Some time last summer I was at a production meeting for a show about Miley Cyrus. We were on a terrace in the early evening and it was hot and we had beer because it was independent theatre and no one was getting paid.

I was sat next to the director, who was also the writer and the central force of this meeting – the sun around which all our planets were spinning. 

If you don’t know about production meetings, it’s the bit where the designers all come together and talk about how the show will look and sound and what the actors will wear and how the light will fall. And the producers talk about how everything will work and how it will be paid for and when things need to happen. And the designers all listen and take notes and the director gives their opinion on everything that is said.

Production meetings are a true communion of creativity and logistics and as a writer I used to try to stay as far away from them as I could. Don’t show me how the magic works. Don’t pull back the curtain – I’d rather believe in Oz.

But on this hot night on the terrace, in the midst of the conversation the director turned to me and said quietly, This is my favourite part. 
And I said Why?
And he said They’re all talking about the idea I had. 
And I said Yes.
And he said It was just a thought in my head and now they’re all talking about it like it’s real. 
And I said Huh.
And he said Because now it is real.

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