Copywriting — Press Releases, Blurbs, Festivals, Audition Notices

Copywriting for Productions

Five copywriting services for independent theatre productions, each priced between $50 and $180.

The Description Pack is a single delivery of every public-facing description the show needs. The Casting Copy Pack, Announcement Copy Pack, and Press & Run Copy Pack are smaller phased deliveries timed to specific moments in the production calendar. The Festival Form Pack fills out festival applications on Eventotron, Submittable, Festival Pro, and direct festival portals.

Producers buying multiple packs get them at a discount through the bundles.

Intake

Either an existing Positioning Memo or a 30-minute briefing call.

For productions already mid-rehearsal, we work from whatever draft copy exists — front-of-house copy already written, programme notes, cast bios, posters.

For productions buying only the Festival Form Pack without a Positioning Memo, the briefing call covers positioning-adjacent ground at lower depth.

Description Pack

A single delivery of all public-facing descriptions of the show.

Process

First drafts within 5 working days. Two rounds of revisions included per deliverable.

Deliverables

Schema:

• short-blurb — ≤60 words, for box office and event listings
• long-blurb — 150–250 words, for the show page and programme
• one-line-hook
• website-blurb — 300–400 words
• instagram-bio — ≤150 characters
• caption-bank — five reusable Instagram captions
• ticketing-copy — formatted for Eventbrite, Trybooking, TodayTix, or Stellar Tickets

Casting Copy Pack

All the writing the production needs during the casting phase.

Intake

Existing Positioning Memo or a 30-minute briefing call. Confirmed role count and any specific skills, age ranges, or audition piece requirements.

Process

Drafts within 5 working days of intake. Two rounds of revisions.

Deliverables

• audition-notice-long — full version for casting platforms and the hosted audition page
• audition-notice-short — social media version
• character-breakdowns — one per role; age range, type, special skills, audition piece guidance

Announcement Copy Pack

All the writing the production needs between company-in and the start of rehearsals.

Intake

Confirmed cast and creative team, with permissions to publish names. Headshots and bios for cast and creatives, even if rough.

Process

Drafts within 3 working days of intake. Two rounds of revisions.

Deliverables

• cast-announcement — for social and newsletter
• creative-team-announcement — for social and newsletter
• first-day-of-rehearsal-announcement (optional)

Press & Run Copy Pack

All the writing the production needs from tech week through closing.

Intake

Confirmed performance dates, ticket link live, venue confirmed, press contact named. Press target list (sold separately under Outreach) if available; otherwise generic critic pitch templates.

Process

Drafts within 7 working days of intake. Delivered as a single document tree the production pulls from across the run. Two rounds of revisions per deliverable.

Deliverables

• press-release — standard format with critic-ready hook
• preview-invitation — for press and friendly audience
• critic-pitch-emails — one per named critic on the press target list (template if no list)
• e-blast-draft — launch newsletter
• caption-bank-15 — fifteen Instagram captions across the run
• pull-quote-text — review excerpts formatted for graphic design downstream
• event-listing-copy — three lengths
• mid-run-eblast (optional)
• closing-week-push (optional)

Festival Form Pack

Festival application form-fills on Eventotron, Submittable, Festival Pro, and direct festival portals.

For productions applying to:

• Edinburgh Festival Fringe (registered via Eventotron and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society direct portal)
• Adelaide Fringe (Eventotron)
• Sydney Fringe Festival (Festival Pro)
• Melbourne Fringe (direct portal)
• Brisbane Festival (direct portal)
• FringeNYC (Submittable)
• Hollywood Fringe Festival (direct portal)
• Toronto Fringe (Eventotron)
• Montreal Fringe (St-Ambroise) (direct portal)
• Vancouver Fringe (Eventotron)
• Brighton Fringe (Eventotron)
• Camden Fringe (direct portal)
• Vault Festival (direct portal)

Why this is its own service

Festival application forms are long, repetitive, and full of character-count traps. Each festival's form asks for the same information in slightly different shapes — a 50-character tagline here, a 100-character one there, a 250-word blurb that overlaps but doesn't match the 150-word blurb three fields down.

Most productions either skip festivals because the forms are exhausting, or fill them out under time pressure with copy that doesn't land.

We fill them out properly.

A note on Eventotron specifically: Eventotron is undergoing a full platform rebuild launching in 2026. Producer workflows are not changing during the rebuild, and we work across both the current and new versions.

Intake

• Confirmed festival(s) the production is applying to
• Festival platform access — collaborator-level access to Eventotron, Submittable, Festival Pro, or the relevant direct portal (not the production's personal login)
• Existing Positioning Memo if available; otherwise a 30-minute briefing call covers the positioning-adjacent ground
• Production images at the resolutions the festival requires
• Any prior festival applications for this production or related shows, for reference

We do not submit on the production's behalf — the final submit click is the production's, after reviewing what we've filled in.

Process

Per-festival turnaround of 5 working days from intake. Multiple festivals can be filled in parallel.

Pricing

Festivals filledPriceOne festival (no existing copy)$180Additional festival reusing existing positioning and descriptions$50

A producer with an existing Positioning Memo and Description Pack on file (from us or supplied by them) pays $50 per additional festival applied to. A producer starting from scratch pays $180 for the first festival, then $50 per additional festival applied to using the same adapted copy.

Deliverables

Per festival:

• festival-form-completed — every field filled, ready for the production's review and submit
• field-by-field-copy-document — a working document with every field's copy in one place, for the production's records and for adaptation to future festivals
• image-upload-prep — production images resized and cropped to the festival's specifications, with alt text
• tag-and-category-selection — recommended festival tags, categories, age guidance, and content warnings
• accessibility-statement — drafted from any existing accessibility information on file
• technical-requirements-statement (if requested by the form) — drafted from production specs supplied by the production
• submission-readiness-memo — a short note flagging anything the production should review before submitting, including fields where we made judgment calls

Out of scope

• Graphic design — pull-quote cards, posters, programme typesetting — delivered through Social and Rehearsal Diary
• Distribution of press releases — handled by Outreach (Preview Operations Brief)
• Press target list compilation — handled by Outreach (Press Target List service when available)
• Hitting submit on festival forms — the final submit click is the production's, after reviewing what we've filled in
• Festival fees — paid by the production directly to the festival
• Strategic festival selection — we fill out the forms; deciding which festivals to apply to is the production's choice
• Application appeals or follow-ups — if a festival rejects the application, we don't write the appeal email
• Director's notes, dramaturg's notes, curtain speeches — author-voice; the production writes those. Editing available under a separate engagement

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