Script Submissions

As part of our climate action in March 2020, we moved to an online script submissions system. We no longer accept paper submissions.
If you have any access needs which mean that this submissions system is a barrier, please contact literary@royalcourttheatre.com.

 

WHO WE ARE

Jane Fallowfield, Literary Manager

Phillippe Cato, Senior Literary Associate

Gurnesha Bola, Literary Associate

Ellie Fulcher, Literary & Open Court Associate

 

The Literary Office is dedicated to finding exciting new plays that ask bold questions about the way we live now. We receive around 2000 plays every year, all of which are considered as part of our commitment to encounter and support new playwrights.

 

WHAT IT’S FOR

Our script submissions system is a point of access for writers to share their work with the Royal Court. It is a way for us to get to know writers and to build new relationships, rather than a service guaranteed to provide detailed feedback on every submitted script. It’s not about sending us the perfect play, but offering us the chance to spot your ambition, theatricality and unique perspective on the world.

 

THE JOURNEY OF YOUR SCRIPT

  • We check the eligibility of your script against our submissions criteria.
  • It is sent to one of our script readers, who are professional theatre-makers, directors, dramaturgs and actors.
  • Our reader writes a report, which is considered by the literary department.
  • We action one of three outcomes:
    1.  A response letting you know we are not able to take the play further.
    2. A response offering feedback that we hope may be useful to you in developing your script or your writing.
    3. A second read by one of the Literary team. You are guaranteed feedback at this point. Whether in writing or in person, we will start a conversation with you about your work. Each writer’s journey is different. Our conversation might lead to your script being shared more widely among the associates; being invited onto a writers’ group; this script or future scripts being developed towards commission or production.

 

IS MY SCRIPT ELIGIBLE?

  • We can only accept scripts as a PDF or Word document with a maximum size of 10MB.
  • We are only able to accept full length plays – as a guide, we suggest this would be a minimum of around 50 pages or 25-30 pages for a monologue.
  • We are unable to accept more than one submission from a writer at any one time.
  • We do not read screenplays, novels, poetry collections, radio plays or adaptations.
  • We do not read musicals nor historical/biographical plays as we so rarely have an opportunity to produce this work. If you are unsure, please get to know our work through coming to see productions and looking through our archive.
  • Unfortunately, we cannot consider resubmissions or new drafts of plays we have read and responded to, unless we have specifically requested a new draft.

 

WHEN WILL I HEAR BACK?

You will receive an automatic acknowledgement of receipt of your script by email.

We only accept enquiries about your script via this email address: literary@royalcourttheatre.com

We aim to let you know the outcome of our reading process within three to four months of acknowledging receipt. If your script receives a second read this may take longer and we will be in touch in this instance.

 

HOW DO I SUBMIT MY SCRIPT?

Please click here to send us your script.

 

Having problems submitting your script? Here are some things to try:

  • If possible, try submitting on a laptop or desktop rather than through a tablet or mobile.
  • Try using an alternative internet browser.
  • In the last instance, the Captcha form sometimes struggles with specific characters (for example: & or %) so if possible, try removing them from your form.

If after trying these, you’re still having problems, please contact us on the email address above.

 

How we store your data

We take data protection seriously and hereby undertake to look after all personal data in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation which came into force in May 2018 or any forthcoming data protection legislation. As part of our unsolicited script reading process, all personal data related to submissions will be stored securely on our server indefinitely and access limited to the Literary department, who manage the script reading process. The justification for keeping this data is legitimate interest, as we may need to contact writers about the script they have submitted or future work. This information will not be shared with third parties. Scripts will only be stored if they are recommended for a further read by the Literary Department. You have the right to request access to your personal data at any time and can ask to be removed from the database. Please click here for full details of our privacy policy.