Submit a script
What we accept
The ASC accepts professionally written, production-ready performance scripts for stage and radio across a range of styles and genres. We only accept work by Australian writers and encourage playwrights at all stages of their career to submit their plays to us, provided that the work meets the following criteria:
- You hold publication rights; in other words, the script has not been licensed to another publisher AND at least one of the following;
- The play has received or is contracted to receive a professional production or workshop (or a school or youth theatre production if that is more appropriate for the work), or
- The play has been recommended to us by a script development agency or professional theatre company, or
- The play has won or been shortlisted for a major prize, or
- The play is written by an established playwright
Please note that, while we do not accept musicals (where all or nearly all the text is sung), we do accept plays with music (where most of the text is dialogue, with occasional songs).
Royalties
Royalty payments are calculated annually in December and paid out once a playwright’s accrued total has reached $15 or more. If $15 is not reached in one year, the amount accrues into the next year.
Playwrights receive the following royalty payments from the ASC;
- Script sales – 10% of price received
- Photocopy licences – 50% of price received
Rights
Distribution through the ASC does not involve an exclusive agreement and full copyright ownership remains with the playwright who remains free to sell the work elsewhere and may withdraw their script from the ASC catalogue at any time. If and when the play is licensed to another publisher, we will withdraw it immediately on receiving your written advice to that effect. To withdraw a play from the catalogue, simply notify the ASC Director at director@ozscript.org.
The ASC does not negotiate production rights; we do however invite people to contact us if they have a production enquiry about a work in our catalogue. Enquiries are promptly forwarded to the relevant playwright or agent so that production rights can be directly negotiated with the enquirer.
Information on production rights is available from the Australian Writers Guild at www.awg.com.au
How to submit a script
Script submissions are received electronically either by email or on CD ROM. Your submission must include the following;
- The submission form, completed and saved in a Word document,
- The full script in Word format. Please ensure that it has been CAREFULLY PROOFREAD AND PAGINATED,
- A synopsis (100 words maximum) in Word
- Playwright biography (150 words maximum) in Word (the synopsis and biography may be in the same document or separate)
- For plays with music, please include the lyrics within the script. Do not include the sheet music in your initial submission, or any recordings. If your play is accepted you will be asked to provide us with the sheet music for one song only (sent as a pdf document), and an mp3 audio file of the same song.
- Playwright photo (jpg) for inclusion on website
- Production image/s (jpg) for inclusion on website. Please include photo credit and identify performers for al production images
- Any reviews or other support materials available in electronic format
Submissions may be emailed to info@ozscript.org or posted in CD ROM format to:
The Australian Script Centre
77 Salamanca Place
Hobart, TAS, 7000
Submission fee
A one-off fee of $33 (incl. gst) is payable per accepted script. This goes towards the costs involved in formatting, uploading and managing access to, and sales of the script. An invoice will be issued with advice of acceptance.
The submission fee is waived for plays which have won a major playwriting award (eg the Griffin Award, Patrick White Playwrights' Award, an AWGIE etc) and in other certain circumstances at the sole discretion of the Script Centre.
Important notes
We do not accept scripts without signed permission from all copyright holders. Your script must not include material that you do not have permission to use. If it has been previously published but is now out of print, we ask you to provide a letter from your publisher confirming that the rights have reverted to you.
The ASC does not provide a script development or editing service and we cannot accept scripts that do not meet a professional standard. This includes scripts that have not been properly proofread, paginated or checked for other mistakes. Scripts should be clearly formatted and easy to read. If you are unsure of an appropriate format, a sample script format is available here.
It is completely at the Centre's discretion whether or not to accept a script into the collection. The ASC does not accept all scripts submitted. Any that do not meet a professional standard will be rejected.
It usually takes around six weeks to assess submissions. You will be advised of the outcome by email.
- Submission form (.doc) (please save, fill in and email back)
- Sample script format
Any questions? Please email us or telephone 03 6223 4675 (International: +61 3 6223 4675)