Episode 0 - Intro!

One thing that you learn reeeeally quickly in the musical theatre writing world: there aren’t a whole lot of us out there doing this. 

Because of that, there isn’t a sure-fire, beaten path to follow when it comes to building your career as a playwright/composer. And that’s okay. You’re gonna do it ANYWAY. Because a life spent creating what you know you were born to create is ALWAYS a life worth living, no matter the challenges. 

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Making Musicals with me - your host - Holly Yurth Richards. I am an award-winning playwright, composer, lyricist and librettist who is passionate about crafting new stories for the musical theatre stage.

One thing that you learn reeeeally quickly in the musical theatre writing world: there aren’t a whole lot of us out there doing this. And, because of that, there isn’t a sure-fire, beaten path to follow when it comes to building your career as a playwright/composer. I mean, when you ask someone the question “What do you do?” how often do you get the response “I write musicals”? Though, watching people’s expressions when I do give them that answer is hilarious and one of my favorite things ever - like, they just don’t even know what to say. Are you serious? Is that even a real job? (music swells)

And the answer is (insert record scratch, then silence) - no. It’s NOT a real job. No matter how much you DREAM of a theatre hiring you as their full-time-with-benefits Musical Writer, it ain’t gonna happen. (And if any of you actually DO exist out there, give me a shout out and prove me wrong. You have no idea how happy it would make me to be proven wrong, on a massive scale. To find out about some massive, underground musical-theatre-writer-hiring-ring with three weeks of paid vacation.) I’m tellin’ ya, even Lin Manuel Miranda is paying for his own damn health insurance, you hear me? You might get commissioned, you might bring in royalties from your projects, which may lead to other projects and engagements, and you might end up making a butt-ton of money, and I sincerely, truly hope you do - but at the beginning of your career, get clear - NO ONE is going to hire you out of the blue to write a musical for them. Even if you’re good. You’ve gotta fight for it.

And that’s okay. You’re gonna do it ANYWAY. Because a life spent creating what you know you were born to create is ALWAYS a life worth living, no matter the challenges. You just can’t quit. That’s the only secret to success, ya’ll. Don’t quit.

I created this podcast as a way to share my story about how I got started in this fascinating field of work and to offer insight and guidance to other writers about my process, about other writers’ processes, on the available resources out there (which are surprisingly plentiful, when you look for them), on the state of affairs in the theatre world, and whatever else pops into this peculiarly beautiful brain of mine.

Welcome, friends. Let’s create.

Making Musicals with Holly Yurth Richards can be found on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and all other major podcast platforms. Learn more about Holly at her website, hyrichards.com.  Copyright 2021.