"You should have a contract..."

I get a lot of great questions from members in the area and most of the times the questions are related around several different areas of playwrights rights. Sometimes I can give a quick answer and other times I need to pass it along or ask our Business Affairs Department about specific issues.

Just fyi, I email David Faux in Business Affairs quite a bit (hey, it's my membership fees put to good use)

Most of the time I have the same response to a lot of email questions:

"You should have a contract."

That's just one of our rights.

And if the producer doesn't supply one (which is a little disconcerting considering you'd think they would want to protect their own interests), then you should email the Dramatists Guild and ask them for the free contracts (free for members). They will help you with your specific questions about the contract. Depending on the production, you may need something that's only two pages, or you may need something longer.

But there is no reason that you can't get the conversation going about contracts, which is really about expectations of each party.

Are you expecting to be at rehearsals? Are you expecting the director isn't going to make cuts without your permission? Or get yourself and maybe your significant other a comp for opening night? Do you want to make sure that every time they list the title of the play they also list your name (y'know, so people don't think the play wrote itself)?

If it's in the contract, you know what you've agreed to.

If not, then what's the guarentee that you're getting it?

Recently, a small theater company (which just happens to be on Stone Way in Seattle...hint, hint...) was not offering comps for any of the artists involved in a play festival, thereby forcing the playwright to pay to see their own show. After a heads up from one of the Guild member playwrights and a quick email from the Guild, they changed their policy. But this should be clear in a contract.

As I said in the Town Hall meeting--"Just because there is no money involved in the production (ie you, does not mean you shouldn't have a contract".

Of course, you also have to ask, why can't there be some money invovled?

For this Double Shot festival this weekend, I had to provide the contract (and I'm pretty sure out of the 16 playwrights involved, I might've been singular in that). I've already talked with NPA about the fact that if they want to support playwrights then they should have a standard contract in place. Hopefully next year we'll see that happen.

But I know this is a common problem in the regional areas, especially this one.

Don't leave it up to the Producers. Make sure both you and your Producer know what is expected.

It's important that as playwrights who want our craft to live and thrive and not be abused, we should know our rights.

So here's a refresher (from the DG website):

IN PROCESS AND PRODUCTION:

1. ARTISTIC INTEGRITY. No one can make changes, alterations, and/or omissions in your script, including the text, title and stage directions without your consent. This is called “script approval”.

2. APPROVAL OF PRODUCTION ELEMENTS. You have the right to approve the cast, director and designers (and, for a musical, the choreographer, orchestrator, arranger, and musical director, as well), including all their replacements. This is called “artistic approval.”

3. RIGHT TO BE PRESENT. You always have the right to attend casting, rehearsals, previews and performances.

COMPENSATION

4. ROYALTIES. You are generally entitled to receive a royalty. While it is possible that the amount an author receives may be minimal for a school production, some compensation should always be paid if any other artistic collaborator in the production is being paid, or if any admission is being charged. You can always call our business office to discuss an appropriate royalty for your production.

5. BILLING CREDIT. Every dramatist should receive billing credit on all publicity, programs and advertising distributed or authorized by the school. We consider billing to be a form of compensation and the failure to provide the proper billing should be understood as a breach of the your rights unless the failure is cured as soon as possible.

OWNERSHIP

6. OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Authors own the copyright of their dramatic work. Authors generally do not assign their copyrights, nor do they ever engage in “work-for-hire.” Another way of saying this: When you write a play or musical, that dramatic property belongs only to you. When a school, producer or theatre wants to a mount a production of your play, you – in effect – license (or lease) your dramatic property to them.

7. OWNERSHIP OF INCIDENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS. You own all approved revisions and contributions to the script made by other collaborators in the production, including actors, directors and dramaturgs. You do not owe anyone any money for these contributions unless you have entered into a written agreement providing for such payment.

If a school uses dramaturgs, are not obligated to make use of any ideas the dramaturg might have. Even when the input of a dramaturg or director is helpful to the playwright, dramaturgs and directors are still employees of the school, not the author, and they are paid for their work by the school. Neither dramaturgs nor directors (nor any other collaborators) may be considered a co-author of a play, unless (i) they’ve collaborated with you from the play’s inception, (ii) they’ve made a copyrightable contribution to the play, and (iii) you have agreed in writing that they are a co-author.

8. SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS. You own not only your script, but the right to market and sell it in all different media (television, radio, film, internet) in any commercial market in the world. Despite any artists’ contribution to your script, you are not obligated to share any portion of monies made in future productions of that work – in other words, no one can ask you for a percentage of future profits unless your original production is a professional (i.e., Actors’ Equity) premiere (including full sets, costumes and lighting that runs no less than 21 consecutive paid public performances for which you received all the entitlements mentioned above.

9. FUTURE OPTIONS. Rather than granting your school the right to share in future proceeds, you may choose to grant a non-exclusive option to present another university production within no more than 1 year of the close of the initial production. No option should be assignable without your prior written consent.

10. AUTHOR’S CONTRACT: The only way to ensure that you get the benefit of the rights list above is for there to be a written contract with the producer, even if the producer is an educational institution. The Guild’s Department of Business Affairs offers a model “school production contract” and is available to review any contracts offered to you, and to advise you as to how the contracts compare to industry standards.

Can they do that?

Just got back from Laramie a few days ago. If you've never attended a regional festival for KCACTF, or any festival/conference like ATHE or MATC or SETC or...whatever, it's a thrilling experience. For one, you get to hang out with a whole bunch of theater folks, making conversations over beer or coffee, making friends, meeting old friends, but also the chance to attend classes, forums and panels. I met a lot of great playwrights, both students and faculty, and also met some folks from the "real world", like Kate Snodgrass at Boston Playwrights.

This is why we need an annual conference for The Dramatists Guild of America (and we're working on it! Really!)

I had been invited there by the Northwest Drama Conference (NWDC) as an invited playwright and representative of the Guild. I was there to teach a Monologue and a “Business of Playwriting” workshop. Here's the blurb for the latter:


“Can They Do That? The Business of Playwriting”
Playwriting is a business. Once your play is selected by a theater or university for production, you need to know much more than how to craft a scene. Do you know what a director can and can’t do with your script? Do you know the difference between a dramaturg and a co-writer? This class answers those questions and more We’ll cover the Dramatists Bill of Rights (or what should be in any contract) as well as discuss other production aspects including copyright, casting, rehearsals, billing, subsidiary rights, and compensation. We will also introduce you to the oldest organization advocating for your rights, The Dramatists Guild of America.

I was surprised to see The Business workshop overflowing—kids were sitting on the floor. As I went through my notes and talked about the Bill of Rights, I at first thought, “I’m not a lawyer and don’t know all that much…” then quickly realized, “Holy crap, these students are being taught absolutely NOTHING about new play development ins and outs”. They still thought playwrights could be banned from rehearsals and that the directors had the right to change stage directions without asking the playwright. This was a bit eye opening to me, especially since there was even a faculty member in the audience asking me questions.

I prefaced the class that though I was talking about contracts primarily, what we're really talking about is relationships. We're talking about how to work together in a way to make the show a success. Because the producers, directors, actors--we all want to put up a brilliant show. But sometimes we all have different ways of getting there and different needs. And its about opening the conversation so that there aren't misunderstandings later. It's not about being the Playwright Police, but about being included in the production process.

Afterwards a student said to me, "Man, I didn't know ANY of that stuff." And I replied, "How would you?" When I first started writing plays in college, I knew nothing about marketing, copywright, contracts, and other business stuff. I just wanted to see my play put up. I joined the Guild in NYC only after some really bad experiences and getting contracts in my face and me not knowing what industry standards were. I had no idea of the amount of things I didn't know.

And I think most of us are in that category.

I plan to present this workshop here in this region to our members as one of our free seminars. Likely that will be in April, but will keep you all posted.

So if this is something that you're interested in and want to see, let me know. Shoot me an email or give me a call.