Check here for answers to your questions about PLAYBILLder. Just click on your question to reveal the answer below.
This site is for creating Playbill programs to accompany school or amateur live performances with 8 or fewer performances as well as private events like weddings where no admission is charged. Any usage in conjunction with for-profit ventures, including - but not limited to - advertising, professional live performances, fundraisers, benefits, business brochures and events - must first be approved by Playbill. Productions based in New York City may be subject to additional restrictions; please use the link below to apply for approval to use this site. Content created on this site in service of New York City, non-school or non-amateur ventures without prior approval are subject to immediate deletion by Playbill Online.
To apply to use this site if you are not producing a school or amateur live performance with 8 or fewer performances, or your production is based in New York City, or if you are unsure if you can use this site for your production, please describe your organization and production using this form and Playbill Online will review your application promptly.
playbill.wufoo.com/forms/playbillder-pro-trademark-license-application/
Setting up and sharing your Playbill using PLAYBILLder is free of charge. But in order to print your Playbill, there will be $60 trademark licensing fee (new price as of May 27, 2014) to generate a PDF.
The Producer of a production is the person who is in charge of administrative decisions for the show. Usually this is the person who arranged for the rights to perform the show.
Since you are creating a Playbill representing your organization's production, a mentor is needed to sign off on your creation. The mentor can choose his or her level involvement as the Playbill is being set up, from minimal to page-by-page oversight.
If the Playbill you are creating will be the designated program for your production, select Official Playbill. Choosing this option will require a representative from the producing organization (a drama teacher or official at a school, for example) to give approval to you building the Playbill; that person may also choose to sign off on every section of the Playbill before it is made available to the public. A Personal Playbill can be built without the user requiring any oversight or permissions from another individual.
When you are entering the production details for your Playbill, you will be required to confirm that you have obtained the necessary waivers for any photos or personal information posted to the document.
All you need to start creating your Playbill is the basic information about your show. As long as you know the name, date and location of the production you have everything you need to get started.
Unfortunately, at this time, you can only post YouTube videos.
No - only the Cover section is mandatory. You can use all, some, or none of the other sections (Billing page, Cast, Who's Who, etc.)
You can just skip the Back Page section and use the End Notes section to compose your back page.
No. You will build your Playbill section by section, starting with the Cover section. After you have finished editing a section, saved your work and are in Preview mode, you have the option of making the section public. Because it can take a lot of time creating a Playbill cover-to-cover, we thought our users would prefer to make public each section as they are completed. We provide sharing tools so you can let friends, family and fellow cast members know each time a new section is completed and made public.
This website doesn't require you know image dimensions or pre-crop your images but in case you want to know the minimum recommended sizes, here they are:
Low Resolution (Online Viewing Only) Image Dimensions
SAVE THE DATE:
145 pixels (2.014 inches)
pixels (2.569 inches)
COVER:
530 pixels (7.361 inches)
pixels (9.75 inches)
HEADSHOT:
134x134 pixels (1.861 x 1.861 inches)
FULL SIZE PHOTO/AD:
530 pixels (7.361 inches)
pixels (11.028 inches)
1/2 SIZE PHOTO/AD:
530 pixels (7.361 inches)
pixels (5.375 inches)
1/4 SIZE PHOTO/AD:
255 pixels (3.542 inches)
pixels (5.375 inches)
BUSINESS CARD SIZE PHOTO/AD:
252 pixels (3.5 inches)
pixels (1.99 inches)
BACK PAGE:
530 pixels (7.361 inches)
pixels (12.222 inches)
High Resolution (Online Viewing Only) Image Dimensions
Please note, all images should be in 300 DPI (dots per inch).
SAVE THE DATE:
580 pixels (1.933 inches, 300 dpi)
pixels (2.467 inches, 300 dpi)
COVER:
2120 pixels (7.067 inches, 300 dpi)
pixels (9.36 inches, 300 dpi)
HEADSHOT:
536 x 536 pixels (1.787 x 1.787 inches, 300 dpi)
FULL SIZE PHOTO/AD:
2120 pixels (7.067 inches, 300 dpi)
pixels (10.587 inches, 300 dpi)
1/2 SIZE PHOTO/AD:
2120 pixels (7.067 inches, 300 dpi)
pixels (5.16 inches, 300 dpi)
1/4 SIZE PHOTO/AD:
1020 pixels (3.4 inches, 300 dpi)
1548 pixels (5.16 inches, 300 dpi)
BUSINESS CARD SIZE PHOTO/AD:
1856 pixels (3.497 inches, 300 dpi)
1032 pixels (1.993 inches, 300 dpi)
BACK PAGE:
2120 pixels (7.067 inches, 300 dpi)
3520 pixels (11.733 inches, 300 dpi)
Archiving a Playbill removes it from searches on our site and if it's displayed as a link on the home page, removes it from display there.
If you have multiple actors playing the same role, you can enter the full name of the one actor in the First Name field with a “/” at the end and the full name of the other actor in the Last Name field. For instance, you can put “John Smith/” In the First Name Field and “Jack Murphy” in the Last Name field. It will appear on your “Cast” page as: Scarecrow............... John Smith / Jack Murphy. Please note that doing so will prevent the “Who’s Who” section from displaying the cast names individually so we recommend you delete the individual “Who’s Who” entries and use the Add Optional Filler Content tool to enter Who’s Who entries.
Playbill does not allow you to use the Playbill logo if you’re not using the PLAYBILLder site to create your program.
You can save time entering and formatting the writer credits on the billing page and the song lists of your musicals by using our Playbill Express Production data.
You can only turn off sections, not individual pages. To turn off a section, deselect the "Yes. Make this page public" checkbox. Another way to turn off a section is by editing the section and saving it (once you start editing a section, we require you to make the section public again.)
In some sections that are text-based (Billing, Acknowledgements, End Notes), you can just enter any text content your audience might find of interest, like upcoming productions, special notices, etc. For other sections (Songs, Who's Who, Photos, Video and Ads), we offer a tool to add additional text. Click "+ Add Optional Filler Content" which opens a text editor for you to add additional notes. See the combination of content (photos, video, songs, etc.) with the filler text by switching to Preview mode.
Please make sure any image that you add is in JPEG, GIF, or PNG format and is under 10 MB. You cannot upload PDF, TXT, or word documents to the Cover, Who’s Who, Crew’s Who’s Who, Photos, Ads, or Back page sections.
In the “Who’s Who” section when add your bio, check the “Extend Bio” box. That will increase the character count limit to 1,000. However, keep in mind that you won’t be able to fit as many bios on one page. The maximum number of bios you can fit on a page is 5. If you exceed the 400 character count, less than 5 bios will fit on the page.
Be sure to keep your "Total Printable Pages" count to a multiple of 4 (4, 8, 12, etc). If that number is NOT in a multiple of 4, your Playbill will end up with blank pages. There is also a possibility that your "Back Page" won't print if you're ordering printed Playbills through our Print Service.
The easiest way to get your Total Printable Pages to a 4 multiple, is by adding (or removing) pictures to either the "ADS" or "PHOTOS" sections. You can also change the headers to any section you're not using (except "video") and make it an "Autographs" page. Remember to click the "Make This Public" button to include the section(s) you want appearing in your Playbill.
Right now our website doesn't have the infrastructure to allow you to place ads on the inside and back covers.
You can convert the PDFs to JPEG format by going here pdf2jpg.net/ We are working on allowing PDFs to be loaded into our system. Please check our homepage for updates.
To see a proof of your PDF, first make all of the sections you want to print "Public". Then click the "Print Custom Playbills" button below the “Edit” or “Preview” button. On the "Playbill Print Service" page, click the "Print Custom Playbills" button again. On the Playbill "Print orders" page, choose an arbitrary number of copies and click one of the bubbles to select a shipping speed. Then click the "Proceed to Preview" button at the bottom. On the next page, click the blue "Preview your Proof" link. You'll be able to see what the PDF we will print looks like. You won't be charged, and your order will not be automatically placed for doing this.
Please be sure to check your proof before you place your final order. If you see a mistake on the PDF, you can always go back and fix it. We will end up printing whatever is on your PDF proof when you place your order.
There are a few steps to adding an image to the free form sections. First open another tab on your browser.
Then, you need to go to an image hosting site. Here's one we strongly recommend: postimage.org/
When you get to the home page, click the "browse" button. Then select the file you want to upload. After that, click the "Upload it!" button. On the next page where it says, "Direct link", copy that url.
When you go back to the section you're working on, make sure the cursor is where you want the image to appear. You'll see an icon in the upper right hand corner that looks like a little tree. That's the "insert/edit image" button. When you click on that, a little box will pop up. Paste the URL from the image hosting site into the box where it says "Image URL." The image will be loaded onto that page. (screenshot link, or "To request screenshots, please email support@playbillder.com )
Any section that you don't want to use, be sure that it's NOT made "Public". Any section that is NOT made Public will NOT be included in the PDF, even if you've already started working on it.
You can check on the delivery estimates by making at least 2 sections "Public" and clicking the "Print Custom Playbills" button until you get to the "Playbill Print Orders" page. Scroll to the bottom to check the delivery estimates (Standard, Expedited, Rush). Be sure to make every section you want to print "Public" when you're ready to order.
Any section that you want to print, you have to click on the "Make this Public" button first. It'll be on the right hand side of the page. First go to your "Cover" section, and click on the "Make this Public" button. Then, do that for any section of your VIP that you want to print. The cover page is the only page that is required to be public if you want to print. For any section that you DON'T want to print, be sure that it's NOT "Public". Any section that is NOT made Public WONT be included in your PDF, even if you've already started working on it.
When you're ready to print, the "Enable PDF button" will appear toward the top right corner of the screen. When you click the “Enable PDF” button, a screen will pop up that will allow you to pay the $60.00 Trademark licensing fee.
Once you generate a PDF, you can print it on your home computer or take it to a professional printing service like FedEX Office or Staples. If you find a mistake on your PDF, you can still go back and edit your Playbill. You'll be able to generate a brand new PDF that will include your edits. You can generate as many PDF's as you want.
The standard Playbill size is approximately an 8.5" x 11" paper folded laterally into 4 pages, so if you plan on making a printout of your Playbill, aim to create document that is a multiple of 4 (eg. 8, 12, 16 or 20 pages).
You will need to generate a PDF of your online Playbill. Playbill charges a $60 trademark licensing fee (new price as of May 27, 2014). You can then send the PDF to a commercial printer or a popular service bureau such as Kinkos or Staples.
When you’re ready to print, click the Make This Public button on your “Cover” Page first. The Enable PDF button will appear toward the top right corner of the screen located below the yellow “Need Help?” button. When you click the “Enable PDF” button, a screen will pop up that will allow you to pay the trademark licensing fee.
There is no charge for going back and editing your Playbill. You may edit it as often as you’d like and generate a PDF after each revision.
If you are positive your credit card went through the first time and you are still being asked to pay again, please contact us at support@playbill.com. Please include a copy of your receipt and the email address that you used to sign up for your account.
The Playbill Print