Find out more about your rights as a playwright, copyright, contracts and more with Richard Pinner, chair of the Theatre Committee of the Writers Guild of Great Britain

Richard will talk through the amazing work of WGGB and everything you need to know as a working playwright as well as answering your questions.

BURSARY PLACES: Each of our workshops have 3 free bursary places for those needing support to access the workshop. To apply for free place please email info@downstagewrite.uk with a short introduction to yourself and why a free place on the workshop would help you as a writer.

Richard Pinner has been a playwright, teacher of playwriting and theatre practitioner since the 1970s. As a writer, he has had 30 commissioned plays produced for the stage, including the Olivier Award winning Rosie Blitz and a London Weekend Plays On Stage award for The Peace Of Pocahontas. He has also directed theatre on a number of occasions, written (and produced) extensively for radio and his teaching career includes 11 years as senior tutor on the prestigious MA in Playwriting at Birmingham University plus several tours, world-wide, delivering masterclasses on the craft.

Having been a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain since 2001, in that time he has served as Deputy Chair of the guild, regional chair for the East Midlands and is currently the Chair of their Theatre Committee.

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) is a trade union representing professional writers in TV, film, theatre, radio, books, comedy, poetry, animation and videogames. Our members also include emerging and aspiring writers.

We have been negotiating better pay and working conditions for writers since 1959. The national agreements we have in place cover key industry bodies, including the BBC, ITV, Pact; National Theatre, Royal Court and Royal Shakespeare Company (see some of our recent wins for writers).

We lobby and campaign on behalf of writers, to ensure their voices are heard in a rapidly changing digital landscape.