OzMade Musicals 2007 Submission Guidelines

Submissions for the ‘On The Drawing Board’ component of OzMade Musicals 2007 will be accepted from unperformed, rehearsal ready works of music theatre written by Australians.

For the purpose of OzMade Musicals 2007, the following definitions are provided:

A work of “musical theatre” is defined as ‘a play which uses music and song in the advancement of the action, time and/or space.’ This is a very fluid genre, with many hybrid forms and interpretations. The ultimate decision of what can be accepted will be at the discretion of the Submission Panel.

“rehearsal ready” is defined as having a significantly advanced book and score for the minimum of a reading presentation.

“written by Australians” includes all major contributors of the book, the libretto and the score. Works with international writers credited as providing ‘additional material’ may still be submitted and will be determined as eligible at the discretion of the Submission Panel. The subject matter of the musical does not have to be that of an Australian story to be considered an Australian musical.

“unperformed” means having had no previous presentations that were available to the public. Workshops, industry showcases, etc. would not generally be considered as a public performance but should be clarified with the submission panel.

Proof of the work meeting the requirements of point 1 (as defined in point 2) may be required before a work is considered eligible for assessment by the Submission Panel.

All copyright on the submissions must be held by the writers, with licensing permission details attached to the submission where relevant (i.e. – when the work is based on an existing novel or play which is currently under copyright to the original author.) All copyright liability attaches to the writer.

Submissions must be complete (see point 7.) and received by the stipulated closing date (see point 14), or they will not be accepted.

To be considered a “complete submission” (and therefore eligible) the writer must:

Provide a digital Script Extraction. This should be approximately 15 minutes worth of performance if read out. Submitters are encouraged to create a tailored extraction that is a potential showing for OzMade Musicals, rather than just providing a few consecutive scenes (unless of course this would be the best way to showcase the given work). The extraction must include at least one song lyric (preferably two or three). It should be uploaded with the online Submission Form (Word, PDF’s, and .txt files accepted).

A CD Recording of at least 6 songs. The quality of the recording is unimportant but must be a live singer and pianist, or other musical accompaniment. This can be submitted by post, or uploaded as .wav or .mp3 files if the total size for all files is under 2MB.

In the interest of saving trees and administration, the Submissions Fee for a digital submission (accepting the posted CD recording) is $15.00. If submissions must be sent as a hard-copy, a $25.00 Submission Fee applies. Payment of the Submission Fee can be made online using a credit card when completing the Submission Form, or by a cheque or money order made out to “Australian Musicals Dotcom”.

Additional Support Materials may be included as deemed necessary by the submitter. These can be posted in with the Recording. There is no guarantee that all members of the Submission Panel will access the Support Materials.

In making their decision the Submission Panel may ask for the following at any time:

A maximum of four works will be chosen for OzMade Musicals 2007, but there is no minimum amount that may be presented. In considering the submissions, it may be deemed more appropriate to show more than 15 minutes of selected works, and this will result in less works being accepted.

In the event that the Submission Panel is unable to make any recommendations for the ‘On the Drawing Board’ component, it is at the discretion of the Magnormos Artistic Director to suspend the program for the year and showcase only ‘OzMade Flashbacks’ at OzMade Musicals 2007.

The scoring or appraisal of particular works is entirely at the discretion of the Submission Panel and will not be available to submitters.

Before submitting, writers should ensure they are available to be in Melbourne for the presentation and the preceding workshop. Writers are required to be directly responsible for shaping the selection for performance, though all successful submissions will involve a degree of collaboration between the writer/s and Aaron Joyner the Artistic Director of Magnormos.

Magnormos will offer the writer/s access to the appropriate resources it commands in order to ensure a successful presentation. This includes assisting in securing cast and creatives through the Magnormos Talent Bank and the AT2 website, dedicated rehearsal space at Theatreworks St. Kilda, and use of a Piano provided by Yamaha Music Australia. A more detailed Agreement will be entered into with all successful applicants.

All required submission forms and documentation are downloadable from the Australian Musicals.com website in PDF format. They are also available to post in hard-copy on request.

Should applicants have any difficulty completing any section of the submission form, or meeting any of the stated requirements, they are encouraged to contact the submission panel via ozmade_@_australianmusicals_._com (please remove all underscores: _), to discuss alternative arrangements.

Submissions are opened nationally on March 7^th, and close on the 31^st of July 2007.

Submissions will be administered by Australian Musicals.com where they will be collected, assed for ‘completeness’, and entered into the Submission Register.

Submissions accepted as ‘complete’ will be uploaded onto a private web-page that Submission Panelists can download all materials from to make their assessment.

Submissions are individually assessed by each Submission Panelist in their own time, who will complete a Scoring Sheet for each work and return it to the panel chair.

The submission panel will assess each work according to its:
1. Strength of language (including the languages of music and dance)

and

It is anticipated an announcement on the successful applicants will be made in late September 2007.

All submission materials will be archived in the Australian Musicals.com library unless a stamped, self-addressed envelope has been included and a request for the materials to be returned.

Successful applicants will be required to complete a written Agreement between themselves and Magnormos related to their involvement in OzMade Musicals 2007.