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Business Advice For Theatre Writers and Industry Professionals

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Writing a script or score is only half the work. Be sure you understand your industry and have DG review your contract before you sign.

 

 

Let Us Review Your Unsigned Contract

The Guild's Department of Business Affairs is committed to educating writers about business and legal standards in the theater industry. The staff lawyers in Business Affairs can review unsigned contracts and advise on a wide range of matters including options, commissions, royalties, copyright, collaboration, trademark, rights of privacy, rights of publicity, defamation, so-called “life-story rights,” and agents. It can also provide guidance, and follow up on complaints regarding theatres, producers, publishers, agents, attorneys, festivals, and contests.

Business Affairs also provides constructive comments to government and business leaders on balancing institutional tradition in the face of necessary innovation. Toward this end, the lawyers at the Guild track U.S. and worldwide theater business trends, advise members on immediate business concerns, and draft statements reflecting the Council’s position on issues of national import.

While the Guild’s purpose is to advocate generally for playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists, it does NOT represent individual members. With respect to this limitation, Business Affairs aims to give each individual member the tools necessary for successfully managing the business of being an author. As such, the lawyers in Business Affairs will not contact any non-members on an individual member’s behalf, nor will the lawyers analyze a contract that has already been signed or draft language for any member’s agreement. Start your conversation with Business Affairs today. Business Affairs is working hard for you. If you have an idea for a feature that you’d like to see, please email us. We’d love to hear from you.

Need assistance gaining access to the website? Forgot your password? Contact us.

 

Business Resources For Dramatists

 

 

Do You Need Business Advice?

The BA Help Desk is a new portal that answers your question more quickly and efficiently. Now you can submit a query or request a contract review via our new ticketing system. You can check the status of a new or closed ticket. You’ll no longer have to dig through your emails to find the answers to your business questions. Our ticketing system will allow you to follow up on issues months or, in some cases, years after you first contacted us.

Additionally, through our new article archive, you will receive customized article suggestions that you’ll be able to download directly onto your computer.

 

Business Resources For Dramatists

 

 

Download Our Model Contracts

DG contracts are now available for download. It is now easier than ever to get contracts from the Dramatists Guild. You can download many of them for free, directly from our website. You simply have to be signed in to your DG Member Account.

One of our top priorities is to ensure that you have all the tools you need to successfully manage your career. We’ve decided that one of the best ways to serve this priority is by making our information more widely accessible to the people who need it most: our Members. We hope this change will facilitate more productive conversations and fair deals for authors.

 

Review and Download DG Model Contracts

 

 

Business Article Library

The curated Business Affairs digital publication is a compilation of all current, and frequently used, Business Affairs articles on issues pertaining to collaboration, copyright, contracts, free speech, underlying rights, and more. Many of these articles are available to download for free, in the Article Archive, via our BA Help Desk.

Most viewed business articles on the Articles Archive:

  • Contracts 101: Collaborations, Part I (May/June 2009)
  • The Real Person in Your Play (March/April 2001)
  • A Marriage of Inconvenience (Jan/Feb 2008)
  • Tips on Self-Producing (Sept/Oct 1997)
  • Contracts 101: Collaborations, Part II (July/Aug 2009)

View more business articles in the curated Business Affairs book or the BA Help Desk.  

 

 

News From Business Affairs

Nov 29, 2022
Compensation, Part Three: Music
Nov 10, 2022
DGF Bridge Grants for Dramatists
Nov 07, 2022
Event: Every Writer Insured! Understand Your Healthcare Options and Get Affordable Care
Nov 04, 2022
Joint Statement from the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, and PEN America on Play Cancellations
Nov 04, 2022
DG Events: Join us for Community, Craft, and Career Training Events this Fall
Nov 01, 2022
Dramatizing Money
Nov 01, 2022
Monetizing Your Music
Nov 01, 2022
CarPER DIEM: How Authors Working in Theatre [do not] Get Paid for Their Time
Nov 29, 2022
Compensation, Part Two: Subsidiary Markets
Oct 30, 2022
DG Career Alert on Brown Paper Tickets

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