I had a delightful stuffed waffle with mushrooms and other delicious savory goods. The trouble was, the place we met was out of forks to eat it with, so this poor person watched me eat it with a bamboo spoon and knife. Well, at least it broke the ice.
(It looked something like this. But no whipped cream or fruit, obviously.)
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Above all, be a part of the community. Masterclasses, concerts, cabarets, writer's groups, and social media networks are great ways of fostering that network for yourself (and you can facilitate them yourselves! Created opportunities are bat-signals to new writers). Nurture your community of peers and friends as much as your industry contacts, not only to help keep your head on straight, but because the people who are your peers now- interns, script readers, assistant directors- will graduate into themselves being the movers and shakers in a few years. In this writer's words, "your foot in the door isn't going to be the person who's on top".
Submit overliberally to as many opportunities as possible. It's a numbers game, the goal of which is as much establishing your voice as a writer over a wide net as actually getting your work selected. Read the bios of writers and projects you admire- they're gold mines of awards, grants, and development programs to apply to that might be particularly strong fits. Use the Dramatist's Guild Resource Directory liberally. Pay attention to mission statements, and make the effort to tailor your pitch to the mission.
-Good university development programs: Penn State, Northwestern, Millikin, San Diego State, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Yale Drama School.
-Other good development programs: New York Theatre Barn (focused on choreographic works), NAMT satellite showcases, Newport New Works, Rhinebeck Writer's Retreats.
Successful paths to production are almost always multi-pronged. Keep juggling pathways in: various pieces, collaborative teams, both self-producing and submitting, etc. Never stop developing the next project. "We can't do this, but what's next?" is how commissions happen, so you better have an answer! (It reminds me of Heather Christian; she says that her working definition of success is being able to take a year off without her foothold in the industry eroding. This is the flip side of that coin.)
What you're looking to cultivate is a capital of existence- being able to say "can I meet you" to people like producers and nonprofit artistic staff and have them recognize your name. For this songwriter, the NAMT showcase was the formative genesis of a lot of that capital.
In the first stage of your career, you have two options for your day job: creative work (i.e. music directing) or non-creative work (i.e. corporate desk job). Both can be viable, if you're deliberate- what's important is to pick whichever one protects your ability to create. Creative work doesn't serve you if it leaves you sapped of the necessary energy to develop your own projects. Beyond that, if you become known as a music director-type, it can be hard to escape that pidgeonhole, even as those gigs give you access to performers and institutions you otherwise might not have access to.
Between a name-brand prize and a commission from a name-brand nonprofit theatre, this songwriter was able to take a trial year of working as a songwriter full-time. After that year, they set a number- if their bank account dipped below that, they'd go back to day job work. They advised not to cold turkey abandon structure, even if you get the chance. When you're at a midpoint in your career development, places like residences are good opportunities to safely practice dealing with unstructured time. What desks make you want to work? How do you schedule your days? What cultural diet keeps you eager to create?
All of this writer's flagship musicals are play-scale. Chamber pieces are easy to produce, and easy for institutions to say yes to putting up- many times, these pieces have been a theater's "first musical", or are good fits for playwriting opportunities in ways full-scale musicals aren't.
Engage with the institutions that are producing you. They're not just making an investment in the piece, but in you as a creator and personality. As a part of that, don't be dismissive or hostile to donor culture! Donors are people who care about your art enough to fund it- even if you may not ordinarily, say, orbit in the same social circles, you have a common interest.
