Author fee & translation split

kidcharlemagne

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I've read that 10% (or 8-12%) of the gross box-office income is a standard author fee when a play is staged. Is that correct?

What if that play is being staged in a foreign country (non-English). How is that 10% fee split between the author and the translator?

Many thanks in advance.
 

Maryn

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I have little experience, but Writer Beware has a guest blog post which says 5% of the gross is typical, 10% if the playwright is very lucky. More common, apparently, is the flat fee.

While translation which retains the original flavor is surely difficult, no way I'd split evenly. In fact, I'd probably not want to split my percentage of the gross with a translator at all but would prefer s/he be paid a flat fee.

Maryn, no plays produced beyond a script-in-hand reading
 

Doug B

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The below refers to non professional licensing. I don't know the professional license fees.

All the major licensing houses charge a fixed fee (for up to 400 seats - rates are negotiated above that). In general the fee will start at $60 per performance for new works and up to $150 per performance for well know playwrights (like Neil Simon) or popular plays. The licensing organization keeps part of the fee and the playwright gets the rest.

Doug B
 

zander

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For non-professional Doug B is correct.

For a professional production, 8% of gross receipts is a generous royalty. Some larger companies might go higher, but 8% is a good mark to shoot for.

The translator should be paid a flat fee by the theatre. You shouldn't be splitting your income with them at all.
 

Doug B

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I really don't know what I'm talking about here but as a playwright, I would want to control the rights to the translation.

Let's say I write a play in french. To reach out to the American theaters, I need an english translation. Think of Christopher Hampton's translations of Yasmina Reza's plays.

As a playwright I would want to own the rights to the translation for future marketing. If the theater owns the rights, a future producer might have to deal with two entities to obtain performance rights: Me as playwright and the translating theater for the translation.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Doug B
 

Michel_Cayer

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Being a translator myself, I think that once your play has been written and published, you should be the one looking for a translator and paying them. This will ensure a better translation, as the translator can work with you if there can be multiple interpretations of certain passages or if there are difficulties.

This should also ensure you keep the rights of the new version. Please note that I am not a lawyer and so do not have any real knowledge of copyrights.