United States copyright law in the performing arts
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Copyright ownership in the theater are most debatable in the direction category. Some directors regard their work as a simple translation from page to stage, but many others calculate that their specific interpretation of the written play is a transformative and wholly separate expression from the playwright's text, thus making their work eligible for copyright protection.
But how does one "protect" a work that is over after the final performance? If theater creation is ephemeral in its nature, if an act in time is finite, who owns it once it has passed?
Enforcing a copyright after the final performance is ephemeral for theater creation by in its nature. Most directors work under a "work-for-hire" contract, thus relegating all ownership rights to the producers who act as the director's employer. Under work-for-hire contracts, a director receives credit for her creation but no specific copyright protection.
With increasingly stricter copyright laws, directors are demanding copyright ownership of their stage direction. Through collective bargaining directors can gain such rights. The American Bar Association Journal (October 1995) sites an example of a Broadway director who settled a lawsuit with a Chicago director he claimed had stolen his staging material without consent.
In a different but similar case, Broadway director Joe Mantello claimed that a Florida production of Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion! had completely re-produced the work of the Broadway production. In this case the Florida company paid compensation to Mantello and admitted to inadvertently using his work without his permission.
Stage directing is clearly an expression of an idea, rather than the idea itself, and is therefore eligible for ownership rights. Transformative rights are difficult because if a director’s work is expression enough to deserve ownership, then is should be transformative enough to be freed from property liability to the playwright. The Dramatists Guild has been angered by the recent rise in copyright actions from directors. The Dramatists Guild seeks to protect its writers, and fears that directors are simply trying to seek royalties and ownership rights of written plays.
One copyright path available for directors is through registering a videotape of the work, "copyright protection begins automatically when a work is created in a fixed form such as a writing or recording."[1] The Actors' Equity Association restricts any videotape of a production in order to protect the rights of its members. According to the AEA, "With the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, Actors' performances have become even more vulnerable to exploitation. Equity continues to monitor the Internet and develop new strategies to protect Actors' images and artistry."
Compromises have been developing, and the director's union, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSD&C), reached a new agreement about videorecording between SSD&C and AEA.[2] Once filling out the agreement contracts, directors have the right to record the final rehearsal (and only the rehearsal) with no production values attached, such as sets, costumes, lights or sound. The director may submit these tapes for copyright registration, but must be sure that only she is present at any viewings of the videotape.
Because performing arts are typically collaborative, a conflict between directors' rights and actors' rights emerges and complicates the basic definitions for copyright in theater and the performing arts. To fix the ephemeral art in video seems to serve the director while harming the actor, yet both contributed equally to the work. Agreements such as that between SSD&C and AEA are helpful to clarify the situation, but by no means solve all the questions that abound.
Playwrights fall under the copyright law that is followed for other written work. However, playwrights confront adapting original work, using other people's lives and permission for using popular songs, lyrics and song titles.[3] The copyright of existing plays and the performances or readings of those. These laws differ among publishers, but generally prohibit any change or adaptation of the original text.
Samuel French prohibits any performance or reading of one of their published plays without their permission. [4] The play has to be presented as it appears in published form. No changes, interpolations, or deletions can be made and the gender of the characters should be respected. There are also very specific rules about play cutting. You have to apply in writing and receive permission in writing to perform a cutting. There are a number of playwrights who do not allow cuttings of their work, and others who allow cuttings only when a full act of their play is performed with no interior revisions,or deletions.
Samuel Beckett, renowned for protecting his work from any kind of transformation, objected to JoAnne Akalaitis' 1984 production of Endgame, because she intended to stage the play in a wasted subway station, rather than a bare room as he designates in the text. Though Beckett was unable to shut the production down, Akalaitis and the producing company, the American Repertory Theatre, were forced to include in the program a letter from the playwright expressly objecting to the production and its existence.
The Wooster Group, a New York City based performance group, included sections of Arthur Miller's The Crucible in their production entitled L.S.D.. Though Miller initially condoned the performance, he later objected to their use and sent the group a cease and desist letter. Their response was to perform the 30-minute segment completely in gibberish.
