Writer’s Note: David Williamson, THE BIG TIME

In the entertainment industry there’s only one place all the hopefuls want to be. The Big Time. If they make it, they become wealthy, but perhaps even more importantly they are finally treated with respect.

If you’re a struggling writer or actor who hasn’t made The Big Time no one reads your scripts, no one asks you to audition, or if they do you get to say two or three lines before you’re moved on. Being near the bottom of the entertainment ladder is one of the most miserable existences on earth.

That’s why the competition to make The Big Time is so fierce. Beneath the surface of the friendly smiles actors exchange with each other, lies the realisation that only one of them is going to get the role.

Given that I’ve inhabited this world for nearly fifty years now, and that two of my sons are NIDA acting graduates, my daughter was an actors agent, and my wife was a drama teacher and a theatre critic, I know that in the industry that creates fictional drama, the real life drama can be intense.

And that’s what made it irresistible to write about.