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New Toolkit for College Theatre Departments
Dramatic Changes: A Toolkit for Producing Stage Works on College Campuses in Turbulent Times explores how students and educators can work to resolve tensions between the importance of free expression and the need to advance values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access when producing shows on college campuses. It is intended to be a guide for those who are involved in creating theatre on college campuses, as they take a theatrical work from its selection to its performance, and through to its aftermath, while proactively addressing the various challenges that may arise along the way.
The DLDF hopes that this toolkit can help students, faculty, and administrators to create opportunities for healthy discussion and disagreement, bound by mutual respect, and unified by a common understanding of the unique and vital role that theatre can play in their lives.
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Copyright Registration Drive
April 25-April 29
The Copyright Advocacy Committee is gearing up for Copyright Awareness Week 2022, which kicks off on Monday, April 25. In view of the Guild’s mission to aid dramatists in protecting both the artistic and economic integrity of their work, we are excited to announce the first ever DG Copyright Registration Drive.
We believe that one of the best ways to protect your work is to register your copyright; thus, we decided that the best way to celebrate Copyright Awareness Week is be to make sure that everyone is aware of our members' copyrights. And how do we do that? By registering them!
Not sure how to register your copyright? Business Affairs will be hosting a copyright registration workshop to walk you through the application process for registering both a musical and a play.
Stay tuned for more details, and in the meantime...start putting together those applications!
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Monday, April 25
Copyright Registration Demo Workshop
Atlantic Time: 4pm
Eastern Time: 3pm
Central Time: 2pm
Mountain Time: 1pm
Pacific Time: 12pm
To kick off Copyright Awareness Week, and our first ever DG Copyright Registration Drive, the Business Affairs team will be hosting a special event on copyright registration.
Our very own Dave H. Faux, Esq. will lead us through a copyright registration application, step by step, for the play Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr., which is currently under the purview of DG’s sister organization, DG Copyright Management.
During the event, Dave will also answer DG member questions about the ins and outs of the registration process, and explain the differences between registering a play and registering a musical.
After this event, you should feel empowered to file applications for any of your unregistered works, so that you can not only participate in the DG Copyright Registration Drive but continue to successfully register your work throughout your writing career.
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Theatre Writers Compensation Series |
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Friday, April 15
Production Compensation
Part One:
Advice on Commissions, Advances, and Royalties
from Theatrical Productions
Atlantic Time: 4pm
Eastern Time: 3pm
Central Time: 2pm
Mountain Time: 1pm
Pacific Time: 12pm
Join the Best Practices committee, and their special guests (soon to be announced), for a series of panels investigating how dramatists are compensated for their work.
Theatre writers get paid for their work through a variety of different methods of compensation. When there is seemingly little standardization, it’s hard to know how much to ask for, or how to negotiate for a reasonable amount in exchange for your hard work and creative ideas.
On April 15, Ralph Sevush will moderate a panel on production compensation. Discover how writers get paid throughout the production process, from commissions to advances to royalties, so that you’ll be informed and empowered to ask for the compensation that you truly deserve.
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The Innovation Issue
This issue of The Dramatist was born from Terence Anthony's “The Listening Party.”
Within these digital pages, you'll find a roundtable of dramatists discussing their innovative projects and an introduction to the groundbreaking work of the Midnight Oil Collective.
Also in this issue, Lynn Nottage and Matt Barbot share their thoughts on The Watering Hole, and Roger Q. Mason, Nick Hadikwa Mwaluki, ayla xuan chi sullivan, and Peppermint dream the queer future. Marsha Norman shares her takeaways from teaching high schoolers in “What I'm Teaching Now,” Jason Robert Brown answers “Ten Questions,” and Nikkole Salter explains “Why I Joined the Guild.”
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Discount Code for LMDA Conference
DG Members will receive $50 off Conference Registration Packages for the Summer 2022 LMDA (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas) International Conference. The conference will be held in person in Philadelphia, but attendees will also be able to participate online.
Early bird registration for the conference begins Wednesday, March 23 via the LMDA site: www.lmda.org.
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The Dramatists Guild at the AWP Conference: Native & Indigenous Structure & Dramaturgy in Playwriting
This event is available to watch on-demand for registered AWP attendees.
This panel discussion, which featured Rhiana Yazzie, Laura Shamas, Carolyn Dunn, and Delanna Studi, examined how Indigenous and Native dramatists use their unique storytelling structures to create work for the stage and illuminate their worlds. When non-Native theatres get to choose what plays speak for the Native experience, even when they're not coming from a Native perspective, how can this powerful community ensure they keep telling stories for the people they’re written for? And how can non-Native audiences engage when Native perspectives are rarely seen?
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April is National Playwriting and Composing Month
Have You Signed Up Yet?
End of Play.® is an annual initiative, created by the Dramatists Guild, to incentivize the completion of new plays, musicals, or songs over the period of one month.
Since the launch of End of Play.® back in 2020, hundreds of participants from all over the world have connected with one another, uniting to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of creating new theatrical work.
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Thursday, March 31
End of Play.® National Kick Off!
Atlantic Time: 7pm
Eastern Time: 6pm
Central Time: 5pm
Mountain Time: 4pm
Pacific Time: 3pm
Join us for a free event, designed to fuel inspiration and prepare you to write! DG Council member Deborah Zoe Laufer will lead a welcome session, along with End of Play.® co-Administrator/DG Director of Outreach, Jordan Stovall and DG Executive of Creative Affairs, Director Emmanuel Wilson.
This kick-off event will also feature "Write Fast!," a rapid response writing challenge hosted by New York State Regional Rep Dominic D'Andrea. All participants will be guided through a series of five minute rapid writing prompts, designed and delivered by a selection of inspiring writers.
Prompt leaders for the End of Play.® National Kick-Off will include:
Eric Coble
Kia Corthron
Migdalia Cruz
Lauren Gunderson
Candrice Jones
Deborah Zoe Laufer
Roger Q. Mason
Adam Szymkowicz
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Upcoming End of Play.® Events
March 28
March 29
March 30
March 31
April 1
April 1
April 2
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Contracts and Best Practices |
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Download a DG Best Practice, Model Contract, or Guide Today!
Because the Guild tracks national and worldwide trends, we are able to provide certain model contracts that reflect up-to-date industry standards.
We encourage our members to use these models to educate themselves and to use them as guides when entering into productions or collaborations.
Devised Theatre
Anti-Piracy
Best Practices
Broadway
Collaboration
Commissions
Diversity and Inclusion
Licensing
Live Stream/Digital Theatre
Negotiation
Opera
Production
Translation
Underlying Rights
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We would like you to be informed, educated, and well-equipped when you navigate the business side of theatre. There are so many questions that writers have about this industry; we want to bring those questions and answers directly to you. Dear Business Affairs features DG members' most pressing questions, answered by staff in our BA department.
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Question: What Happens if I Make a Mistake When Registering My Copyright?
On February 24, the Supreme Court issued a decision in the Unicolors v. H&M case which will help allay one of the fears many of our members have when submitting an application for copyright registration: making a mistake!
For a little background, Unicolors sued H&M for copyright infringement. H&M sought to invalidate Unicolors’ copyright registration, due to legal errors made in its application. Unicolors argued that the safe harbor provision found in Section 411(b)(1)(A) of the Copyright Act prevented its certificate of registration from being invalidated.
Section 411(b)(1)(A) of the Copyright Act provides that a certificate of registration is valid, even if there are inaccuracies or mistakes in the application “unless the inaccurate information was included on the application for copyright registration with knowledge that it was inaccurate.” While it has always been understood that this safe harbor applied to good faith factual mistakes made on an application the question of whether it also applied to good faith legal mistakes has been unclear… until now.
In a six to three decision, the Court held in favor of Unicolors finding that Section 411(b)(1)(A) applies to both factual AND legal mistakes and registrations can only be invalidated if there is a finding of “actual knowledge” of such legal errors.
Some may say this decision is so narrow that it will not have much of an impact moving forward, but for you, our members, many of whom choose to register your copyrights without the assistance of an attorney and/or legal training (which was even noted by Justice Breyer in his opinion), this decision provides assurance that you can continue registering your work without fear that future infringers may be able to get off on a mere technicality.
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We are writers; what we love to do most... is write! Second to that, we might love rehearsing in the room with performers or getting to see our work fully realized and produced.
However, as writers, we will inevitably have to deal with the non-creative, not-so-fun, but very essential part of our industry-- the business. We might come across some complicated looking terms, such as subsidiary rights, copyrights, or collaboration agreement.
What do these terms mean, and why do we need to know them? The DG Glossary is your handy go-to guide on important terms that every writer of the theatre should know.
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Small Rights
Copyright owners of musical compositions can sell or license their work for uses that further a narrative (like a stage musical, opera, or ballet). This dramatic use of music is referred to as the “Grand Rights” in the composition, or, as the Copyright Act refers to it, the “Dramatico-Musical Rights,” and these rights are licensed to theatre producers.
Songwriters reserve their “music publishing rights” from Grand Rights licenses. Music Publishing rights include:
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Mechanical rights: the right to have the musical composition embedded in a sound recording
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Synchronization rights: the right to have the musical licensed for use in an audio-visual work
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Print rights: the right to sell printed versions of the composition
Music publishing also includes the right to license the separate non-dramatic, non-narrative performances of a musical composition (like in a concert, cabaret, or club, or on the radio, internet, or TV), where the song’s performance does not include any narrative elements. These non-dramatic performance rights in a song are called "small rights."
In order to license their small rights, the copyright owner (or their music publisher) can register the work with a Performing Rights Organization (a “PRO”).
PROs include ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, which together represent almost all popular music available in the US. PROs negotiate non-exclusive licenses for the nondramatic performances of music on radio, TV, nightclubs, arenas, bars, halls, stores, and any place else where songs can be publicly performed in a non-narrative context. They generally negotiate blanket licenses with performance venues (including both live venues and broadcast media), so that the venues can present performances of anything from that particular PRO's catalogue. The PROs then collect the money and, using their own mathematical formula to apportion revenues, they allocate it and pay the appropriate songwriters and music publishers.
Foreign PROs routinely collect performance license money from movie theatres in foreign territories, a portion of which eventually makes its way back home. But movie theatres in the U.S. do not require a performance license, as a result of a judicial consent decree issued in 1948. Also exempted from the need to obtain a small rights license are small bars and restaurants that play TV shows and radio programs that were originally aired for the public -- as long as the establishment doesn’t rebroadcast it, charge admission, or fail to meet some of the other requirements of the Fairness in Music Licensing Act of 1998.
Music publishing income earned by the composer and lyricist of a stage musical (including their “small rights” licensing revenue) is payable only to the songwriters and to their music publisher. It is not included within the “subsidiary rights revenues” that are shared with anyone else, including the stage producer or even the librettist.
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