What a strange year…

2023 was the year I decided to double down on the screenplay momentum I started in 2022 and see if my back catalog of plays would do any work for me. As we all know, it’s been tough for the trenches playwrights to get in the mix—tougher than usual, I mean. I have more than two dozen full-length plays, some decorated but unproduced, so I had things to continue submitting, but let’s face it—there’s not much to submit to! My number of submissions this year stands at a mere 142, and if you’ve read any of my past year-end summaries, you know that is PALTRY! A fifth or sixth of peak years and the numbers have steadily declined the past several years. Even in 2020—when by all rights, there should have been no submissions—my submission numbers were triple what they were in 2023. The submission opps just aren’t there and, if they are, they’re for tens or development. Production submission opportunities for full-length plays are nearly extinct. The list of reasons why is deep and worthy of a blog post in itself, but it has meant pivots for many of us.

For me, as I mentioned in my 2022 review, that meant continued focus on screenwriting—efforts that I’m delighted to say paid off with the filming of my first TV feature, a thriller called THE WIVES CLUB, in Kelowna, Canada in October. It’s currently in post-production, about to drop any second! I also have a Christmas romance, AN ANTIQUE CHRISTMAS, soft greenlit with filming expecting to commence this winter. I currently have pitches in to the same company, and we’re hoping to find another script to develop together. Bloom where you’re wanted is my new mantra!

Which doesn’t mean I didn’t have productions this year but where did they come from? Two from the New Play Exchange. A month ago, I did a webinar presentation for the Dramatists Guild on how to use NPX and was surprised to see a sizable chunk of playwrights who still don’t have NPX accounts. Beyond the initial work of uploading plays and their data, it’s the most passive way to get your work into the world. Without it, I would have stood at one stage production this year—a Buffalo Infringement production of THE WAY IT IS directed by my daughter that, while successful, wasn’t a result of my own marketing–and a radio version of FLOWERS IN THE DESERT called EIGHT DATES. THE WAY IT IS got its fifth production in Cape Cod, FINDING NEIL PATRICK HARRIS went up in Washington, DC, and THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR wrapped up an insane ten-year run at Teatrulde Arta Bucuresti in Romania. That is just something I never would have seen coming when I started this crazy journey.

Strangely, the only two productions I have lined up for next year are also in Buffalo—a total of three in Buffalo for the calendar year, the first time that’s even come close to happening. TEACH goes up at Buffalo State University in February, and ANNE OF GREEN GABLES gets its professional world premiere at Theatre of Youth in January. I’m so excited for both of these especially because after that, for the first time ever, I’ve got zip on the theater horizon except for a few readings: BEST LAID PLAN(t)S (which racked up several notices in 2023, including a current O’Neill semi) in Buffalo, MABEL TALKS in Connecticut via Zoom, and MADNESS MOST DISCREET: Larry and Viv’s Last Visit in Denver. I’ve also been busy trying to connect some new talent to MABEL since the name actress I wrote it for—with her full knowledge and participation—ghosted me without even reading it, a huge disappointment.

Reduced submissions means reduced hits which means reduced traveling. Where prepandemic, I was traveling an average of once a month for playwriting work, this year I went to DC for my production of FINDING NEIL PATRICK HARRIS (and my son’s graduation from GW), Cape Cod for a production of THE WAY IT IS, and Seattle for a reading of FINDING NEIL PATRICK HARRIS—and that was it for the year! (Well… I was supposed to go to Vermont for a reading of FNPH but snowstorm!). I also took a grant-funded recon trip for an aborted passion project. The lack of travel has been strange, though the timing worked out well because after four years of searching for a house in the city of Buffalo, we finally found one, so the free time to pack and move and prep to sell etc. was most welcome. But as we head into the new year, I’m going to be itching to be a playwright in another city.

Oh, financially in 2023… Remember when I said in 2022, I had my best year yet? This year was even better. Why? Essentially because I got paid for writing screenplays. Even at the low end of the scale, it’s just more money than I’ve ever made on a play—so far; I have hope for THE CROSSWORD PLAY. Also, the film production company hires me to do “American polishes” on scripts from British writers—where I get to look for things like closet being used to say armoire or saloon car being used for sedan—so that’s fun and just a little gravy on top. Bloom where you’re wanted. I also got a grant for the aforementioned project that, to my greatest disappointment, is not going to happen now as the AD at the theater left—and also royalties for multiple school productions of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. Oh, and I did write a play! It’s one-act adaptation of SLEEPY HOLLOW, published by YouthPLAYS. It had one performance at the end of the year.

So what’s on tap? With the demise of my aborted project (if you’re wondering why I’m not writing it anyway, it’s because it just won’t have legs beyond Buffalo), it doesn’t look like plays, at least not at this moment… As I said in 2022, I still don’t know what I’d do with one once it’s written. I have a producer interested in another Christmas screenplay once I make some revisions, and more thriller pitches in the works. I also have an idea for a rom-com that I really want to write. I think I’m going to have to plan some travel on my own for the first time in forever.  I’m remaining open to everything and am excited to see what the year brings me—because it’s always something and it’s always surprising!

Happy new year! How did your 2023 go? How are you feeling about the current state of theater for trenches playwrights? What are you working on?

(Click on the home page to read about my plays!)

–Please follow me on Twitter @donnahoke or like me on Facebook at Donna Hoke, Playwright.

–Read my plays and recommendations on the New Play Exchange!

–Playwrights, remember to explore the Real Inspiration For Playwrights Project, a 52-post series of wonderful advice from Literary Managers and Artistic Directors on getting your plays produced. Click RIPP at the upper right.

–To read #PLONY (Playwrights Living Outside New York) interviews, click here or #PLONY in the category listing at upper right.

–To read the #365gratefulplaywright series, click here or the category listing at upper right.

–For more #AHAinTheater posts, click here or the category listing at upper right.