tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post4204874609391984980..comments2024-01-07T06:59:04.212-05:00Comments on The Playgoer: Letting Playwrights EarnPlaygoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-48370176759107176902010-03-26T17:03:54.655-04:002010-03-26T17:03:54.655-04:00I spoke to Zelda about this a few years ago--as I ...I spoke to Zelda about this a few years ago--as I think about it more than a <i>few</i> (2001?). And it was clearly still a painful memory. There eventually was a settlement of sorts, but the <i>White Hope</i> contretemps led to contracts requiring 5 and 10 percent pieces of, I believe, the playwright's portion of rights.<br /><br />By "playwright's portion," I mean that portion of subsidiary rights retained by the playwright should the work go into a commercial run where a significant portion of future rights are assigned to the producers for, say, 20 years.<br /><br />Since I wrote about this in my Master's thesis years ago, I'm sure some of the terms have changed but not many.<br /><br />One of the reasons for the increase in demands from n.p. companies was the decline, beginning in the early 1970s and continuing throughout the 1980s, of foundation and gov't support for theaters.<br /><br />BTW, I don't think any play after <i>White Hope</i> enjoyed similar financial success on B'way after regional development. Certainly, it never happened again for the Arena.<br /><br />I'm not including <i>Chorus Line</i>, which was another kind of story--also covered in my thesis, which maybe I should post somewhere.Jeffrey Eric Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-85291638733811831022010-03-26T13:26:30.943-04:002010-03-26T13:26:30.943-04:00Thanks for that background, Jeffrey. I didn't...Thanks for that background, Jeffrey. I didn't realize "Great White Hope" had that central a role. <br /><br />I wonder if the fortunes of theatre companies and individual writers have reversed since then? Maybe then the theatres needed the boost more while writers could get their plays on more easily in general.<br /><br />Then again, that was still the height of gov't and charitable funding for the nonprofits, so I don't know.Playgoerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-41485586465383015002010-03-25T21:07:02.383-04:002010-03-25T21:07:02.383-04:00In partial defense of the nonprofit theaters, it m...In partial defense of the nonprofit theaters, it must be noted that the subsidiary-rights issues of the recent past have their roots in the 1968 transfer of <i>Great White Hope</i> from the Arena Stage to Broadway. Zelda Fichandler at Arena spent years working with Howard Sackler on the script, only to see her resident company left with $50K debt and no actors.<br /><br />While it is true that things have been out-of-hand for years where subsidiary rights are concerned, were it not for subsidiary rights, the possible recoupment of investment in commercial theater might be severely hampered.<br /><br /><i>Angels in America</i>, for instance, closed on Broadway at a loss, but eventually earned a profit for investors on the road.Jeffrey Eric Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.com