GUILD STATEMENTS - An Open Letter to Educators
The Guild recently contacted the undergraduate and graduate programs in playwriting, directing and dramaturgy around the country to make these schools aware of certain standards and policies that playwrights expect to be adhered to when their work is being developed and produced. We offered this information to them with the hope that it would become part of the academic curricula for all such programs, and we now offer it to you, too, to make you aware of our activities in this area, and to remind you of the centrality of your role in the theater production process.
It is a fundamental principle that playwrights own and control their work. It is, therefore, a concept that should be incorporated into the training of future generations of writers, directors and dramaturgs. That way, students from these programs won’t move into the professional theater community with mistaken notions about their relationship to the work and to one another.
Specifically, Dramatists Guild members expect to have contracts that provide substantially as follows:
1. No Changes in Manuscript. The producer, recognizing that the play is the artistic creation of the author, agrees that it will not make any addition, omission or alteration in the manuscript of the play – including the title, dialogue and stage directions – without the written consent of the author. Any changes to which the author consents shall be the sole property of the author without necessity of payment, and free and clear of all liens, claims and encumbrances.
2. Approval of Artistic Elements. The producer agrees that the play shall be presented with a cast, director, scenic, lighting, costume and (where appropriate) sound designer, conductor, choreographer, musical director, orchestrator, arranger and music copyist mutually agreeable to producer and to author. Any changes in the cast, director or other artistic elements shall likewise be subject to the mutual agreement of the parties. The author and the producer agree that, in exercising such approvals, each will not act unreasonably.
3. Producer’s Employees. If the producer uses dramaturgs, consultants or other such employees, it is understood that such employees are employees of the producer, that any and all contributions of such employees shall be made on a “work-for-hire” basis and shall be deemed assigned to author without lien or encumbrance, and that any and all compensation payable to such employees for their contributions shall be the sole responsibility of the producer. It is also understood that the author is in no way obligated to make any use whatsoever of such employees’ services as a condition for production by the producer.
We thank educators for doing their part to encourage the vitality of the American theater … a theater of writers whose vision can and must remain unique and uncompromised. For more information about the rights of playwrights in America, you can go to the website
www.dramatistsguild.com and subscribe to the Guild’s magazine, The Dramatist. Feel free to call us if you’d like to discuss any of these matters further.
Sincerely,
The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.