| This is a guide to how to get coverage for your Brighton Festival show in ThreeWeeks.
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Getting reviewed...
Shows that are part of the Brighton Festival, The Great Escape and the Artists Open Houses programme, plus every show registered with the Brighton Fringe by mid-April, goes onto the ThreeWeeks review list - so that's everyone (well, nearly). From that list, our Reviews Coordinator then schedules our reviewers to see as many shows as possible - whether or not we see your show is essentially a logistical decision.
You therefore don't need to call or email - if you're in the Fringe Programme (or registered with the Brighton Fringe by mid-April), then you're on our list, and we'll try our best to get someone along to see your show (although we can't guarantee anything!).
If you are not registered with the Brighton Fringe by mid-April, or at all, this does not matter, email your info, including full listings and genre information, plus press contact email and phone number, to editor@threeweeks.co.uk, with the words 'UNLISTED SHOW' in the subject line.
We will normally book review tickets via your venue's box office or press officer, though for smaller venues we may call you direct to arrange having press tickets left at the box office.
Once we have seen your show, we try to get reviews published as quickly as we can. It will normally take 3-4 days, though for various reasons could take as long as 10 days. All reviews will appear in our eDaily and will ultimately be posted on our website - so if you are waiting for a review to be published, subscribe to the eDaily or check it online each day. If after ten days you haven't seen a review for your show, it is worth emailing editor@threeweeks.co.uk and one of the editorial team will check it hasn't got lost in the system.
We do endeavour to ensure that every show that we see does get a review published, although a small number of reviews will not be published until after the Festival is over, and a handful may never get published. We do endeavour to publish reviews for as many shows as we possibly can during the Festival itself, and certainly to get nearly all reviews online at some point.
If a review is not published it may be because our reviewer never actually managed to see the show even though a review ticket was booked (possibly because of a problem with the ticket order at the venue, or for another logistical reason) or because the Editors decided it wasn't appropriate to publish it (normally because the review was negative, but circumstances beyond the performers' control mean the Editors believe it would be unfair to publish).
ACTION POINT: If your show is part of the Brighton Festival, The Great Escape or Artists Open Houses programme, or is registered with the Brighton Fringe by mid-April, do nothing, you will be on our list. If this is not the case send an email with full listings and genre information, plus a press contact email and phone number, to editor@threeweeks.co.uk, with the words 'UNLISTED SHOW' in the subject line.
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How to get a feature...
This is where the press release comes in. We select shows to feature in our preview edition in the first week in April, and review festival programmes and press releases as part of this process. Therefore you should email your press release to editor@threeweeks.co.uk before the end of March. You should get an automatic response confirming receipt of your emailed press release. If you do not receive this within 24 hours of emailing, you should re-send your press release.
Ten important tips for sending a press release...
1. Put the name of your show in the subject line of the email.
2. If you are promoting more than one show send a separate email for each one.
3. Put the text of the press release in the body of the email, even if you attach a Word version.
4. Don't send press releases as PDFs.
5. Tell us what you think is the most interesting thing about your show at the top of the email.
6. If we gave you a good review last year, remind us at the top of the email.
7. Only send low res photos (no more than 1MB of photos, total).
8. Tell us who to email/call for higher resolution photos (ie 300 dpi photos suitable for print).
9. Even better put these on your website and tell us where we can get them.
10. Make sure you include a telephone contact number.
When putting together your press pack, remember that less is more - be as concise as possible. We don't need detailed storylines or long biogs - just tell us the basics about the play/show, the playwright (if a new play), the cast and the company, a quick precis of the plot/concept and a list of what you think makes the show interesting.
As for how we choose features - well, that's hard to say. Tell us what you think is interesting about your show and it might just grab our attention. We like running articles on themes that might cover a number of shows (eg underground shows, magic shows, open air shows) so it might be worth suggesting a theme that covers your show and pointing us in the direction of other shows that might also fit the bill.
In Brighton most of our features appear in our preview edition, which comes our right at the start of the festival. Once that is published there are less opportunities for us to include features on your show, although there is a regular interview slot in the eDaily throughout May.
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ThreeWeeks News . . .
We are always interested in your news stories as and when they break. News stories will feature in our eDaily and on the ThreeWeeks Festival News-Blog. News stories may involve something interesting that has happened to your show or a member of your team, or simply be an interesting fact about your production that we can run just before it opens. When sending us news story leads you do not need to send a full press release, simply send a short outline of the story plus a credited quote from someone involved in your show, a relevent photo and a contact email and phone number where we can get more information. Email news stories to news@threeweeks.co.uk
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