Hi there,
Claire Demmer - playwright and editor - Off The Wall Plays. Although the site has been an idea since 2010, we just launched it properly in July 2011 and it is really brand new, so at the moment any feedback we get can only help.
We are an online play publishing house meaning we don't have a physical printing side - all the plays are E-Plays but we don't publish the plays online or show the full play on site - they are kept on a remote server, as otherwise people would download them without paying for them and this would be counterproductive to running a business.
In creating the business, we followed the format followed by Maverick Musicals, Australia. Basically what we do is we give people access to less than 50% of a script - and then if they like what they read, they pay for the whole thing and we e mail it to them. That way people don't pay for a nice sounding idea, and a terrible script.
The amount people pay for plays gets them the script and license to perform the play twice.
Scriptwriters are required to sign a contract with us that protects both parties. 50% of the royalties is what was advised by our lawyer as the standard rate authors receive from publishing houses. Gone are the days when authors would get 10-20% of the sale of their work!
I am glad you brought this to my attention, because it means that other people might be similarly confused. The website is undergoing an upgrade, and we will alter the language used on the site so that people are more clear as to what we do.
Hope that clears things up a bit and any other feedback would be more than welcome.
Claire Demmer
www.offthewallplays.com
