The Parislab, a new hour-long radio show on the digital radio station, World Radio Paris, that performs and records radio plays and spoken word shorts live in front of a Paris audience, is seeking submissions for it’s upcoming March show.

The theme for the show is Superheroes.  What’s your take on the superhero?  Write a fiction radio play or a nonfiction narrative story about the superhero in your life.  Write a radio play or spoken word story and send it to us for consideration. The theme for the March show is inspired by the upcoming exhibit at the Mona Bismarck American Center.  Please see the link for information on the exhibit: http://monabismarck.org/  If you have a story to tell share it it with us.  The guidelines for submissions are listed below.

Deadline for submissions: February 28, 2014
No financial remuneration, but selected works are performed by professional actors based in Paris, in front of a live audience, and then broadcasted on our show. To submit entries, send your properly formatted radio scripts in pdf format to theparislab@gmail.com

Guidelines

1. Length: all radio plays submitted must be between ten minutes to thirty minutes in length. If you have an excellent radio drama or comedy that is 9 minutes long or 31 minutes long, that’s ok! We are aiming for quality over duration, but try to aim for pieces that are between 10 and 30 minutes. All spoken word stories must be 5 to 15 minutes in length.

2. Genres: All genres will be considered. Again, if it grips us and entertains us, we’ll be interested. Having said that, for radio plays it is recommended that writers keep their cast sizes small, and special effects and other requirements simple and inventive to facilitate effective staging and recording.

3. Remuneration: This non-profit radio program is just beginning and cannot, at this point, offer financial compensation to the writers whose works are selected. But if your piece is selected, it will be performed in front of a live audience and recorded, then broadcast on our show on World Radio Paris.

4. Language: All submissions must be in English.

5. Radio play script guidelines. While every radio play is different and unique, there are particularities to a radio play that distinguish it from screenplays or theatre plays. We recommend you follow BBC radioscript format guidelines when submitting a pdf version of your radio play. You can find their guidelines here: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/bbcradiocue.pdf. Other useful information about writing radio plays can be found here:http://www.storyinsight.com/techniques/media/BBCradio.html

6. Spoken word story submission guidelines: Stories must be 5-15 minutes in length. Selected stories will be performed by the storyteller live, in front of a Paris audience, without notes or script in hand. For spoken word story telling, we are very much inspired by the Moth (http://themoth.org/) We can only consider Paris-based submissions, for the moment. If you are Paris-based, and your story is selected, we can make a professional recording of it. But do not submit a script to us. Instead, send us an mp3 recording of your story, which you can record on your computer using your onboard microphone. We recommend using the program Audacity to record your draft of your story. You can download audacity free here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

7. Radio play script submissions: All scripts must be submitted in pdf format. Make sure all of your contact information is available on the title page of your submission. Submitting your script does not guarantee that it will be selected or performed by the Parislab. The Parislab is eager to read good scripts and will do its best to carefully read and consider all viable submissions, but requires 3-6 months to review possible material before making its decisions. All scripts should be submitted, in pdf format, to: theparislab@gmail.com

8. About The Parislab: Founded and produced by Christopher Mack and Clarence Tokley, two Paris-based director/actors who work professionally in film and theatre in Paris, Parislab is dedicated to staging and recording gripping and entertaining radio plays and spoken word stories in front of live audiences. All effects and recordings are done in front of an audience.

9. For all further questions and for further information, contact Parislab here: theparislab@gmail.com