Question about Stage Play

Hi Horizon eyes,

Not sure if this will help you but .....

I write plays and I also co-own a community theatre group. When we do plays that have been published, we have to pay performance rights, per performance. Other than that, I think there's the option that you could just sell your play outright to a group. I don't know which of these would be better though.

As far as unions go, I have no idea. I think they only come into play when you're in the professional league.

Hi:

First the easy questions: Union affiliation is not necessary at any level although most successful writers join. There are some writers unions ("Guilds" actually) but membership is not necessary to market your play. Writers Guild of America (East and West) are the most well known.

In general, you don't sell your script to a theater - you "license" the right to do the desired number of performances. As an adjunct, most licenses require the performing entity to purchase one copy of the script for each actor and the director. This is necessary because the license prohibits the copying of scripts.

If you look at the major royalty houses (Dramatic Publishing and Samuel French) they charge about $7.50 for each copy. Some offer a "manuscript" script (for about $25) that allows you to make a specified number of copies. At $0.10 a page to copy the $7.50 is usually cheaper.

Royalties to perform a play cost around $75 (for non professional theaters with less than 400 seats) although some popular playwrights get $100 or more. (This is for each performance).

There are lots of contracts out there for you to use - for an example go to dramatists.com and look at nonprofessional licensing - at the bottom of the page are several contract clauses that you would need to include in a license.

Finding a royalty house that will take on your script is necessary if you really want to license your play. (How else would you get the word out about your play?) There are dozens of smaller houses - most are oriented to specific types of plays. Go to aact.org and look at the list of royalty houses (resources/play sources) - there might be one that fits your needs.

BUT . . . most houses want to see a list of productions ending with a professional production or two - of course the venue counts too - having your play done on Broadway or Off Broadway counts more than a small professional theater in a small city.

So where would I start - look for a public or staged reading at a local theater. We do a lot of new material but most of it comes from people we know. I get a lot of unsolicited script and read most but our schedule is limited and we want to help our local playwrights. That is not to say that we haven't done performances of unsolicited scripts but that is the exception rather than the rule.

Another avenue that can work well is the fringe theater festival route. There are dozens of fringe festivals all over the country. If your play does well on the fringe circuit people will see it and might pick up your play for themselves to do. I personally know one play that got picked up for Off Broadway that way.

Hope this helps.

Doug

There are many, many differences between professional and non professional theaters but seating capacity is not one. There are not many non professional theaters with over 400 seats but I know many professional theaters with far less. One professional theater I frequent has 36 fixed seats and another dozen folding chairs. The major difference is that professional theaters pay their actors - usually under a union contract.

Everything I have seen absolutely prohibits making copies of scripts but it happens - sometimes with the knowledge of the theater and sometimes without. I know actors who make copies to enlarge the font size to make it more readable. It is almost impossible to do the tech for a show out of the small acting edition scripts.

On a slightly different topic - I think most script sales are for "review". I probably buy 50 to 75 scripts to read to find a single show to produce. We spend hundreds of dollars a year on published scripts. I also get dozens of scripts a year by e-mail for review. I also get dozens of scripts in "manuscript' form (copied on 8 1/2 by 11 paper). My guess is that, unless you print thousands of copies, the cost of the scripts will be near to what you can sell them for, leaving you with not much for your work. Now a days, most printed scripts cost $7.50 each. I don't buy scripts that cost much more than that. The average acting edition script probably has 100 pages - hard to make a copy and mail it for $7.50.

I think you NEED to charge royalties - if for no other reason than to protect your copyright. For unpublished scripts we offer 5% of the ticket sales if the show loses money and 8% if we make money (we have never lost money). At least one of the royalty houses has gone to a percentage of gate receipts for royalties (much fairer in my opinion). If you keep the cost of scripts down you will get more people to read them.

Just my thoughts.

Doug

Tell me a little about your play: What is the play about? Is it full length or a one act or a ten minute play? What is the running time? What is the cast (ages and sexes)? Is it a comedy, drama, thriller, domestic drama or whatever? Are there any special technical requirements? What is the production history? Have you had any theater or public readings? Were they fully staged or just read?

Doug