How to apply

Applications are welcomed from any professional pairing of a playwright and a producer, venue or theatre company in England.

To be eligible for the NPCS the writer must meet the following criteria:

• You must be at least 18 years of age at the date of your submission
• You must be resident in, but do not need to have been born in, England
• You must not be employed by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain or be a member of the NPCS steering group, selection panel, or a person otherwise connected to this scheme

To be eligible for the NPCS the producer must meet the following criteria:

• Be registered/located in England
• Have a demonstrable track record in producing new theatrical works
• Have sufficient financial reserves to guarantee the appropriate writer delivery fee

No, applications will require a proposal and a sample(s) of previous work.

The scheme will fund the first phase of the commissioning fee as set out in the appropriate WGGB agreement for 18 writers, expecting co-applicant venues/producers to meet subsequent payments.

No, applicants do not have to be members of the WGGB to apply and membership status will not be divulged to the selection panel. We would of course recommend that any professional or emerging playwright join the WGGB. Full details of the benefits of membership and how to apply can be found here 

No, to be considered for the scheme applications must include submissions from both a writer and the producing partner.

Unlike writing development schemes, a specific aim of NPCS is to ensure that new writing is being brought to the stage. The assessment of applications will be made on both the creative idea and the likely pathway to production.

The scheme specifies that 75% of awards will go to applications where the writer or writers have not been commissioned and/or given been given full productions by their co-applicant producer(s) before.

To ensure full transparency and independent oversight, NPCS cannot introduce playwrights to producing partners. However, we have produced a brief fact sheet for those writers without existing relationships with producers which you can access here.

Yes. NPCS is open to proposals of plays written by more than one writer (under the terms of the relevant WGGB agreements); on this website the word ‘writer’ can include a co-writer.

Yes. NPCS also welcomes proposals for co-productions between more than one theatre, producing company or independent producer.

To honour the terms of the scheme’s funding from Arts Council England, both writer and producing partner must be based in England. During the application process you will be asked to provide the full address of the producing partner, and the postcode of the writer, in order to establish eligibility.

Yes, but the resultant script must be written by and credited to you (though co-creation partners may be acknowledged).

Yes, although the final script must be written by and credited to you (though writing partners may be acknowledged).

If the writing process includes improvision by the writer or others from which material is drawn for the creation of a written script, then yes. The final script must be written by and credited to you (though partners may be acknowledged). There are provisions in the WGGB agreements for co-writing agreements to be made at the outset.

New musical theatre writing is eligible for the NPCS, but the scheme will only support the commissioning of the written word (librettist, lyricist or book writer). The additional costs of commissioning the musical composer will have to be borne fully by the producer, and the application should clearly show how this additional funding will be raised, as part of the pathway to production. Additionally, if a musical theatre commission is successfully supported by NPCS, subsequent conversations will be required to establish the appropriate WGGB collective agreement against which funding will be awarded.

As NPCS was designed to stimulate new pieces of original work, translations and adaptations of existing work will not be eligible. That is not to understate their value or importance in the literary landscape but to reflect the fact that our research suggested that they were increasing in commission numbers while new works were decreasing.

Yes.

No. Applications must be submitted by a producing partner on behalf of a playwright/producer partnership. However, you can apply if you are part of a pre-existing producing company, of which you are not the only member, which produces new work.

The Faber New Play Award of £5,000 will be given to the best play written under the WGGB New Play Commission Scheme by an unpublished playwright, judged by a panel of theatre practitioners. To be eligible for the award, the script must be submitted to Faber by 3 May 2023. As part of the award, the play will be published by Faber to coincide with its premiere. Full terms and conditions can be found here.