunstall III

Q: What are the elements you think every writing team should have to present their show to producers? And what are some of the best approaches you’ve seen?

 From the looks of this week’s question, someone is preparing to submit a new show and that gets us excited here at TheaterMakers Studio. It is always our goal to get your show to the next level of production, so we’ve got you covered!

This question came in response to our “How to Get Me to Produce Your Show: Tony Winning Lead Producers Tell All” panel at a previous TheaterMakers Summit. While it wasn't answered during the panel, we made note of the question to explore later because submitting to producers, Tony winners or not, is one of the most pivotal parts of the theatermaking process.

Tom Kirdahy, Producer of such hits as The Inheritance, Hadestown, and Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors advises writing teams to put in some work BEFORE the submission:

“Passion is such a necessary ingredient in all that we do, so if you’re sending your show to producers, do some research and make sure it is a subject area that they might have interest in and if you’re producing, think about who the investors or the colleagues are who understand really what you are trying to do because we are constantly pushing boulders up mountains- what we do is really, really, difficult- and if you don’t have passion and people who are aligned, you’re not going to get where you need to be.”

Okay, now that we have done the research and found the perfect producers to present our work to, what exactly should we present? Well, I suggest being prepared for any request that comes your way! Every producer will have their own preference for materials, so let’s prepare different packages ahead of time, so submitting is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5!

1. THE “FULL MONTY!”

• One Pager (Summary/Elevator Pitch, Synopsis, Author Bios, Agent Contact)
• Full Script (Summary, Author’s Notes, Character Breakdown, Song List, FULL Script)
• Full Demo Set (18-25 songs)

2. THE “TIGHT TWENTY FIVE”

• One Pager (Summary/Elevator Pitch, Synopsis, Author Bios, Agent Contact)
• 25 page Script SAMPLE (Summary/Script Sample Set-Up, Character Breakdown, Author’s Notes, Song List, 25 PAGE Script)
• PARTIAL Demo Set (5-6 songs)

3. THE “IT ONLY TAKES A TASTE”

• One Pager (Summary/Elevator Pitch, Synopsis, Author Bios, Agent Contact)
• 10 page Script SAMPLE (Summary/Script Sample Set-up, Character Breakdown, Song List, 10 PAGE Script)
• MINI Demo Set (2-3 songs)

4. THE “READER”

• One Pager (Summary/Elevator Pitch, Synopsis, Author Bios, Agent Contact)
• FULL SCRIPT (Summary, Author’s Notes, Character Breakdown, Song List, FULL Script)
• MINI Demo Set (2-3 songs)

5. THE “MUSIC IS THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ME PRODUCE”

• One Pager (Summary/Elevator Pitch, Synopsis, Author Bios, Agent Contact)
• SUPER Demo Set (10-11 songs)

For each of these packages, I suggest making their own, separate DROPBOX Folder. Files are easily copied and transferred to a new folder for each of these categories. That way, submitting to producers is as simple as providing a link to the appropriate folder in your introductory email or DM!

Happy submitting, TheaterMakers!