WHAT ARE YOUR UNIQUE STRENGTHS?
In my brief lifetime, I have worked with literally thousands of playwrights. For 15 years at Manhattan Rep, I produced over 1000 full-length plays and over 6000 short pieces. I have seen and experienced more live plays than probably anyone alive. (Wow, will that get in the Guiness Book of World Records?)
One of the things I have noticed is that many playwrights don’t have a clear vision of what type of playwright they are. Yes, they love to write stories to be brought to life, but many have never asked this question:
What are my STRENGTHS as a playwright?
This is an important question to ask, for the answer might just catapault your playwriting career.
Are you good with comedy? Or is heavy duty drama your strong suit?
Are you good with 10 minute plays, or are you strictly a Full-Length Magnus Opus type of writer?
What are your strengths?
Write them down.
Get clear on what you do really well!
And then start writing from there.
Now I am not telling you to not try new things, but if you are looking to make money with your work and get produced you need to lead with your greatest strengths.
I know of a playwright who is making a living in the wildest way with his playwriting. A number of years ago, he decided to focus on the High School market, and he started writing just awesome plays for High School students. And Bam! They were really good. He loved writing them, and schools loved them too. So he licensed them to High Schools all over the country. He was really good at writing for this market, and he went with it. He continues to write for this market, AND, he is back to writing full-length plays for adults. But who knew how lucative that market could be?
Another playwright I know was so good at writing 10 minute plays, but he found selling a 10 minute play, was not going to pay the bills. So he tried something fun. He started writing short play evenings - 8 or 9 short 10 minute plays themed around love, or family, or buying a car, or dating, and producers throughout the country were interested, for they could farm out the directing duties, create 4 or 5 teams to put them together, and the evening was easy to produce.
So this playwright started making money with writing theme-based 10 minute plays.
So super cool.
So what are your strengths as a playwright, and how can you utilize those strengths?
If you are good with comedy, do comedy for now.
Take it and go far with it.
Write full-length plays, AND short comedic plays that stand on their own or could be put into a themed evening of short plays, and see what sticks to the wall.
And then do what works.
If drama is your strength, go for it in a big way.
Write that one play that scares you for the drama is so real and so compelling.
Dare to write a drama about something no one has ever written about!
But take some time to honestly access your STRENGTHS.
What is fun for you and what do you do really well?
Then find a passionate story idea and write the best play of your life!
