RIGHTS TO WHAT THE PLAYWRIGHT WRITES

It has never been easy (unless you have a super-hit) to make a living from writing plays. (To make a living, a playwright often has a day job, a College position, or writes films, or... ???) One problem for the playwright has been that the theater company (or producer) who puts together the inaugural production of the play also takes a hefty chunk of the subsidiary rights.

There have been a number of recent changes to make it easier for playwrights to earn more from their plays.

The Public Theater has made a very important contribution to the ability of its playwrights to benefit from the subsidiary rights to what the playwright writes.


The Public Theater and Dramatists Guild of America
Announce Groundbreaking Revision
of The Public's Subsidiary Rights Agreements

The New Model Provides
Greater Financial SupportFor Playwrights

From The Public Theater:

"We are excited and proud to announce that we are restructuring our subsidiary rights agreement, effective immediately, to provide playwrights with greater financial opportunities to profit from their plays. The Public Theater and the Dramatists Guild began discussions more than a year ago when it became clear that The Public was intent on finding a better way to encourage and invest in the writers they were producing. Under the new agreement, The Public will not collect any subsidiary rights from a play until the playwright has earned a minimum of $75,000 in licensing fees following its Public Theater premiere. The new agreement allows a playwright 10 years to earn that minimum amount from a play; if the playwright has not earned $75,000 during that time period, the agreement will expire and The Public will not earn any subsidiary rights income from the play.

"The Public is here to support the American playwright, not the other way around. We're pleased that this new arrangement reflects the core values of The Public and is one small step in making the American theater a better home for artists," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson in a joint statement.

"The Public's new policy represents a dramatic departure from traditional subsidiary rights agreements, in which theaters immediately begin collecting a portion of profits from subsequent licensing of a playwright's work. This revised agreement which will be retroactive back to 2008 for all Public Theater main stage shows will allow playwrights to earn substantial income from their work before the theater profits from subsequent productions of a play.

"The Dramatists Guild hopes this new model will be a trumpet call for theaters to realize that, in most cases, these revenues contribute relatively little to the theater's bottom line but could be the difference for an author between paying rent or having to leave the industry.

"The Dramatists Guild commends The Public Theater for continuing to be one of the most supportive and nurturing of all American theaters to playwrights," said Dramatists Guild President Stephen Schwartz. "We greatly appreciate their openness to hearing the Dramatists Guild's advocacy for our members, and we applaud this new policy which will allow more playwrights to be able to make a living writing for the theater."