As I thought about whether to move the RT Inner Circle to Patreon I had to stop and think about everything I'd been producing, presenting, performing or hosting over the past few years.
Would the offerings stack up and strike all of you as worth it?
Patreon offers artists a reliable revenue stream (albeit a modest one) by inviting members of the artist's sphere of influence to make a monthly financial contribution to the general health and well-being of the artist and by extension everything they create and offer to the world each year.
It's a tiered model so, those most casually affiliated contribute something you may hardly notice. In our case we set the lowest tier at a $3 monthly contribution.
$3 per month amounts to a little more than $.09 a day. Hopefully anyone who has found joy or value of any kind in any of my workshops or the Hear Me Out programming won't hesitate to join us.
I decided to simply keep the three existing benefits of RT Inner Circle membership as has been the case for free for all these years: subscription to the semi-monthly RT Inner Circle e-Notes, priority notice of contests and other submission opportunities and the exclusive RT Inner Circle Comp Ticket promo codes which allow you to pay zero at many of the online events I host.
This choice, I hope, sends a clear message:
That thing you were getting for free all this time now has a $3 price tag but no one is going to force you to jump on board. You can choose to continue in the RT Inner Circle without signing up on Patreon but I really hope you'll seriously consider enrolling at Patreon, thereby contributing to a community that chooses to honor the value of what I've been making happen for people with a small outlay of cash each month.
It's never simple when something you've been getting for free is suddenly protected by a Paywall. I remember the first time I clicked to read an article in the New York Times online only to be suddenly asked if I had paid for a subscription. It felt like a betrayal.
That's the last thing I want to make you feel. So, if you wish to remain in the RT Inner Circle and avail yourself of certain opportunities, announcements and bits of professional advice contained in the e-Notes and on the YouTube channel, no one's going to be policing you, waiting to stop you.
But, some of the things I've been giving away free of charge, like Wednesday Gathering, for example, have never been free of cost to me. So, in order to continue to drop in on the occasional Wednesday, all we ask is that you set aside $36 a year for the privilege. I hope you'll agree that that's negligible compared to what it means to you to know that the gathering is here. Because of course, the Wednesday Gatherings are not a writer's workshop, like the Roland Tec Online Writers Workshop in which an instructor (me) has carefully constructed a course in order to result in a specific result (your completion of a specific goal for your work over a six month period).
As I said, before launching on Patreon, I thought it might help for me to make a comprehensive list of all the things I'd offered the community since the start of this pandemic.
Here's what I was able to remember:
Hear Me Out New American Monologue Competition
Now in its third year, I founded the competition in response to what I immediately perceived to be the damaging impact of Zoom on the presentation of new scripts of any kind. If monologue was the one form of theatre that the Zoom platform could not degrade, then I wanted as many playwrights and screenwriters as possible to really mine the form for all its dramatic potential. The pandemic immediately put all sorts of obstacles in the way of theatre artists hoping to make an impact. In the end I think everyone came to understand that the writer who can make serious drama unfold with little more than one actor speaking and a group of us listening... that person must be a master dramatist. Activate our imagination and you've got us in the palm of your hand.
Advanced Monologue Workshops
I've taught a bunch of these, usually to no more than 16 participants at a time because when I teach a writing workshop, it's hands-on and I want each participant to have multiple opportunities to read aloud from fresh writing and immediately hear feedback. Scriptwriting craft (like the craft of Music Composition) needs a direct line to the writer's ear. Without the opportunity to try something, revise, hear it again, revise again, etc. etc. a scriptwriter would be writing in a vacuum. And no three-dimensional character every came to life without being seen or heard by anyone.
Some1Speaking
After our National Circle of Judges had selected 12 Finalist Winners from the 400+ entries we received for the first competition, I felt that simply moving on would have been a crime. So many of the 'Me & My Masks' entries were brilliant, I could have easily filled 7 or 8 evenings with the runners-up. So I decided the least I could do was continue presenting monologues on the first Monday of each month. In this way, the Hear Me Out circle of writers, performers and audience is constantly being fed by the variety and quality of the Some1Speaking monologues.
Practical Support for Artists Getting Their Work Seen (and widely so)
RT Action Network, Self-Production Boot Camp, Cracking the Producers Code
I've never shied away from offering whatever real-world nuts-and-bolts guidance I can to writers and performers who don't lack ambition but are often encouraged not to "worry their pretty little heads" over matters as mundane as which venue might be the best fit for their new show, how best to market something so that the ideal audience find its way to your box office, etc. etc. For years I've been teaching Self-Production Boot Camp and will continue this tradition of taking a group of artists and showing them in 10 weeks of workshop that there really might be a producer deep inside them and that the work of producing can be so much more fun, creative and exciting than one would assume.
And now...
3rd Thursday BizzWork Q&A Lunch (I take your questions on any topic related to your work that is not about the work itself)
But even when one is not focused primarily on producing one project, writers are hungry for business support, for support around all the intimidating parts of making work and making sure it gets seen. For a few years it took the form of a monthly workshop, the Roland Tec Action Network. But lately I've been hearing from a number of you that you'd love an opportunity to gather once a month and just pose your most pressing questions about anything and everything you want to be/should be/will be doing to bring the work to the world in a way that best serves your artistic intentions as well as your financial ones.
Wednesday Gathering
Since December 2020 we've gathered on Wednesday nights for an open mic.
Roland Tec Online Writers Workshop
This 6-month scriptwriting workshop provides a rare opportunity to focus on one major new work or major artistic goal in the company of no more than 9 equally ambitious and passionate artists, One of the surest ways to expand your vision while honing your craft is to introduce consistency into your practice and to immerse yourself in a supportive roomful of writers all equally committed to your success. Because it's held online, RTOWW gives writers from all over the country a rare chance to learn from and bond with artists you otherwise might not have the chance to meet.
Hear Me Out Monologues YouTube
Almost every monologue performed at the Hear Me Out Festival and/or the Monday night Some1Speaking series will eventually find its way onto the Hear Me Out YouTube channel. To date, we've uploaded 150 outstanding pieces, many of which are performed by some of the finest actors---
I got too tired to complete this list. It was taking a long time. Suffice it to say, there's been a lot. And I hope you'll consider this mountain of offerings worth supporting. Because, of course, the idea behind Patreon is not so much purchasing products from artists as it is wanting to know that they're supported in their ongoing work making myriad things, most of which we will never directly make use of. And yet the evidence is clear to us--to those of us who click YES when invited to show our support and I am one for others on here--that we are sure the fact of their being here is better for us and for our chances of finding joy and inspiration online in the future.
Amen.
Thank you and Goodnight.
