Thoughts needed on selling Mystery Dinner Plays

scully931

So you're suggesting what? Bigfoot?
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Hi,

I have written about ten short scripts that are performed at Mystery Dinners. This isn't the kind of mystery dinner you buy in a box where guests take a role. These are performed by actors, or even groups like churches, etc. However, they are rehearsed in advance and performers stick to the script.

I own an acting studio and we have used them several times as fundraisers. Another theatre company also used them to great success. I often have people tell me I should sell them. When I first started directing mystery dinners, I bought scripts online. However, there wasn't a large selection and the writing was generally quite amateurish. So I think this is an area where I could at least make a few bucks in, if nothing else.

What I would prefer to do, is just set up a website and sell them directly. I'm looking for advice on how to handle this, how to protect my work, etc. Do I need to copyright them myself first or are there other steps to take? Really, any suggestions on this is appreciated.

Thank you!
 

Gillhoughly

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You can certainly sell them directly, either printing copies yourself at the local Kinko's and physically mailing them or offer them via a print on demand venue like Createspace. I am sure there are other means I don't know about, since this is not a market with which I am familiar.

However, all your writing is copyrighted to you the moment you write it. You need only put the little copyright symbol next to your name and the year in the front matter of the book. You can register the copyright with the US copyright office, but that will cover only the specific version you print or have printed. Put out another version, buy another registration. All it does is show that you are the owner/creator of the property, which can help in a court case of copyright violation. Such cases are extremely rare, not that it doesn't happen, but because lawyers are expensive.

In the end, you can't fully protect your works from being illegally copied by people, you have to trust they won't do it. A buyer might produce the same play multiple times through the year for different parties. If you want a royalty off that, same as any other playwright, you'll have to hit the library and find how-to books for it. That may mean submitting your works to a publisher of plays (I know only of Samuel French) and see how that is done.

I think you have the potential to supply neat material to a niche market and that you can certainly expand on it. Offer works for both the actors-playing-roles market AND party-goers enjoying a murder game.
 

scully931

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Thank you for the insight. All good advice. I'll check out the publishers of the plays we use just to see if that is something even worth pursuing. I also really like the idea of CreateSpace or some such thing. An cursory internet search shows almost NO scripts for something like this. They are almost all parties. So, maybe I'm onto something here.

Anyway, I thank you for the advice!