I’m slowly becoming obsessed with an idea that I stumbled upon during the weekend performances of our rock opera, The Clowns.
After workshopping the production for two weeks with the actors, director and my writing partner, the show has evolved in ways I could have never imagined.
Most surprising for me was the way in which the actors have informed my vision of the characters. In less than two weeks, these characters have become more compelling, fully realized beings, and much of this progress was the result of the talent and insight of the actors portraying them. From improved dialogue to newfound aspects to a character’s personality to invented backstory to something as simple as the way a character walks and moves, these skilled and thoughtful professionals have provided me with an enormous amount of material for future revisions.
In many ways, they have come to know the characters better than me, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I’ve stolen so much from each one of them already, and I hope to continue to do so as we move forward.
As a novelist, I suddenly find myself wishing that I could have professionals like these performing each of the scenes in my manuscript as I finish them. I fear that there is so much more that I could learn about my characters if I could involve actors in the writing process.
This is the idea that has consumed me for the last few days.
Maybe I should give this a try. If I choose the right book idea, with a small enough number of characters (my books tend to be sparsely populated already) and a relatively uncomplicated setting, it might be possible for me to work with a group of improvisational actors and a director to inform my writing process.
At the minimum, it would be something new, and even if it failed to inform my writing in the ways that I am envisioning, it couldn’t hurt the process. I often think the publishing industry should be looking for more ways to innovate our product. Perhaps this could be one of those ways,
Of course, I’d need enough money to keep professional actors on staff during the writing process, but maybe Kickstarter could help.
Would readers be willing to fund a project like this in return for a signed first edition of the novel (signed by the author and the actors) plus complete video footage of each of the scenes as performed by the actors involved?
Is there something else that I might be able to offer as part of a Kickstarter package that readers would enjoy? Maybe a copy of the initial draft of each chapter followed by the revised copy of the chapter after having watched the scene portrayed by the actors?
I would love your thoughts on this idea. I’ve been prone to falling in love with some unlikely, unreasonable, unfeasible ideas in the past, and if this is just another one of them, please let me know.
Save me from myself.
But if you think it has merit and have any ideas to add to it, please let me know. that as well.
It’s an interesting idea and I would guess it might be an interesting enough novelty to work for one novel, but would probably not be financially sustainable for more than that.
Have you run any numbers to see how much it would cost? Let’s do it. I looked up pay rates for actors. This was from the screen actors guild, and, therefore, may not be entirely relevant, but it does give the minimum pay for principal and background actors. For a modified low budget film (budgeted less than $500,000), principal actors must make at least $248 per day and extras get $115/day. Let’s imagine that you are working on a book that requires 5 actors and a director, and we will pay the director the same as the actors, which we will round up to $250/day. An average novel probably has around 20 chapters, and I would guess that each chapter would require a few days. Let’s just say 3 days/chapter. This would then require $1500/day, $4500/chapter, and $90,000 for the book. Even if you find some very low budget actors who are willing to work for $100/day (which is only about $12/hour), you are still looking at needing $36,000 to do a whole novel.
I think it could work. It would be an interesting way to see how the reactions of the characters would come across in real time.
I don’t think this idea has to be expensive. Sure, professional actors would be nice but there are a lot of talented people out there who have day jobs and still find time to perform. A local community theater would probably be all over something like this.
As a “theater person” and writer, I’m intrigued by how the two art forms would merge. Theater is so collaborative and writing, at least in the early stages, is a much more isolated craft.
And the writer would have to be willing to accept that the actors may have very different ideas about the characters than s/he has.
I hope these will be open readings/rehearsals/scenes! I want to come watch!
Actually, I changed my mind. I don’t want to watch. I want to be the director!
I agree with Heather that it would need a local theatre group in order to be financially feasible and accessible to the every day writer. It would also force the solitary writer out of the comfort of her writing sanctuary to collaborate with these actors. I think your idea might catch on to something pretty rad if given the chance to expand. The incentives would have to be higher, but I can’t think of anything right now. Still cool idea, however!
Having some experience with paying actors and working with theaters (thanks to this recent process for The Clowns), I’m envisioning a scenario in which I pay our local playhouse an amount of money to finance the entire endeavor. Perhaps 10K-20K for the entire book. We had the opportunity to work with local actors for The Clowns, and while they were outstanding, they were also beginning their careers and willing to work for decidedly less money.
It would still be a large amount to raise through Kickstarter but not unheard of by any means. The playhouse could also involve an actual playwright who could be crafting a play to be produced at the end of the process as well.
Perhaps we could add live viewings of the scenes or even of the creative process as part of the Kickstarter incentives, though I agree that I need more.
Two things just came to me:
First, this is very similar to what New York Theatre Workshop does during their summer residencies, only for playwrights. It might provide a good sample structure. link to nytw.org
Second, if the playhouse you involve is a non-profit and a partner on the project, there may be grant money available.
Two excellent suggestions! Thanks!