Theater Resources Unlimited presents Writer-Producer Speed Date

Theater Resources Unlimited
presents
Writer-Producer Speed Date
Sunday July 14, 2019, 4:30pm to 9pm at Studios 353

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents the Writer-Producer Speed Date on Sunday, July 14, 2019 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm at Studios 353, 353 W. 48th Street, 2nd floor. Tickets go on sale on July 7, 2019 and are $85 for non-members, $75 for TRU members as well (plus $30 for each additional collaborator). Tickets and applications can be found here: https://truonline.org/events/speed-date-07-14-19/. Submission deadline for applications is July 3, 2019

Sunday July 14th/ Submission deadline Wednesday July 3
Session 1: coaching at 4:30, pitching at 5:30
Session 2: coaching at 5:30, pitching at 6:30

You meet a producer at a party and have two minutes to interest him in your work. Do you have the skill to sell yourself? Here’s a chance to practice your pitching with real producers who are open to and interested in meeting you. Okay, they probably won’t option you on the spot, but they’ll give you valuable feedback about your work and your ability to talk about it. And you’ll have the opportunity to start developing a relationship. And that’s what this business is all about. Relationships.

The Speed Date is the only event I know of that gives writers the chance to meet high level producers one-on-one in a room. To me, that’s what makes the Speed-Dates so valuable. And you do it with kindness, which I value in life. ~Vincent Amelio (How Alfo Learned to Love)

We’ll have eleven professionals lined up, from both the commercial and not-for-profit worlds, all with an interest in new projects; we also may have as many as eleven aspiring producers from our various producer programs. So you’ll be pitching to as many as 22 producers in total! Come with a willingness to learn, because the real value is the chance to practice your pitching. And you’ll be getting invaluable coaching from experts, as well. And did we mention the wine and snacks afterwards?

Confirmed producers include: 

Margot Astrachan, commercial producer (The Prom, A Gentleman’s Guide…, The Realistic Joneses, Nice Work If You Can Get It, On a Clear Day… revival);
Nolan Doran, producer (Head Over Heels), writer/director;
Lee Feldshon, entertainment attorney (New York Musical Theater Festival, Who’s Your Baghdaddy, Desperate Measures, Money Talks, Liberty: The Musical, Rooms, Always Patsy Cline, Forever Plaid, Saint Heaven);
John Lant, indie producer (Frankenstein the Musical, It Came from Beyond, Fabulous), artistic director WriteAct Repertory;
John Melo, theater and film producer;
Kim Vasquez/Gray Lady Entertainment (Be More Chill off- and on Broadway, Broadway Bounty Hunter, Church and State; founding producer of NYMF);
Ken Waissman, producer (original Grease, Torch Song Trilogy, Agnes of God);
Claudia Zahn, former managing director Malibu Playhouse;
Frank Zuback, producer (Taking Leave, American Soldier, Roof of the World);
Plus 2 more TBD.

Coaches: Emileena Pedigo, Bailie Slevin, Gary Hughes

I participated in TRU’s Writer’s Speed Date Pitch session last year and got a LOT out of it! I found it so motivating to have a deadline to create production assets and prepare myself for meeting producers. My partner and I worked tirelessly for days before the event to make sure we were in top form before presenting (as writers) to the “producers” on hand. My experience was one of the rare occasions where several producers expressed real interest in my work. Later, one attended my reading, and followed up with a coffee meeting to talk financing. We’re still in touch. Again, this is never promised, but it does happen for some of us. In my opinion, the price of $85 for all that value is a BARGAIN! ~Ed Zareh (Long Lost John)

I’ve had follow-up meetings with two people I met from the event and provided scripts to three others. I also met some fellow playwrights, and through a chain of introductions coming out of that, I’m now working on a possible film deal in Los Angeles. If you have a project where you’d like to practice and receive feedback on your pitch; potentially make some connections that would be useful for script development or early production; and meet some other playwrights — this is an ideal opportunity. ~William Roetzheim

Theater Resources Unlimited(TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a
twenty-seven year old 501c3 nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of the arts. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies. 

TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, goods and productions; presents the TRU
VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and Annual New Musicals Reading Series, two new works
series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new shows as well as new producers for theater; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program taught by prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop business skills. TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include the Annual Combined Audition. 

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, as well as the Montage Foundation and the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation. 

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org.