Theater Resources Unlimited presents Writer-Producer Speed Date

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents a unique networking and educational opportunity for writers: TRU’s renowned Writer-Producer Speed Date on Sunday, March 1, 2020 at Shetler Studios, 244 W. 54th Street, Penthouse.Writers: pitch your show to a roomful of serious producers! Submission deadline is 02/19. Session 1 offers coaching at 4:30, pitching at 5:30; session 2 offers coaching at 5:30, pitching at 6:30. Tickets are $75 for TRU members, $85 for non-members, $25 for each additional collaborator. Submission is free, and your spot in the lineup can be purchased upon acceptance starting 2/22/20 at https://truonline.org/events/speed-date-03-01-20/

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,” says writer Vincent Amelio (How Alfo Learned to Love).

Go to https://truonline.org/events/speed-date-03-01-20/ for application. Please fill out and email to TRUStaff1@gmail.com. All works will be considered, traditional and non-traditional, including works in development. The first 10 applicants will be accepted automatically, and after that submissions will be evaluated for genre, subject matter, production size, uniqueness and level of development to maximize the variety and scope of works presented in the evening.

We’ll have eleven producers lined up, from both the commercial and not-for-profit worlds, all with an interest in new projects; we also may have eleven aspiring producers from our Producer Development program. 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:
Evan Bernardin, producer/general manager, Evan Bernardin Productions (We Are The Tigers, Afterglow, Counting Sheep; National tours Million Dollar Quartet, Charlie Brown Christmas);
Cate Cammarata, dramaturg, director, producer (My Life Is a Musical, The Assignment, My Father’s Daughter), Associate Artistic Director for Rhymes Over Beats Hip Hop Theater Collective;
Rashad Chambers, producer (Ain’t Too Proud, American Son, It Happened in Key West, Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, the world premiere of The Erlkings);
Jane Dubin, producer (The Prom, Tony winning The Norman Conquests, An American in Paris, Farinelli and the King, Bandstand, Peter and the Starcatcher, Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, The 39 Steps, Ann);
William Franzblau, producer (Rocktopia, Tony Award-nominated Say Goodnight Gracie, American Buffalo and Wonderland on Broadway; tour of Little House on the Prairie the Musical; off-Broadway Sistas, Jewtopia, Evil Dead the Musical, Respect, Illuminate);
Lorca Peress, aritstic director of MultiStages;
Anita Waxman (unconfirmed), producer (Marie the Little Dancer, Slave Play, Escape to Margaritaville, 1984, Hello Dolly!, Doctor Zhivago, Rocky, Bombay Dreams, Enron);
Shela Xoregos, artistic director Xoregos Performing Company;
Claudia Zahn, former managing director Malibu Playhouse;
Frank Zuback, producer (Taking Leave, American Soldier, Roof of the World).

Coaches: Diana Calderazzo, Alison Sheff, Bailie Slevin
Trailing Producers: Ina Chadwick*, Hal Diamond*, Stephanie Grayson, Adam Gregory*, Lori Mannette, Sanford Silverberg*, David Stamps*, others tbd
[*members and alumni of TRU’s Producer Development program]

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 501(c)(3) 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; 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.