Playmarket is a not-for-profit organisation providing script advisory services, representation for playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

s in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and access to New Zealand plays.

Playmarket was founded in 1973 to encourage the professional production of New Zealand plays. The organisation now represents a substantial majority of New Zealand theatrical writers. Playmarket is also a publisher of plays.

History

During the first eighteen months of the organisation, Playmarket licensed a total of 15 productions. By comparison, it currently licenses around 500 productions of New Zealand plays each year, both in New Zealand and around the world.

Structure

Registering as a non-profit making incorporated society in 1975, the membership of the Society now meets annually to review activities, receive the annual reports and elect a board. During the year the board meets to determine policy, establish budgets and monitor the activities of the organisation. Playmarket receives core funding from Creative New Zealand

Creative New Zealand

The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets and audiences for New Zealand arts domestically and internationally...

.

Published New Zealand Plays

Playmarket sells published New Zealand plays. The bookshop is available online at their website which also provides profiles of New Zealand playwrights and titles. The bookshop also has a database of unpublished scripts. Many of the best scripts have flexible cast numbers and suitable for schools and students.

Published playwrights

Client writers and published playwrights include Roger Hall

Roger Hall

Roger Leighton Hall, CNZM, QSO is a British born New Zealander actor and playwright, known for his comedies that carry a serious vein of social criticism and feelings of pathos.-Early years:...

, Hone Kouka

Hone Kouka

Hone Kouka is an acclaimed New Zealand playwright. He has written 13 plays which have been staged in New Zealand and worldwide including Canada, South Africa, New Caledonia and Britain. Kouka's plays have won multiple awards at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards, the 'Oscars' of New Zealand theatre....

, Victor Rodger

Victor Rodger

Victor Rodger is a journalist, actor and award winning playwrightin New Zealand whose theatre work deals with race, racism and identity...

, Dave Armstrong, Gary Henderson, Jean Betts, Thomas Sainsbury, Michelanne Forster, Robert Lord, Bruce Mason, Ken Duncum

Ken Duncum

Ken Duncum is a leading New Zealand playwright and screenwriter. His scripts have won awards in theatre and television. His plays Cherish and Trick of the Light won best new New Zealand play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in 2003 and 2004...

, David Geary

David Geary

David Geary is an award winning playwright from New Zealand. He also writes for television.Geary studied acting at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School in Wellington. He graduated in 1987. His play Lovelocks Dream Run was published by Victoria University Press in 1993. The play is studied at...

, Briar Grace-Smith

Briar Grace-Smith

Briar Grace-Smith is a playwright and screenwriter from New Zealand. Her first major play, Ngā Pou Wahine earned her the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award . Her play Purapurawhetū won Best New Zealand Play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In 2000, she received the Arts Foundation Laureate Award. In...

.

Playmarket News

Playmarket publishes a magazine called Playmarket Annual. The magazine provides a review of the previous year of theatrical activity in New Zealand.

Client Services

Playmarket services for their playwright clients include;

• Promotion and circulation of scripts to potential directors and producers both in New Zealand and overseas
• Monitoring the collection and distribution of royalty payments
• Negotiation of all contracts and commissions
• Troubleshooting, support and advocacy during production
• Copyright advice
• Collection of scripts, biographies and production information
• Priority eligibility for script development, publication, conferences and special events

Membership

For a nominal annual fee, people can become members of Playmarket. Membership can be made online at Playmarket's website.

Location & Contact

Playmarket has two offices in Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 (head office) and Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

.

Physical Location:

Wellington - Level 2, 16 Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

Auckland - Level 11, 44 - 52 Wellesley St, Auckland

Mail can be sent to: P.O.Box 9767, Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand.

Phone +64 4 382 8462

Fax +64 4 382 8461

E-mail info@playmarket.org.nz