ELIGIBILITY & FEES
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Plays
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New work only (Your play cannot have been professionally produced, meaning no tickets were sold.)
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Runtime: 90 minutes maximum/60 minutes minimum (Scripts that exceed 90 pages will be returned.)
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No intermission
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Solo shows are accepted (60 minute maximum)
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Musicals
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Musical submissions CAN be works-in-progress, with the following stipulations:
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Musicals with less than a two-week run in an Off Off Broadway, regional or community theatre
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Musicals that have had independent developmental workshops, a small showcase concert of its songs, and/or staged readings
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Musicals that have NOT participated in any local (tri-state) theatre festival
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Runtime: no more than 110 minutes
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Optional: 10 minute intermission (must be included in total runtime)
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Performances can include either a live ensemble OR high quality produced tracks that you provide
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$50 - Submission Fee (All Plays)--
A nonrefundable reader fee for all applicants. In return, you will receive a critique of your play by several readers, regardless of acceptance. If you submit during the Preliminary Submission Period, you pay that fee only once, upon your first submission. If you choose to re-submit the same play, your fee is waived.
$300 - Acceptance Fee (Staged Readings)
$1500 - Acceptance Fee (Staged Musical Readings)
$1000 - Acceptance Fee (Plays with full Performances)
$4000 - Acceptance Fee (Musicals with full Performances)
A one-time, non-refundable fee that applies ONLY if your show is accepted.
For Staged Play Readings: This fee covers the use of our space and staff for ONE staged reading of your work (no more than three hours). BBTF provides one-on-one dramaturgy, FOH services, lighting and audio support, music stands, ushers.
For Staged Musical Readings: This fee covers the use of our space and staff for TWO staged readings of your work (no more than four hours each). BBTF provides one-on-one dramaturgy support, FOH services, lighting and audio support, music stands, ushers.
For Plays and Musicals: This fee covers our trademark training: intensive one-on-one dramaturgical sessions prior to pre-production, full tech support and all the education and advice you need throughout the process. It also includes your tech and three full performances, complete with all front of house services, including box office, ticket sales, marketing, press, hospitality services and ushering. We also provide a tech supervisor for each show, and for musicals: microphones, an orchestra pit with a drum kit and keyboard. BBTF has been described as a boot camp or training intensive for self producing playwrights. Each play will have three to five productions with full FOH, marketing/press and tech support.
Please note: The costs associated with your production are separate and are your responsibility. BBTF strives to keep these costs low by recommending proven directors, stage managers and actors willing to work within the parameters of the festival environment. However, all budgetary negotiations are completely under your discretion. Playwrights MUST keep their sets minimal and forgo elaborate costuming. Upon acceptance, we provide you with a templated budget to guide you with a legitimate range for line item costs. In addition, our professional team will work with you during the entire production process so you will always have support.
KEY DATES
for BBTF 2027
February 14, 2027
Submission and application deadline 5:00 PM EST.
End of February, 2027
Finalist interviews and selection.
March 10, 2027
Deadline for acceptance
Memorial Day, 2027
Tickets go live!
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A blind submission process allows for the selection of the highest caliber of writing. All selections are based on the merits of the submission and do not allow the process to be influenced by the expectations inspired by the author's bio, reputation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, abilities, age, sexual preference or orientation.
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All submissions are read in full by the Festival Director and members of our reader panel, all professional playwrights and theatre producers with published and produced works. (BBTF does not only read the first 10 pages, as other festivals do. This is a strictly curated festival.)
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All submissions undergo careful scrutiny. Upon completion of the decision-making process, BBTF will email you a critique of your script, which should help you understand the reason your play was or was not selected. Our critiques provide dramaturgical advice and professional feedback of your work and avoid any prescriptive guidance.
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Critiquing Rubric: Each play is vetted using the BBTF critiquing rubric. It consists of two categories: Plot Development and Character Development. The third category is where we share our non-prescriptive advice on how to make your play stronger. A fourth category for musicals includes an analysis of the musical score.
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BBTF will never put its stamp on any of the shows it presents. We simply require acknowledgment in all future productions (i.e., 'this work was developed in part with BBTF 2027, a NYC-based developmental festival.') We neither take a percentage of future revenues nor do we require the distribution of producer points, as other festivals do.
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BBTF does not require you to cover a ticket quota, like other New York festivals. In other words, you are not asked to purchase a minimum number of tickets for your own performances. We market your show. We do have a comp policy that is limited to industry professionals, but also includes comps for you and your director(s) to your own performances and those of the other playwrights in the festival.