Our Constitution

CONSTITUTION OF THE SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF PLAYWRIGHTS

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1. Title
   
   The Society shall be named the Scottish Society of Playwrights.
   
2. Aims
   
   The aims of the Society shall be to promote the development and production of theatre making in Scotland and to act for playwrights in Scotland in all matters affecting them.
   
3. Membership
   
   a) Full membership of the Society shall be open to Scots playwrights, wherever resident, or playwrights resident in Scotland, who wish to promote their work in the theatre, and who have written substantial texts requiring the services of actors for performance in the theatre/radio/television/film and who have had at least one such text publicly and professionally performed or professionally commissioned.
   
   b) Honorary membership of the Society without voting rights shall be available on the recommendation of the Society’s Council to a general meeting and on the approval of that recommendation by that meeting. Any member may propose names for honorary membership to the Society’s Council.
   
   c) Membership may be deemed to have lapsed only in case of failure to pay the annual subscription within three calendar months after the date of the annual general meeting at which such subscriptions were set.
   
4. The Council of the Society
   
   a) The Society’s business shall be managed by a Council required to carry out the decisions of general meetings and shall consist of between eight and twelve Council members – including office bearers – who shall be full members of the Society and who shall be elected directly by members of the Society at a general meeting. The office-bearers shall be:
   
   (i) Chair who shall speak for the Society and chair meetings of the Council and general meetings of the Society.
   (ii) Secretary who shall act as secretary in all matters affecting the Society.
   (iii) Treasurer who shall have charge of membership subscriptions of the Society.
   
   b)
   
   (i) The Chair shall be elected directly by full members of the Society at a general meeting.
   (ii) The other office bearers shall be elected from and by the Council of the Society at the first meeting of that Council following a general meeting. The roles and duties of office bearers may be shared between Council members.
   
   c) In cases of tied voting in Council, issues shall be settled by deferral of such tied issues to a further meeting.
   
   d) The Council shall have the right to establish sub-committees for specific purposes and to co-opt into them as necessary full members of the Society. The formation of such sub-committees must be ratified by the next general meeting of the Society.
   
   e) Sub-committees shall be responsible to the Council of the Society. Office-bearers shall be responsible to the Council of the Society. The Council shall be responsible to the Society’s members in general meeting.
   
5. Terms of Office
   
   a) Members of the Council and office bearers shall serve for a two year term.
   
   b) Members of Council and office-bearers may serve up to three consecutive terms.
   
   c) In the case of a Council member retiring before she/he has served his/her full terms, the Council may co-opt a full member to replace her/him for the rest of the member’s term of office, always provided that such co-option be approved by the next general meeting of the society. Should such a co-option not be approved, a replacement member must be elected at that general meeting from among the Society’s members.
   
   d) Members of the Council may be removed from office only by a vote of censure passed by members at a general meeting and receiving an absolute majority of the votes of all members voting.
   
6. General Meetings
   
   a) Form
   
   (i) Annual general meetings must be held once a year, in an appropriate location, during the month of June each year, and members must receive two weeks notice of such meetings along with an agenda and an abstract of accounts for the previous year.
   (ii) Extraordinary general meetings may be called by the Council or requisitioned by an application to the Council by any six full members of the Society. Within two weeks of receiving such an application, the Council must call a general meeting, giving members two weeks notice and providing an agenda for the meeting. In no event should there be more than a calendar month between the receipt by the Council of the requisition and the general meeting.
   
   b) Purpose
   
   (i) Only a general meeting of the members of the society shall have the right to decide on matters of Society policy.
   (ii) Only the general meeting shall have the right to amend any of the terms of this constitution, and, in order to do so, members must be notified of proposed amendments two weeks in advance of the general meeting. For the amendment to pass, it must receive a two-thirds majority of the votes of those full members of the Society who vote.
   (iii) The Treasurer of the Society shall be required, in the case of annual general meetings, to circulate with the agenda an abstract of accounts for the year and to present a report and answer questions at the meeting itself.
   (iv) Subscription rates for the Society shall be fixed by general meetings and shall be open to review only at annual general meetings.
   
   c) Voting
   In the case of any full members unable to attend a general meeting, the Council shall allow, if requested, a proxy vote to be cast on their behalf.
   
7. Quorums
   
   a) General Meetings
   A quorum shall be one third or ten of the full members of the Society, whichever is the less.
   
   b) Council Meetings
   A quorum shall be four.

As updated with amendments approved at the SSP AGMs held in Glasgow, June 2018 and June 2025.