Writer Agreement

The full working agreement between Sydney Dramaturgical and its contributing writers.

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About Sydney Dramaturgical

Sydney Dramaturgical is an independent theatre publication. We commission paid reviews, interviews, and essays about live performance, and publish them at sydneydramaturgical.com. We're also a discovery platform and working archive for independent live performance in Sydney, New York, and Montréal. In odd years, we produce original theatre.

Your work sits inside a longer arc. Independent performances are temporary — a few nights, limited documentation, then gone. Our editorial project is to give those performances a life beyond their run: discoverability before and during the event, critical interpretation while they're culturally current, a searchable record afterward.

Your review, essay, or interview belongs to the third: memory. It becomes the trace that outlasts the performance. Someone researching this scene in five years, or fifty, will find your writing rather than the show itself. That's both a real responsibility and a real gift. It's also why we care about voice — the record is only worth keeping if it's written by someone with something to say.

Sydney Dramaturgical discovers, interprets and preserves live performance.

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Who writes for us

SDC works with two pools of writers:

• Working critics. Cover reviews, interviews, and essays.
• Emerging writers. Cover editorial reviews only, from a ringfenced budget.

Your tier is agreed at engagement and doesn't vary between assignments.

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What we publish

• Reviews and dispatches: timely coverage of current productions in Sydney, NYC, or Montréal. Minimum 600 words.
• Q&A interviews: with theatre-makers, dramaturgs, or scholars. Minimum 1000 words, 6 to 8 exchanges.
• Essays: pre-written or commissioned, evergreen, on live performance, movements, moments, or performing arts practitioners (dead or alive). Minimum 500 words. Can be experimental in form.

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How reviews are funded

Reviews are funded two ways:

• Editorial reviews are commissioned by SDC from its own budget, on shows SDC chooses.
• Requested reviews are paid for by third parties (theatre companies, supporters, audience members, anyone) through a $100 commission fee, all of which goes to the writer.

Both streams are published the same way, edited the same way, treated the same way.

Writers are not told which stream a review belongs to. When SDC briefs you on a show, the brief includes the title, venue, performance date, and any known content warnings. It doesn't disclose funding source, commissioner identity, or expectations. This double-blind is load-bearing — it protects writer independence and reader trust, and is non-negotiable.

Don't attempt to determine who commissioned any specific review, and don't speculate publicly about commissioning.

For interviews and essays, all pieces are editorially commissioned by SDC (or brought to us pre-written, in the case of essays) for now. Whether the requested-commission model will extend to those formats is not yet decided.

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Rates and payment

• Review (working critic): $100, paid on receipt of first draft.
• Review (emerging writer): $50, paid on receipt of first draft.
• Interview with your own transcription: $150, paid on publication.
• Interview without transcription: $100, paid on publication.
• Essay: $50 to $100 (editor's discretion), paid on receipt of first draft.

• All rates are tax-inclusive.
• Currency by reporting location: AUD for NSW, USD for the three NYC boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens), CAD for Quebec. Emerging writers follow the same rule.
• Payment method: Wise (Canada), direct bank transfer (Australia), Zelle (US).
• Payment is triggered when we've received both the piece and the invoice.
• Invoice using the SDC template or your own. Multiple pieces can be combined on one invoice.

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Editorial approach

You write what you think of the show, artist, or subject. But at the end of the day, our subjects are fringe artists working with little resource and less coverage — SDC exists to support them, not to tear them down. The editor may adjust framing, tone, or language to keep the piece in that spirit.

The editor has final say. Substantive changes are discussed with you before publishing, and you're encouraged to push back respectfully on edits you disagree with — but if we can't agree, the editor's call stands.

Drafts are never shared with commissioners, producers, or anyone outside the editorial team before publication.

Editorial independence applies unless you accept an assignment with specific terms attached (e.g. a themed feature, a constrained format). Those terms would govern for that piece only.

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Rights, byline, and exclusivity

• You retain copyright.
• Standard byline: "by [Your Name]."
• Your byline appears on the website, in newsletters, on social media (X, LinkedIn, Google Business, Facebook, Instagram), and on any additional channels SDC expands to in the future.
• Pieces are exclusive to Sydney Dramaturgical for 6 months from publication. After 6 months, you may republish elsewhere with a "first published in Sydney Dramaturgical" credit line.

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Communication and deadlines

Deadlines can flex if you stay in communication. Silence, not lateness, is the issue.

After publication, edits are only accepted for factual or sensitive details — not opinion, tone, or subjectivity. Sensitive details means anything that could compromise someone's safety, employment, or legal standing: naming a person who hasn't consented (a minor, an audience member, someone in the interviewee's private life), health or mental health information, sexuality, family circumstances, immigration status, and similar.

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AI use (writer)

You don't use AI to generate the substantive content of your pieces.

Transcription (interviews): you may use AI-assisted transcription tools, but you're responsible for the accuracy of the final transcript. Uneditorialised AI transcripts — raw output pasted in without you having read, corrected, and refined it — are grounds for cancellation with no kill fee.

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Fact-checking

You're responsible for fact-checking your own work. SDC isn't an accuracy publication in the investigative-journalism sense — the context is fringe and independent performance, and this is understood on all sides.

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Conflict of interest

Disclose conflicts at the moment of assignment, regardless of whether it came from a pitch or from SDC outreach. Prior work with anyone in the production (or the interviewee, or the essay subject), personal closeness, or any relationship that could reasonably compromise your independence must be flagged. SDC reassigns without penalty.

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Conduct

You're responsible for knowing what you're talking about before criticising a work. This is a values statement about the standard SDC expects, not an enforceable clause. You're also encouraged to write positive content, especially if you don't come from a theatre-making background.

You agree not to publicly disparage Sydney Dramaturgical, other SDC contributors, or the editorial process.

What counts as unprofessional conduct?

We're not too strict, but examples include:

• Aggressive or hostile behaviour toward artists, publicists, or subjects.
• Misrepresenting yourself or SDC when contacting shows.
• Sharing draft materials with people outside the editorial team (with the exception of the interviewee-quote check described in the interviews section).
• Making advances on interviewees, publicists, or people you're covering.
• Publicly attacking SDC, its writers, its editors, or its editorial decisions.
• Ignoring an interviewee's off-the-record request or breaking an embargo.

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Kill fees and ending the relationship

• Kill fee is 20% of the piece rate. Only applies after a first draft has been submitted per the guidelines and the piece doesn't run.
• Pre-written essays are not eligible for a kill fee. The kill fee for essays only applies to commissioned essays.
• If a piece is pulled after publication for reasons not on your side, you're still paid in full.
• If SDC cancels a piece due to unprofessional conduct or harassment by you, no kill fee applies.
• Either side can end the working relationship at any time. If you're stepping back, let us know as soon as possible so we can reassign anything in progress. Pieces already agreed will still be honoured under these terms unless conduct issues apply.

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Scope stability

Once a piece is agreed, no tasks are added after the fact. Any scope changes for future work are discussed and agreed in advance.

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Free speech and disclaimers

SDC will run anything. The publication values writing that risks something. SDC reserves the right to add a disclaimer to any article, at any point, stating that the views are the writer's own and not representative of Sydney Dramaturgical.

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Data and roster

• You consent to receive communications from SDC (newsletters and editorial).
• You consent to the storage and processing of your personal data.
• You can unsubscribe at any time.
• Being accepted onto the roster doesn't guarantee assignments. Assignments come either from your pitches (via the pitch form) or from SDC outreach during festival periods.

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Reviewers

Available to both working critics and emerging writers.

• Attend the performance on the date SDC assigns.
• File the first draft within 14 days of the performance. Minimum 600 words.
• Reviews are only commissioned for productions in Sydney (anywhere in NSW), NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens), or Montréal (anywhere in Quebec).
• Comps (tickets): if comps aren't sent with your assignment brief, liaise with the show yourself. Identify as an independent reviewer commissioned by SDC.
• Photos: source 3 to 10 images — a main banner plus 3 to 9 body images. Confirm SDC has permission to publish them, and provide a photo credit for each. Alt text is welcome; if you don't provide it, the editor will.
• When contacting shows for anything: keep it polite, brief, and limited. Ask them to verify factual details if useful. Never send them your draft or the contents of your review.

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Interviewers

Available to working critics only.

• Conduct the interview. 6 to 8 exchanges, 1000 to 1500 words total.
• Speaker tag format: name in bold caps, first sentence of each answer in bold, occasional bold phrases for emphasis.
• Production info block with credits, dates, venue, social handles.
• Optional 150 to 200 word contextual introduction. Descriptive, not evaluative. Critical framing is written separately by the editor.
• Comps: if the interview is tied to a show you'll be attending and comps aren't sent with your brief, liaise with the show yourself.
• Photos: source 3 to 5 images from the artist, with caption, photo credit, and alt text for each. Confirm SDC has permission to publish them. If you don't provide alt text the editor will, but we'd rather you did.
• If you're not transcribing, send the audio to the editor within 7 days.
• When contacting the show, artist, or their team: identify as an independent interviewer commissioned by SDC. Keep it polite, brief, and limited.

Recording consent

Get consent to record before the interview. Non-negotiable. Some jurisdictions (including Quebec) require consent from all parties on the recording. Confirm with your interviewee before you press record, and note their consent at the top of your recording.

Interviewee approval of quotes

Unlike some publications, SDC allows writers to check with interviewees before publication. Either you or the editor may share the interviewee's own quotes with them for accuracy — this isn't required, but it's fine to do, and often useful. We don't share the full piece, and we don't share editorial framing.

If the interviewee asks for substantive changes to a quote, work through it with them and let the editor know. The editor makes the final call on what runs.

Off the record

If an interviewee says something is off the record, it's off the record. Don't include it in the piece, don't reference it obliquely, don't use it as background colour. This applies whether they say it before, during, or after the recorded conversation.

Embargoes

An embargo is when a source, publicist, or company shares information with an agreement that you won't publish it until a specific date or time. It's common in theatre — new-season announcements, casting news, some preview periods.

If an artist, publicist, or theatre company shares information with an embargo (e.g. "please don't publish about our next season until August 1"), honour it. When you agree to an interview, flag any embargoes to the editor so we can plan around them. If you're covering a preview period and the show has asked reviewers to hold until opening night, that's an embargo too — check with the show and the editor.

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Essayists

Available to working critics only.

SDC accepts essays in two ways:

• Commissioned essays: topic agreed with the editor in advance, written for SDC.
• Pre-written essays: you've written the piece and you're bringing it to us. Pre-written essays can't have been previously published elsewhere, and you'll need to be open to up to two rounds of editing before publication.

• Minimum 500 words.
• Subject: live performance, movements, moments, or performing arts practitioners (dead or alive). Can be experimental in form.
• Images (optional): if you have them, source them yourself with photo credits. Confirm SDC has permission to publish. Alt text is welcome; the editor will handle it if you don't provide it.
• Kill fee applies only to commissioned essays. Pre-written essays are not eligible.

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Working hours

SDC is run almost entirely by people with full-time jobs, university study, artistic practice, or other professional commitments. You may occasionally receive emails from us outside conventional business hours — this reflects when our editors are available to work, not an expectation that you should be. If your boundary is to read and respond only during your own working hours (9 to 5 or otherwise), we fully support that.

We ask for the same understanding in return. If a response takes a little longer than expected, another part of life has temporarily taken priority — not that your work has been forgotten.

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How AI and automation feature at SDC

We've invested in machine-assisted workflows so we can spend more time writing, editing, and thinking, and less time on bureaucracy. Some involve AI, most don't. Aubrey edits by hand and mistakes happen — you're welcome, encouraged even, to push back on edits. Respectfully.

What AI does at SDC

• Drafts routine SEO listings published under the Ru'Sian Rulette byline, including weekly What's On round-ups and festival guides.
• Records the changes made by the editor between the original draft and the final copy.
• Writes CTA marketing copy that centres the writer's own words or their press releases verbatim.
• Prepares contributor biographies for online publication (punctuation, paragraph structure, HTML formatting).
• Supports operational work behind the scenes: identifying errors in first drafts, assisting with database design (never database handling), drafting social captions, time management, SEO copy.

What AI doesn't do

• Write reviews, essays, interviews, or criticism.
• Rewrite or edit the language, style, or arguments of human-written articles.
• Decide what Sydney Dramaturgical covers or commissions.
• Accept or reject writer applications.
• Correspond with writers, artists, or publicists on our behalf.
• Store or process sensitive contributor information.

Every human byline is written by a human, and every editorial decision is made by a human. If these practices are incompatible with yours, we respect that decision.

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