Submissions for SFIT 2008 are closed. If you missed this year's deadline, please submit next year; we would love to hear from you. Our deadline is typically mid-October.

It's not too early to think about your submission for next year. We have some suggestions for you to help make your submission the best possible.

Performance Submissions

We get a lot of shows that are Harolds or sequences of scenes. Shows like that are great, but if you have something else, please submit it. In past years, we've had movement shows, shows with puppets, musicals, shows with multimedia, and shows where the "improvisers" were household objects.

Submit a show or format you can do well. A festival isn't the best place to unveil your new format.

Send recent work.

As much as possible, show the current cast. A few cast changes are okay; a whole new cast is a different show.

Getting a Good Tape or DVD of your Show

The best piece of advice we can give you is, start thinking about your submission now. Start taping every show, so you can send your best show and so you won't be scrambling for a videographer at the last minute and spending a lot of money on overnight delivery.

Send us the best-quality DVD or video you can. If we can't see or hear your show, we are not likely to accept it.

When taping your show:

• Get the entire stage or playing area in the frame. Don't zoom or pan. Auditors want to see everything that's going on.
• Make sure the camera has a good view of the playing area, without the audience or other things in the way.
• Put the camera on a tripod, or if you don't have a tripod, something sturdy like a table. You may think you can hold the camera steady, but the smallest movement will make the auditors seasick.
• Focus the camera so the entire playing area is within the depth of focus.
• Set the white balance, exposure, etc., appropriately.
• Light the playing area well, so the auditors can see the action.
• Get a good mic.
• Test your set-up before the show, and make adjustments if you need to before the audience comes in.

• Send us your show unedited. We want to see the actual passage of time. Trimming "dead air" from the start is fine.
• If you send a DVD, test it before you send, in a DVD player and also in a computer other than the one you burned it on. If we can't play the DVD, we can't tell how good your show is.
• Put in only a short introduction to your show. A five-minute opening title sequence, no matter how flashy, will make us think about moving on to the next submission without watching yours.

Typically, we ask for this from groups submitting shows:

• an application form
• a video or DVD of a performance (we will review only the first five to ten minutes of your tape or DVD – please take this into consideration when selecting your piece)
• the names of the cast and crew who will attend
• a three or four-sentence description of your group
• a brief (two or three sentences) description of the show you intend to perform, particularly about how it's innovative
• your group's logo, a photo of your group, and headshots of all of the group members, on a CD
• press materials, press clippings, etc., if you have them
• name, phone number, and e-mail address for a contact person for your group

Instructors

Please propose workshops that you like to teach and that you know you can teach well.

We get a lot of proposals along the lines of "getting out of your head," "finding the truth of the scene," "using emotion in improv." We can only offer so many workshops like that.

So if you teach workshops in, or are experienced in, something different from those, please propose it. We like to offer a variety of workshops. It's more fun for the students and more educational for the improv scene here.

In past years, we've had workshops on clowning, Kabuki, stage combat, slam poetry, auditioning, physical theater, sound improv, improv and sketch, and musical improv, as well as standard techniques for long-form improv.

What to Send Us

Typically, we ask for this from instructors proposing workshops:

• a three or four-sentence description of each workshop you would like to teach
• your teaching resume
• a phone number (please indicate whether it's home, work, cell, or other)