Small Scale Commercial Investment

Over the past 40 years Stage One have supported and invested in West End and Number 1 tours across the UK and overseas. Now Stage One can offer to invest in smaller scale productions (not West End Venues) that fit the guidelines below. The aim is to be able to support a wider range of productions and to help producers create more commercially viable work and increase their pool of investors. For investment in West End productions please see our Commercial Investment Guidelines.

Please note that we are not able to invest in Edinburgh Fringe Shows or shows performing internationally and Producers who have received Stage One Investment for a West End production are precluded from applying.

The maximum investment Stage One can offer is £10,000 and capped at 20% of the capitalisation – all applications must be received 4 weeks before the first rehearsal.

The decision whether to invest in a production is made by a committee made up of active producers, at their discretion the guidelines may be varied depending on the individual circumstances of any production.

In order to apply you must read through the Small Scale Commercial Investment Guidelines. If your production is eligible please download an application form and email to Louise Goodman at [email protected]

Start-Up Fund

Since 2010, The Start Up Fund has aimed to give at least four of the very best graduates coming through Stage One’s training programmes a Start-Up investment for their first major commercial production a year. These are producers that have been successfully producing on a smaller scale, have a good working knowledge of how to produce, have made good contacts in the industry and are ready to make the jump to produce on a much larger scale. Stage One does not invest more than 15% of the applicants share of the capitalisation for any production.

Recent Start Up Winners include:
William Whelton for the 50th anniversary UK Tour of Hair The Musical
Trish Wadley for the premiere of The Wider Earth at the Natural History Museum
Oliver Mackwood for the West End transfer of Pressure with David Haig from the Almeida to the Ambassadors.

In order to apply you must read through the Start Up Fund Guidelines. If your production is eligible please contact Louise Goodman at [email protected]

Investment

Stage One also invests in commercial, large-scale/West End productions through specific guidelines set by the committee. Please have a read through the Commerical Investment Guidelines to see if you can be considered for investment. To apply, please contact Louise Goodman on [email protected]

Stage One's investment is a commercial investment; it is not an award of money. If you are a new producer, you may find the Bursaries for New Producers scheme more suitable.