NZIF 2024: Pitches open!
Dianne Pulham in The Made-Up Smackdown, NZIF 2023. Photography by Crisstian Grueber.
Note: Pitches to present at NZIF 2024 are now closed.
Do you want to present something as part of the 2024 New Zealand Improv Festival? Good news! Pitches are open! We’re looking for proposals of shows, workshops and talks (or something else entirely!) to be part of the Festival. The full details of what we’re after are below.
The New Zealand Improv will take place from 4–12 October 2024, in beautiful Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), centred at the BATS Theatre with a few events offsite. We’re also excited to announce that our awesome Youth Programme will also be returning, from 30 September – 4 October.
How To Pitch
You can hit the button below to fill out our pitching form!
This year we are also accepting audio and video pitches. See here for more details on how to do this.
Below are all the details about what we’re looking for, what we need from you, and what we can offer you.
Audio and video versions of the same information are to your right on desktop, below on mobile.
Pitches close at 5pm NZ time on Sunday 16 June 2024.
A video version of the information on this page.
Visual description: Matt is sitting in a booth facing the camera.
What we’re Looking for
Workshops
These are generally 3-hour sessions that cover a practical skill, idea or approach that would be of interest to improvisers. This could be a core idea of improv, an exploration of a genre or theme, or skills from adjacent artforms (writing, acting, comedy, music, dance, storytelling, clowning, etc).
Workshops tend to be for 12–20 people: 16 is the average, less than 12 means it’s hard for us to make money, more than 20 we worry about the quality of the experience.
These are usually practical, involving exercises, games and scenes. It’s fine if they’re theory-driven and include discussion or reflection, but we want to avoid lectures/talks — the space for these is the conference section.
The majority of pitches are often aimed at experienced improvisers. We encourage pitches for workshops aimed at or useful for newer improvisers — they like coming to the festival too!
We have space for a handful of shows that are connected to workshops, where the skills of the show are taught in the workshop, and then some of the workshop attendees perform in the show later in the festival. If you’re pitching one of these, please indicate what skills/ideas the workshop teaches independently of the show format, as we want to avoid the workshop being an extended audition for the show.
This year we’re also open to discussing the possibility of 6-hour deep dives or masterclasses. Please indicate in your pitch if this is something you’re interested in.
Shows
These are up to 60-minute shows that feature improvisation in some way. These can either have an existing cast that travels with the show, or can be cast from a workshop at the Festival (see above).
As standard you’ll be offered an hour of tech time. If your show includes a lot of technical requirements, please make sure to let us know in your pitch!
We’re looking for shows that have something fresh, special, or unique about them. Shows without strong concepts or hooks are unlikely to be successful.
Conference Sessions
We have a few spots available for 30–minute talks, panel sessions, roundtables or forums about an idea related to improv or of interest to improvisers. Where we have multiple people interested in similar topics, we may combine these into more of a fireside chat, to bring a variety of perspectives.
Something Else
We love innovation and new ideas. Maybe you have an idea for a social event, or a different way to run a jam session. We’d love to hear about it!
Please note that, due to funding and space constraints, it may be difficult to accept wildly ambitious or resource-intensive ideas, but we still value your enthusiasm.
What we need from you
Now
As part of your pitch, we want to hear about two things:
Tell us about yourself: your background with improv, where you’re coming from (geographically as well as contextually), and why you want to come to NZIF
Tell us about your idea: describe the experience for participants and audience members, tell us why you’re passionate about this particular thing, and why you think it’s a great fit for the Festival. What does your thing do that is fresh, bold, and exciting? Why will people choose to come to your thing?
We can take this information in a range of formats. Our preferred method is via the pitching form, as this makes sure we have all the information we need.
If you’d prefer to talk through your idea, we can also accept audio or video files where you cover the questions in the pitching form. You can find a full list of these questions here. Upload your answers to a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox, and email a link to directors@improvfest.nz with the subject line ‘2024 Workshop Pitch’, ‘2024 Show Pitch’, and so on. We’re not after a recording of your show unless it’s crucial to understanding your idea.
Later
We’ll be making offers throughout late June and early July, and are aiming to reply to everyone by 19 July at the latest.
If you’re successful, by late July we’ll need a blurb and an image to promote your workshop, show or conference session, along with a few other details. We reserve the right to edit your blurb or to request or supply alternative images to help marketability.
Before long we will also need your tech requirements (for shows and workshops), travel dates (for people coming from out of town), and licensing requirements (for shows). You will be given full information about these deadlines if your pitch is successful.
Our producer, Elliott, will be in touch with successful applicants to let you know exactly what is required and when.
What We’re Offering
Anyone who presents at the Festival will receive a cool Festival lanyard and pass, which allows access to social events, discounted tickets, standby access to shows that aren’t sold out, and discounts at local cafés and bars.
We offer free dorm-style accommodation near the Festival for the duration of Festival dates at our accommodation partner, The Cambridge Hotel, for teachers, show directors, and presenters. We can also book you a private room at the Cambridge, but you will need to pay the difference in costs.
Or, if you would prefer to organise your own accommodation somewhere else, we can pay you an accommodation subsidy of $33 per night you stay in town.
We’ll also make sure you get to and from the airport safely, either being picked up by one of our volunteers or, if we can’t find you a ride, by reimbursing your transport costs.
We are currently waiting for the outcome of several funding applications. The results of these may create room in the budget for us to increase fees for presenters. Please let us know if you need confirmation of these fees to be able to participate in the Festival.
Shows
Each show will receive a $240 fee. The box office for the show will be retained by the Festival; in return we take care of producing and marketing your show, as well as providing a technical operator, musician, and stage manager if required (you’re also welcome to bring your own people if, for example, you’re used to working with a particular musician).
We’ll work with you to arrange tech, set, props, and music licensing as required, as well as making sure you have access to the space for rehearsal and tech time.
For shows travelling with an established cast, we can offer accommodation support for up to six team members per show. Additional cast members beyond this are welcome, however they will need to pay for their own accommodation. We can help with booking this through The Cambridge if you all want to stay in one place.
Workshops
Each three-hour workshop will receive a $200 fee; the registration fees for the workshop will be retained by the Festival. Please note that the fee is a flat fee: if two or more people are presenting the workshop, the fee is split between you. We will work with you to ensure you have what you need in the space and to arrange any supplies required (whiteboards, paper and pens, etc. Fabergé eggs are probably a stretch).
Conference Sessions
Due to funding constraints, our conference sessions are currently unpaid, but these remain a great opportunity to connect with an audience of enthusiastic improv sweethearts.
But what about…?
Want to know something not answered here? Need help? We’re here for you!
Please email us at directors@improvfest.nz and we’ll be happy to chat or find time to set up a call.