Literary Programme
We want Bristol Old Vic to feel like a home for writers, and for the production of new plays in both our theatre spaces to be a part of our DNA.
Through our Literary Programme we support writers and their collaborators to develop their craft, build a sustainable practice & commission work for development and presentation here at Bristol Old Vic.
PROJECTS
The Five Year Commitment
The South West and the rest of the UK continue to produce amazing writers whose work can be seen on stages and screens all over the country; however, there are challenges when it comes to consistent and long-term commitment in a landscape where often writers are working to the short-term and from job to job; we want to use the resource that we have to give focused opportunities for writers to build their craft and their voice over time and within the holding of a singular place.
Inspired by the long-term commitments made by residencies in theatres such as Signature Theatre in New York and thanks to the incredibly generous support of John Studzinski and the Genesis Foundation Prize, we are able to kickstart our Five Year Commitment.
Bristol Old Vic will commit to residencies for three writers at three different levels of experience for a period of five years, starting in January 2025. Over this time, we’ll use our resources and expertise to allow these writers the time and space to develop and present new work. Additional to that, we’ll use our resources to support the space between those commissions, connecting the writers with each other and ensuring they feel embedded and at home in our theatre.
We feel this sort of long-term commitment and support is needed at all stages of a writer’s career and so we are committing to supporting three writers at different moments in their careers; one Early Career Writer, one Mid Career Writer and one Legacy Writer.
Announcing Our Legacy Writer
We have curated the selection of our Legacy Writer in order to amplify the work of an artist who is a celebrated, published and produced contemporary modern dramatist and somebody whose influence and talent we at Bristol Old Vic want to particularly honour in this moment. We are delighted to be able to say that Winsome Pinnock has accepted our offer to become our Legacy Writer and will be working with us across the next five years.
Winsome is an award-winning writer for stage, radio, film and television, described as “the godmother of Black British writing” (Guardian, 2003). Her work has been produced on the British stage and internationally since 1985 and she was the first black British female writer to have a play produced by the Royal National Theatre. Over the course of her career she has written several seminal plays such as Leave Taking, Talking in Tongues & Rockets and Blue Lights.
Winsome joins us as we begin an open process to find our Early and Mid Career Writers. All three writers will be confirmed by December 2024 ready to begin the residency in January 2025.
How will the residency work?
The current proposed structure of the offer to each writer over all five years is as follows:
- We will commission the Legacy Writer to write one new play and produce one revival of an existing play within their repertoire across the residency.
- We will commission the Mid & Early Career Writers to write two new plays across the residency.
- All three writers will be supported to go on an annual week-long residential together, facilitated by the BOV Literary team, with space created to think together and consider some of the bigger questions around their work and practice.
- All three writers will have access to a small yearly budget separate to any commissioning support. The writers will have the agency to decide how to apportion this budget, but it can be used for anything from r&d experiments to research aims or training opportunities. We will support them to think about how this budget can be spent but ultimately it will be up to them.
- The Early and Mid Career Writers will also be awarded a small monthly financial stipend of £300 p/month across all five years. This is in recognition of the instability and inconsistency of writing work, particularly at early and mid-career points, and aims to give these two writers a guaranteed small income floor that can support their time to practice and write outside of the specific parameters of a commission.
- All writers will be offered space and time to base themselves and their work within our building, engaging with Bristol Old Vic’s programme and to be as much a part of the working life of the organisation as they want to be. We would like them to consider the building as their writing home throughout all five years. This offer will be responsive and bespoke to the wants and needs of each individual writer.
An important note on the commissioning. We know that writers need to have their work produced and that this is a crucial part of every writer’s development. Every commission that a writer receives within the Five Year Commitment will be made with the intent that we will make absolute best efforts to produce that new work on one of our stages as soon as it is ready for production. We can’t see into the future, and we haven’t guaranteed production alongside commission as we don’t know the journey each commission will take us on, but it’s important that we state that this intent is a crucial part of the Five Year Commitment offer. All new commissions will be contracted separately to our Five Year Commitment agreement with the writer and under the structure and terms of our Writers Guild of Great Britain/UK Theatre Agreements at point of commission.
This is the plan as we imagine it right now, but we see this commitment as a living, breathing thing. We have chosen to commit to writers over five years because we also want to stay open to the idea that with such a long-term commitment, the plan as written above may change dependent on who those writers are. We will always want to make this a flexible and malleable residency that has room to shift its focus depending on where each of our artists take us. We’re excited to see where things go.
How do I apply?
We are currently open for Expressions of Interest from Early and Mid Career Writers who might be interested in joining us and Winsome as we embark on this exciting experiment. Please read the guidance below, which gives all the further detail you need about process and eligibility, as well as a link to a submissions form.
Download the Expression of Interest Guidance
Key dates & questions:
- Deadline for Expressions of Interest: 5pm, Friday 25 October 2024
- All applicants notified of outcome by Thursday 7 November 2024
- Programme takes place: January 2025 – January 2030
We would like everyone to be able to access our opportunities. If you have any questions, if you need to apply in a different format or you require any additional support, please email our literary team here and somebody will respond to your enquiry as soon as they can.
Peggy Ramsay / Film 4 Playwrights Award
Bristol Old Vic are delighted to be working with Florence Espeut-Nickless as a 2024 recipient of The Peggy Ramsay Film4 Playwrights Awards. This long-running scheme celebrates and supports emerging British writing talent. The 2024 initiative is awarding six bursaries to new theatre writers, each worth £10,000. Four bursaries are supported by The Peggy Ramsay Foundation (one is dedicated to the memory of literary agent Tom Erhardt) and two by Film4.
Florence has embarked on a one-year attachment to Bristol Old Vic, joining our team to make new connections in the industry and gain first-hand experience of a working theatre. Florence’s main task in the 12 month attachment is to write at least one full-length play, supported by the Bristol Old Vic literary team.
Alongside Florence, the other recipients of the 2024 bursaries are:
- Babirye Bukilwa - Clean Break & Soho Theatre
- Shahid Iqbal Khan - Paines Plough
- Martha Loader - New Wolsey Theatre
- Marek Horn - Hampstead Theatre
- Morna Young - Traverse Theatre
Commissioning & Grants
We want to continue to develop & commission new work at Bristol Old Vic, working locally and nationally to support writers and writing; currently we have three ways of doing this:
Commissions: we commission writers to work on plays and adaptations, with a view to developing and producing this work on one of our stages.
Co-Production Grants: we partner with independent artists & companies to offer a financial contribution to their budget, a programmed slot in one of our theatres & bespoke in-kind support that helps them to build & produce an ambitious show as part of our programme.
Seed Grants: we offer a small cash contribution that begins new artist support relationships with independent artists & companies based in or from the South West. These small commissions might fund some early stage research & development, some time with a new creative collaborator or a reading/work-in-progress.
If you have an idea that you think would be a good fit for some commissioning support from Bristol Old Vic, we will be releasing more detail guidance around a year-round submissions process in July 2024.
Residencies
We understand the value & impact that residencies can have on artistic processes & particularly on writers; time and space away from the day-to-day to rest, nourish yourself and your practice and explore new ideas or ways of working. We are beginning a new partnership with our friends at Hawkwood CFT to offer writing residencies throughout the year.
We’ll be sharing more details about residencies, including the process through which writers can apply for one, in August 2024.
Early Career Writers Programme
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 24/25 EARLY CAREER WRITERS PROGRAMME ARE NOW CLOSED.
We will aim to respond to all applicants on or before: Fri 27 Sep
The information below gives you an idea of the activity for 24/25 Programme and is shared for anyone who may have an interest in future editions of the programme.
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We want to encourage and support early career writers to take bold next steps with their practice. As part of our literary programme, we will be inviting a group of early career playwrights to take part in a new free programme hosted by Bristol Old Vic and lead by industry professionals, scheduled across several weeks from November 2024 to May 2025.
Our key intentions for this programme are:
- To build meaningful relationships between BOV and the participating writers, making them feel like they are members of our BOV community, not just visitors
- Give space and time for flexibility to the needs of the group over the course
- Give space and time to experience the joy of creating a play
- Create a submission and feedback loop that closely resembles what participants might encounter professionally with a theatre literary department, a test run for their future.
- Placing emphasis on seeing work (at BOV and elsewhere) to keep conversations about liveness and audience alive throughout
- We want to facilitate a joyful space where writers bond with their peers and trust themselves, each other & their lead writer to create and share brave new work.
Practically, how will it work?
- Four writers selected in the first year
- Selected writers will be based in the South West
- Light touch application process: tell us a bit about yourself and share a bit of your writing.
- Will be lead in the first year by local playwright Ross Willis (Wolfie, Wonder Boy)
- There will be no age limit on participation – you just need to be ‘early’ in your practice
- 8 – 12 sessions programmed across a commitment of 6 months, designed to fit around/outside of existing work commitments
- A focus on training and skills development through writing workshops early in the programme
- Opportunity to develop and share your writing for the stage with your cohort, lead writer and the BOV Literary team for feedback
- Bursaries & stipends will be available to participants to navigate barriers to attendance
- Writers will be able to access space to work in, invitations to press nights, free tickets to Bristol Old Vic shows as well as discounts in our bar and kitchen throughout the programme