bush literary
Discovering and championing playwrights is at the heart of the Bush.
We receive more than 1,000 scripts per year and read every single one. Many writers started their careers by posting us a play, including Catherine Johnson, Samuel Adamson, Mark O'Rowe and Jack Thorne.
We direct all our energies towards producing the best playwrights at the Bush and beyond.
The Bush/Kudos Writers' Co-Development Scheme
The Bush and Kudos Film and Television, producer of Spooks, Life on Mars and The Hour, have joined forces to launch a writers’ co-development initiative -designed to support and develop the skills of writers currently working in either or both theatre and television.
This new initiative has been created to help working writers with a track record in theatre or television progress to the next level of their chosen career path. The explicit goal of the initiative is to cultivate existing talent and relationships, and actively commission work at the end of the process.
This unique collaboration, which will be hosted at both venues, will offer approximately ten writers a three day master class in September this year, providing access to the best talent in the theatre and television worlds, and a forum in which to try something new.
This will be followed by a second session at a later date to monitor the writers’ progress, commission work, and support this work for possible future television and/or theatre production.
Writers with a proven track record within the theatre or television industries can apply for a place on the initiative by submitting their CVs either via the Bush’s website www.bushtheatre.co.uk or via email to kudosbush@kudosfilmandtv.com from 1 March to 1 June 2012. Please note that unsolicited scripts will not be accepted.
sending us a play
Bush theatre submissions policy:
The Bush theatre is a New Writing venue.
We accept unsolicited, unproduced play scripts.
We don’t accept submissions of works that have been fully produced in a professional venue in the UK. However, we are happy to receive work that has been previously presented in its developmental stages (i.e. a reading or a scratch process).
We only accept full-length plays (60 minutes or longer) that are inherently theatrical with live staging at their core. Please do not send us scripts for radio, film or television.
We don’t accept submissions of adaptations of other works.
We are excited by plays that pose a strong question and examine it from varying viewpoints or perspectives.
We encourage the submission of plays that are contemporary and pertinent - that relate to the experience of belonging to the present time.
We are looking for plays that stimulate discourse and examine events openly and honestly, not from a distance - but by a conscious consideration of the parts comprising an interconnected whole.
We are interested in plays and writers that thoroughly investigate an experience that’s specific and yet shared in a manner that speaks to a varied audience.
We actively seek writers that challenge the conception of form – plays that re-examine structure, setting, time, place, dialogue and character, and strive for innovation.
We want to engage with writers who will fully immerse themselves in the collective creative process, who reject the notion of an insular practice and embrace collaboration.
As a partner of the Theatres Trust Ecovenue scheme, sustainability is a key consideration. We do not accept paper submissions.
We only accept electronic submissions. Our primary resource for this is bushgreen. If you are not a member, please do sign up.
Alternatively, scripts can be emailed to us at scripts@bushtheatre.co.uk. We are not able to respond to any enquiries sent to this inbox.
All submissions must be accompanied by a completed Writer’s Form. Please copy and paste this form into the first page of your script before submitting.
We reserve the right to return any script that we feel does not actively engage with the submissions policy or where we feel the submissions policy has not been fully considered.
Please do not send second drafts or resubmissions of works we’ve previously responded to, unless we’ve specifically asked for it.
We look forward to engaging with you.
development
We think that the best way to 'develop' a playwright is by putting on their work. The Bush is a small theatre with a tiny and dedicated staff, so we can respond swiftly to programme a great play. We use our reading to find plays to produce and playwrights to work with at the Bush.
To help us do this, we are going to be clearer in our response to your plays: either we will produce a play on our stage; advocate it elsewhere or let it go. Everything we do to 'develop' writers is about taking them towards a production on our stage or beyond.
For the foreseeable future, we will be providing feedback where suitable. However, as asserted before, we reserve the right to return any script that we feel does not actively engage with the submissions policy or where we feel the submissions policy has not been fully considered.
bushgreen
With the support of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, the Bush Theatre has developed a new social networking and play publishing website, bushgreen. The site connects playwrights with theatre practitioners and plays with producers to inspire the creation and production of exciting new theatre.
bushgreen allows members to:
• submit plays directly and electronically to the Bush for our team to • read and consider for production
• connect with other writers, directors, producers and theatres
• read weekly editorials from leading playwrights theatre
practitioners
• publish scripts online so more people can access your work
The site launched internationally on 1 December 2009 and has thousands of members and hundreds of plays online for download. You can join now at bushgreen
submission guidelines
All submissions must be accompanied by a Writer’s Form
Electronic scripts should be formatted to the following guidelines:
- 12pt font
- Header with title of play and your name
- Page numbers at the bottom
Please only send us one play at a time. After we've been in touch to let you know the final outcome of your first submission, you are welcome to send us another play. However, if you send us more than one play at a time, we will only consider the first submission.
submission/evaluation process
We read every play we receive. If your play is not for us, we'll let you know as quickly as we can (usually within eight weeks). We don't think it's fair to keep you hanging on if we're not going to take your play forward.
Some plays we'll pass on to our panel of creative associate directors. We meet with them once a month to discuss the plays and writers we're particularly interested in. We think it's important that your play is read by a professional director, so even if we decide not to produce it here, a director could become an advocate for you or your play elsewhere.
At that point, we'll be in touch to let you know if we're going to take your play forward or not. We aim to always give you a decision within eight weeks.
At any of these stages, we might contact you to ask you to publish your script online on bushgreen in order to increase opportunity of your play being produced elsewhere.
