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… making musicals

notes from Elise

february 2025

Hello! And welcome to my new every-other-month newsletter on the topic of developing new musicals. This newsletter will be devoted to special offerings from New Musicals Inc. for bookwriters, lyricists, and composers of new musicals.

This first issue features the 2025 Virtual Pitch Conference, which will take place from April 24 through May 2. We’ve been hosting this conference for a while now - and we are excited to announce that this year, our Friday night launch will feature a Q&A with some top industry professionals with a lot of experience in pitching - from both sides of the table. The advice and wisdom we get from these amazing people will be just the beginning of the informative Pitch Weekend which will lead our participating teams through creating and developing the best pitches possible for their new musicals. Then, during the following Pitch Week, those teams will get the chance to pitch to at least two different panels of even more industry professionals. Read more about this event below.

In addition to our featured item, each newsletter will also contain lots of other stuff including: the most recent vlogs from “How to Get NO Feedback from Elise”; info on our Core Curriculum and our Search for New Musicals; and announcements about new opportunities at New Musicals Inc.

To receive this every-other-month newsletter in your own in-box, click the SUBSCRIBE button below. And let’s start making musicals together!

this month’s FEATURE:

VIRTUAL PITCH CONFERENCE 2025

Pitch Your Musical!

Instructors/Guests: Industry Professionals / NMI Staff

Step into the future of pitching with Pitch Conference 2025! Connect virtually with writers and producers worldwide for a dynamic weekend of writing, honing, and practicing your pitch with expert guidance from NMI Staff and our industry professionals. In the week that follows, secure two personalized virtual meetings with multiple producers. Take the virtual stage one-on-one, pitch directly to industry professionals, and make your mark in the global creative landscape.

April 25 - May 2 / $295 per team ($225 Early Registration)

this month’s VLOGS:

For the last eight years, I’ve been publishing the free monthly vlog “How to Get No Feedback from Elise”. Topics covered have included: Lead Character Goals; Logic of Plot; SHOW don’t TELL; The Work of a Scene; Pointing Forward; Planting Seeds; The Power of Song; Character Diction; Neighbor/Stranger Exposition; The Moment BEFORE and AFTER the Song; and much more. Here are the two most recent posts. (Watch the full playlist.)

VLOG #89: Bringing Something NEW to your Adaptation.
If you are adapting source material for your musical, make sure you are bringing something NEW to the story.

VLOG #88: Making sure the ending of your musical is INEVITABLE but not PREDICTABLE.
In this episode, I discuss the lessons I have learned from the movie “The Trouble with Angels”.

other OFFERINGS from nmi:

 

New Musicals Inc. also offers a year-long collaborative musical theater curriculum, several levels of dramaturgical feedback and consultations, a series of online craft labs, and a comprehensive set of textbooks on musical theater development.

Core Curriculum

Instructor: Elise Dewsberry and Guests

The infamous collaborative program from New Musicals Inc. that culminates in the production of your 15 Minute Musical podcasts.

Find out more on NMI’s CORE CURRICULUM page

Search for New Musicals

Annual Deadline: July 15

Submit your new musical for honest, detailed, critical feedback (at several different levels); and be automatically entered into a contest to win a reading in Los Angeles.
(Please note that the prices shown on the video are old and have been updated on the website).

For more info, visit our SUBMISSIONS PAGE.

Craft Labs

Book Lab, Lyric Lab, Music Lab

Take these labs on your schedule. These are the required courses for the Core Curriculum, offered through Google Classroom.

For more info, visit the ONLINE CRAFT LABS page.

Textbooks on Writing Musicals

Author: Scott Guy

Twenty years in the making, at last, ANMT’s famous courses, now in book form! Elevate your skills with “A Crash Course in Musical Theatre”, “The Craft of Writing Musicals”, “The Business of Musical Theatre”, and “The Musical Theatre Writer’s Toolbox” - your complete resources for mastering the craft of musical theatre.

For more info, visit TEXTBOOKS ON WRITING MUSICALS.