International co-productions are typically brokered between artistic directors and literary managers. Playwrights are usually the last to know a collaboration is being considered, and the first to lose control of how their work is framed in a foreign context.
The alternative is initiating the relationship yourself, before institutional intermediaries are involved.
Why playwrights can initiate this effectively
Foreign literary managers respond well to direct contact from playwrights whose work they know. An unsolicited email from an artistic director is a business proposition. An unsolicited email from the playwright whose script is already on a reading list is a creative conversation.
That distinction changes the dynamic considerably.
Where to find the right contacts
The International Theatre Institute maintains national centre directories. The Ibsen Awards longlist and shortlist is published annually and provides direct access to names of literary managers currently reading international work.
European theatre festivals, particularly the Theatertreffen in Berlin and the Zürcher Theater Spektakel, list participating theatres with contact pages. These are institutions already oriented toward foreign work.
A step-by-step approach
- Identify three foreign theatres whose recent programming overlaps thematically with your work.
- Write a letter in English, two paragraphs maximum, referencing a specific production of theirs you have seen or read about.
- Attach one script with a one-page synopsis.
- Follow up once after 30 days.
- If interest is expressed, propose a reading before proposing a production.
A co-production takes years to materialize. The first contact is just opening a file, not closing a deal.