SUBMIT YOUR PLAY

SUBMIT YOUR PLAY OR SCREENPLAY


WELCOME TO 2023,  PLAYWRIGHTS!

Submissions are now closed for 2023.

Good luck to all the people who have submitted. 

GENERAL INFO FOR FUTURE SUBMISSIONS

Please email us your play scripts in either word or pdf format. Scripts will be read through the next twelve to fourteen months, depending on the number of submissions so please be patient. We accept one script per month for publishing from a new author. We mainly publish scripts digitally. If you wish your script to be available in print format you will need to send your script in print format size to us – that is 6.125″ by 9.25″ exactly. If you have a number of scripts you’d like us to read, please only send your best one. This is a new rule put in place as some playwrights were sending five or more plays at a time, and it isn’t fair on other writers who have to wait for us to read all the plays before moving on to theirs.

PLEASE DO NOT USE HOTMAIL, YAHOO, OR AOL email accounts as any reply to these accounts from us bounces. 

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When submitting a play, please note:

Please include a character list, running time and short synopsis as well as if the play has been previously produced  (and by who) or if it has won any awards.

We normally accept scripts written  in English.   We specialize in stocking  South African, American , Australian and British scripts but are getting many new submissions from Canadian,  Australian and New Zealand authors as well!  As South Africa does have 11 official languages, we may accept scripts in one of the other 10 languages, but please check with us first.  Scripts must have perfect grammar and spelling or they will be rejected.  This includes common mistakes such as using the word ”your” instead of ”you’re.” This would be missed by a normal spellchecker.

British and American spelling and traditional formats and layouts from both countries are accepted.

Please email your script to: [email protected]

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The scripts that have been submitted will be reviewed over the next 12-14 months so please give us some time, especially if you submit just before our closing date. 

We tend to select scripts that are somewhat edgy and contemporary so if your play is not selected, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t brilliant – it may not be a good fit with our current selection.

HOW IT ALL WORKS

 At Off the Wall plays, we serve two functions – on our front end, we sell plays and on our back end, we accept plays from aspiring writers, who, as talented as they are, struggle to get their plays published.

 The plays are copyrighted by Off The Wall Plays and/or in the author’s name, and the authors receive royalties every time their play is bought. The Plays are stored on a remote website, so no one will be able to download a play without paying for it first.

Off The Wall Plays is a  young, online publishing house whose aim is to attract quality playwrights with fresh, new ideas as opposed to our larger competitors.  We accept your plays free of charge. Off The Wall Plays will publish your play and get it out there for you. If your play sells, you will get 50% of the Royalties of each sale from the beginning.

Because Off The Wall Plays is a smaller publishing house, we have the resources and time it needs to get your play out there. We put a synopsis and sample of your your play on the front page of the website, when your play goes live, so it gets seen and not just filed into a genre with thousands of other plays. It stays in our top ten new plays for the next 5 months.We place a sample of your script on the website, not the full play so no one will be able to illegally use your work.

If your play sells well, we will add it to our “Best Sellers” list, automatically ranking it higher than ordinary plays, the price increases, and so do your Royalties. Plays bought to be used for a run or a season will also have license fees that will be paid by the organization that purchased the play, and 50% of those will go to the authors as well.

Once your play has been submitted, your play will be reviewed by our editor, who will contact you. Please have a look at our guidelines for submitting your play – by following these guidelines it will help your play sell.  We don’t mind correcting the odd typo, but plays with many spelling mistakes, missing punctuation marks and poor grammar will be sent back to the authors for correction before they can be considered for publishing, so please make sure yours is 100% first before you send it! We also try to get back to authors within a few days at most so they will know almost immediately that their script has been received and whether or not it will be published. 

We also run a reasonably priced play editing service for our authors.

Basic guidelines for writing plays

Please note that we only accept plays that do not have restrictions placed on them by other publishing houses. If your play has been published already, Off the Wall Plays cannot publish it on this site without permission from the publishing houses concerned. Please note that Off The Wall Plays relies on the honesty and discretion of the authors in this regard and cannot be held liable or responsible by any other Publishing House if the author of the play has attempted to have his/her play published illegally. Please note that we reserve the right to refuse to publish any play that may be considered to be blatantly offensive or obviously pornographic.
 
International Copyright Laws state (in countries other than the United States of America) that once a play is published, it is considered to be copyrighted by the author and/or the publishing house and no other person may attempt to publish the work under another author’s name unless copyright has expired on the material or permission from both the author and the publishing house has been given. If the author is a resident of the United States of America, then the play should also be registered with the appropriate body in the USA in order for copyright to hold.
Off  The  Wall  Plays – Online Publishers of Play scripts since 2010

Copyright Laws USA

 

3 thoughts on “SUBMIT YOUR PLAY”

  1. Hi, I recently submitted several plays to your fine website, and I was wondering when I would should expect a response. My name is Landen Swain, I submitted about 12 days ago.

    1. Dear Landen,

      Thanks – we did receive your scripts. It will take some time to read through them, as we have a large number of submissions at the moment. We should get back to you within 8 weeks.

      Thanks

      Dewan Demmer
      Off The Wall Plays

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