How to Put on a Show

Here's what you need to know:

1. Attend a Mermaids meeting:  1:00pm every Thursday in the Committee Room of the Union.

2. When the President calls for "any other business," propose your show!

3. Before you can hold auditions, you must first fill out your production proposal form, preliminary risk assessment, and a budget form.  If you're unsure about anything, please ask either the Productions Coordinator (Lorenzo De Boni, ldb7), Treasurer (Rob Sturrock, rms65) or Technical Officer (Daniel Palmer, dap34) for help.

4. Send these forms to mermaidspropose@st-andrews.ac.uk by 5pm on the Tuesday before the Thursday meeting in which you wish your show to be considered.

5. For the budget you'll be expected to put together a rough estimate of your costs and incomes, so it's important to know venue costs, rights, how much you'll charge for tickets, etc.

6. Budget for about 50-60% of your tickets selling.  Ticket prices should generally be £5 for a smaller venue and £6-7 for a larger one.

7. YOU WILL NOT BE FUNDED UNTIL YOU HAVE FILLED IN AND SUBMITTED ALL YOUR PAPERWORK. Forms can be found here.

8. The committee will vote on your proposal the Thursday after you submit it, and should any part of it be unreasonable you may be asked to resubmit or make amendments.  If you have any specific requirements for special effects/technical wizardry speak to our tech officer (Daniel Palmer, dap34). Similarly for any specialist costumes or set/props requests, have a chat with our Costumes expert (Hannah Boland, hb273) or our Set/Props master (Cameron Kirby, ck425).  ***NOTE*** Mermaids has many props, costumes, and set-pieces in storage at the Barron Theatre.  Set up a time to go look around with Hannah or Cameron -- we may already have what you need!

9. If the committee votes in favour of funding, the Treasurer will organise a meeting with you to write a check for your show. ONCE YOU HAVE REACHED THIS POINT, you may then publicise, audition, and proceed with your production.

10. At least one member of the production team must attend every Mermaids meeting from this point to keep the committee updated on how your show is doing.

(Hint) If you want your proposal passed easily, do a thorough risk assessment, ask for a reasonable amount of money (less than £1000 if you can) and fully complete the production proposal form.

We hope this will help you get everything in order to get funding for your show!  And remember, the Mermaids committee is here to help, so please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions at all.