A Letter to Someone Who Thinks Making Script Changes Without Permission is Okay

Dear Someone Who Thinks Making Script Changes Without Permission is Okay,

In regards to your email that "it's okay to make changes in a script as long as you don't get caught". Or as you said, "Do it a Re-bar where they can't get you."

To make changes in a script without the playwright's permission is not just unethical and immoral but it is also ILLEGAL.

Period.

It's part of the contract that producers sign when they pay for the rights.

This is not quibbling over semantics or points of view. And while many out there bend and/or break the rules, it does not justify the action.

For instance, there are also many theater companies who don't even bother to pay royalties and/or even ask permission to perform the play. Is that permissible, as well? As long as they don't get caught?

By the way, doing a new play without telling the playwright or licensing company is also illegal and unethical, as well.

Should plays be cut? Probably. Anything "can" be cut, and might be better served for it. But that decision is always the writer's, not some director or producer who is leasing the rights.

That's not to say the production team couldn't have asked for permission to make changes--that happens all the time. And licensing companies and/or the playwright can be pretty accommodating to production needs. (We're not all protective Samuel Beckett tyrants.)

And I know you know there's a difference between Shakespeare that's beyond just the legal aspect of he's dead and his work is in the public domain. Any smart and professional director knows that the playwright is not some control mad tyrant but a valuable resource and respected collaborator. I know many a respected director of classics who would kill for the chance to whisper to Shakespeare in a rehearsal room, "But what the hell is he talking about with this whole 'To be or not to be speech...'"

Playwrights don't write their plays for money. Any money we get is nice but when we do receive any royalties its a pretty paltry sum. If we want money we have to cross over to write TV/film where production companies own the copyright and can change whatever they want. We write for theater because it is more poetic, immediate, more demanding, and ultimately more collaborative than other mediums. So please let's not take artistic participation and control away or you'll find more playwrights jumping ship to other mediums where they can actually feed their kids when others bastardize their work.

My question to you is why do you think it is acceptable for companies to treat another artist with such disrespect for their work? Why would you take away not only their legal right, but also cut them out of the artistic conversation? It's possible that suggesting a cut to a playwright might make them realize that the play is better for it and the change becomes a permanent aspect of the script. In that sense, you might be helping the playwright by asking for permission to make cuts.

So, again, I ask, why wouldn't you want work with the playwright?

Because making selfish choices under the wire hoping not to get caught is making selfish theater. And last I checked, theater was about community and collaboration.

But most importantly, it's the difference between professionals and amateurs. It is not about control. It's not about payment. It is about respect for the work and your fellow artists.

Regards,

A playwright