ALAP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALAP is an entirely volunteer organization. We have no paid staff, but instead depend on members donating their time. We can always use more help, and please keep in mind when you have a question or a problem that you're being assisted by a fellow writer, not a paid employee.  Please be sure to read all the way down, as you'll find a growing amount of information about the new website and how to use it.



HOW DO I JOIN OR RENEW MY MEMBERSHIP?

If you're renewing (even if you've lapsed for a few months), simply send your check payable to "Community Partners fbo ALAP" to ALAP, 7510 Sunset Blvd. #1050, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Membership is $40, and $20 for full-time students (with proof of student status). If you've never been a member of ALAP before and want to join ALAP, click here to fill out an application.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY MEMBERSHIP HAS EXPIRED?

If you login to the website and go to "Edit Member Page," you'll find your expiration date at the top of your listing.  Your expiration date is also printed on your membership card, and if you still have opted to receive snail mail newsletters, it's on the mailing label of the envelope containing your bimonthly newsletter. If you haven't renewed by the final month of your membership, ALAP will also send you a letter, reminding you that your membership expires at the end of that month. Should your membership expire, you will be given a short grace period, and then you will be set to inactive on the website, which automatically disables your login, hides your scripts in the catalogue, your website link and your contact info/bio, and you will cease receiving members only emails.  The good news is that when you renew your membership, with a click of a button, everything becomes active again, and you will not need to re-enter your listings.


HOW CAN I JOIN ALAP FOREVER AND EVER? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

Want to stop getting those annoying renewal notices and never worry about being deactivated? Join ALAP for life. The cost is only $275, and you also receive your own personalized ALAP forwarding email address (e.g. TomZ@laplaywrights.org) and free admission to all ALAP events (e.g. the picnic, which usually costs extra). And, of course, your membership is tax-deductible. What are you waiting for?


HOW DO I MAKE A RESERVATION FOR AN UPCOMING EVENT?

Email us here or call 323-957-4752 and make sure to leave the following information:

THE NAME OF THE EVENT
Your NAME and your PHONE NUMBER
The NUMBER OF PEOPLE COMING
Any reservation without ALL of this information will be discarded.


I HAVE AN UPCOMING READING OR PRODUCTION. HOW DO I GET A NOTICE ABOUT IT SENT OUT TO THE EMAIL LIST?

If you are an ALAP member, login to the website and then click on "Submit Upcoming Event" on the member menu.  This will take you to a screen where you can enter the details of your event, including an appropriate subject line, start date and end date (if your event is a one day event, just fill in the start date), detailed description and any relevant email address or URL.

We ask that you put play titles in bold/italics, and please be sure to proofread your information for accuracy, spelling and grammar.  When you finish, click the submit button.  Your event has now been sent to administration for approval.  Once it is approved, it will appear on the website under Upcoming Events and be emailed to the appropriate list.

Non-members may continue to send announcements (for example, submission calls and ALAP member discounts) with all necessary details to announce@laplaywrights.org with the subject line "ALAP."  Please, no attachments, graphics or fancy fonts, as they don't transfer well onto our email list.

Announcements usually go out within a day or two of being received, but they may take up to a week to go out, so plan accordingly.  And make sure you include all of the information. If you don't, people are generally too lazy to do the research on their own and simply won't come.  If you are a playwright on a bill with other writers, we only publicize ALAP members by name.  Non-members may be referred to as "and others" or something similarly clever.


I WANT MY READING, PRODUCTION, PUBLICATION OR AWARD TO BE MENTIONED IN THE ALAP NEWSFLASH. WHERE DO I SEND THAT NOTICE?

Announcements of upcoming readings and productions automatically make it into the News Flash.  For awards or publications, send an email to newsflash@laplaywrights.org.  Just remember that the newsletter goes out every other month (Jan, March, May, July, Sept, Nov).

WHAT IF I'M ACTING IN, DIRECTING OR PRODUCING A READING/PRODUCTION? CAN I STILL GET IT LISTED ON THE EMAIL LIST OR IN THE NEWSLETTER?

Unfortunately, our listings are only for readings or productions that our members have written.  Otherwise, we'd be inundated.



WHAT IS THE EDIT MEMBER PAGE FUNCTION?  I HEAR IT'S VERY IMPORTANT.

You heard right.  Your Member Page, which you will find in the Members Area once you login, is where you control your password, your contact information for the database, your bio and your photo.  A few important things to remember:
1.  You may change your password, but not your login name.
2.  You will notice that you have two sets of contact information.  Your public information is what anyone can see if they click on your Member Page in Meet Our Members.  It's probably best to list your website (if you have one) and email address, but you will probably wish to be cautious about putting up any phone/address information, unless it's an office.  It's totally up to you what you wish to put in the public boxes.  Just leave it blank if you don't want it revealed to the rest of the world.  Your private information, however, is mandatory.  No one sees it but the website administrators, and it links directly to ALAP's membership database.  Therefore, it should NEVER be deleted.  Of course, please update it should it change (e.g. if you move) so that we can keep in contact with you.
3.  Your bio may list whatever credits or other information is important about you.  Please try to be grammatical and write it as a bio and not simply a list.  See below for style rules.
4.  You may upload a photo of yourself if you'd like, and it'll add a nice splash to your public bio page.

When you finish updating any information in your Member Area, be sure to save the changes.  And then you're done!


ARE THERE ANY STYLE RULES FOR MY ONLINE BIO?

Please just use regular text for your bio, capitalizing as appropriate in any standard sentence and placing titles of plays in bold/italics, with titles of other creative works (films, books, etc) in italics.  For example:  Jonathan Dorf is the author of Beef Junkies.  Please do not put titles (except for titles of songs or magazine articles) in quotation marks.


HOW DO I ADD MY PLAYS TO THE SCRIPT CATALOGUE?

Members may list as many plays as they would like to input.  Just login to the member area and select the "Script Catalogue Management" link.  From there, select either the add link if you want to add a new play, or the view link to edit an existing play.

A few important reminders when you input data:
1.  Just capitalize titles normally, for example, Beef Junkies.  It will automatically be formatted as bold when it displays in a search.  Do not put the title in ALL CAPS unless that's how it's really meant to be.
2. In the Genre box, you may use up to 30 characters to input the play's genre.  Examples might be a Comedy, Drama, Tragicomedy, Farce, Mystery, Dark Comedy, etc.  If a play straddles two genres, use a / character.  For example, Comedy/Drama.  Please capitalize the first letter of each word.
3.  For the contact information, there is a separate location for a contact email and a website URL.  Be sure to put web addresses in proper form (e.g. http://jondorf.com) so that they are clickable.
4. You are allowed to add one production photo per play.  You are responsible for making sure that you have permission to use the photo, and that you provide proper credit in the caption.


HOW DO I VIEW THE ALAP ACTOR DATABASE?

Just sign in using the member login as you would for anything else on the site.  Then, in the Member Menu, click on Actor Search and you're off and running.  Please keep in mind that the Actor Database is for the personal use of members only and is not to be used on behalf of any third party or for any purpose other than that for which it is intended.


I'VE JUST HAD A PRODUCTION OR A PUBLICATION. HOW DO I GET IT LISTED IN THE ONLINE PRODUCTION ARCHIVE?

You can input this directly into the website via the "Submit Past Production" link in the member area.  From there, just input the information into the form, making sure to "associate" the script with its Script Catalogue listing if there is one (and if there isn't one, why not?).  For the date, please write the month and year in which the play opened in this format:  05/2007, for example.  When you're ready, click save, and it will be forwarded to the site administrator for approval before "going live."   Remember that staged readings are NOT eligible to be listed--only full  productions qualify.  Any productions that have blank author fields (or any other fields) will be automatically deleted without further notification.

Please only input productions that occurred while you were an ALAP member, and only from 2005 or later.  The idea is to showcase what our members are doing now, so that prospective producers can see that we're vibrant and creating work that is relevant.


I'M NOT ON THE ALAP EMAIL LISTS? HOW DO I GET ON?

Members no longer have to subscribe to the email lists--when you join, you will automatically be subscribed to every list for which you are eligible.  Should you wish to modify your preferences (e.g. to receive a daily digest rather than individual emails), you can do so within the Member Area.

If you are not an ALAP member, you can subscribe to the General email list, which will give you news of upcoming ALAP events as well as member readings and productions, click this link.

If you don't seem to be receiving ALAP mailings, make sure that our emails are not getting caught by your spam blocker.  Be sure to add laplaywrights.org to your whitelist.


I'M CHANGING MY EMAIL ADDRESS. HOW DO I CHANGE IT ON THE ALAP EMAIL LISTS?

Just log into the Member Area and update your contact information in your profile (Edit Member Page).  It's that easy.  The email lists will update automatically, and we will be notified of the change.


I PREFER TO READ EMAIL ON THE WEBSITE.  HOW DO I CHOOSE THAT OPTION?

If you don't want to receive email, just click on Email List Preferences in the Member Area.  Uncheck the boxes of the email lists from which you don't wish to receive mail.  Do NOT remove your email address from the private area of your member page, or we will have no way to contact you if we need to.


I'M MOVING. HOW DO I TELL ALAP?

Now it's simple.  Just login to the member area and click on Edit Member Page.  Update your information and save the changes.  We'll get an automatic notification email.


HOW DO I GET A LINK TO MY WEBSITE ON THE ALAP SITE?

Login to the member area of the website and click on Edit Member Page.  Input the website address (for example, http://jondorf.com) into the URL box and save the changes.  Your website will automatically show up in the Meet Our Members section.  It's that easy.


OUR THEATRE COMPANY IS HAVING A PRODUCTION, BUT THE WRITER ISN'T AN ALAP MEMBER. CAN WE STILL ADVERTISE IT TO YOUR MEMBERSHIP?

Why aren't they an ALAP member? Get them to join! In any case, we are happy to advertise non-member productions to our membership via email as long as there is a discount to ALAP members equal to the best discount being offered or 10% off, whichever is greater. If this is the case, send an email to announce@laplaywrights.org with the subject line "ALAP member discount."


OUR THEATRE COMPANY IS LOOKING FOR SCRIPTS.  HOW DO WE LET YOUR MEMBERSHIP KNOW?

Send the full details to announce@laplaywrights.org.  Be sure to include all submission requirements, deadlines, royalty/payment details, etc.  ALAP condemns the practice of charging writers a fee to submit their work, and we do not publicize any such submission opportunities to our members.


I TEACH A CLASS OR A WORKSHOP, AND I WANT TO LET THE MEMBERSHIP KNOW ABOUT IT. WHAT DO I DO?

Whether or not you're a member, if there is a fee for the class or workshop, we will only advertise it to our membership (via the email list) if there is a minimum 10% discount to ALAP members. Email announce@laplaywrights.org with the subject line "ALAP member discount" and all relevant details as plain text in the body of the email.  All outside event listings are at the sole discretion of the Co-Chairs.