read through is a live table read of a screenplay, usually one I have written, in front of a ticketed audience at ht.live.

Why it exists

A script reads differently out loud. Hearing the whole thing performed shows where it works and where it is weak, and the room tells you faster than any notes can. The longer intention is to decide whether a script should become a film.

What the night is like

The cast sits, scripts in hand. They have had little or no rehearsal, so the evening has the surprise and rawness of people meeting the material for real. It is meant to be in good humour and unpolished. The audience gets that energy; I get an honest hearing.

Three outcomes

1. The cast earns. Actors in the read sell tickets under the same co-featured deal as the other live shows.
2. The read is recorded. Segments can go out as livestreams and on Watch Replay.
3. The script gets better, and perhaps becomes a film.

ht.live runs live, ticketed shows under several names. Every one of them is recorded, and the recording is part of the deal for the artist.

The formats

What the artist gets

The footage. Every show is recorded. Performers can use their footage for their own social media and press kits. Some segments are also recorded to be packaged with segments from other nights into livestreams that go out on social platforms, and in time onto Watch Replay.

A share of the door. Booked artists can be co-featured. A co-featured artist earns from tickets two ways: a larger share of the tickets they sell themselves, plus a share of a pool from the night's overall ticket sales. So they earn from their own draw and from the night as a whole.

The open mic is different

says.tv is the open mic. Performers sign up for a short slot, pay for a ticket like anyone else, and are not advertised as features, so there is no revenue share. What they get is the recording. The ".tv" in the name is a small signal of exactly that: this open mic is a recorded production.