Tags: Copyright Advocacy Month
The Dramatist
Copyright Advocacy: Childress v. Taylor
There’s one thing that a writer learns very very quickly: everybody has an opinion about your work. It becomes part of the writer’s job to winnow through those various opinions to figure out which ones are actually helpful. But, by accepting someone’s...
The Dramatist
Copyright Advocacy: The Varied Copyrights of Theatre
IN THE THEATRE INDUSTRY, copyright law protects the contributions of authors, be they playwrights, librettists, composers, or lyricists. However, the highly collaborative nature of theatre brings many contributions to the production from non-authorial artists as well. A winning production is the perfect combination of these elements...
The Dramatist
The WGA Script Registry Is No Substitute For Copyright Registration
The WGA Script Registry is costing writers’ money and is acting as a detriment, not an asset, to writers. As an entertainment litigator who is regularly asked to handle copyright infringement lawsuits against motion picture studios, one of the biggest problems I face is with writers registering...
Advocacy Newsroom
September and October at The Dramatists Guild
This year, September and October will be unusually busy months for the Dramatists Guild. We're pleased to announce Copyright Advocacy Month and Political Engagement Month! Both months will provide dramatists with thematically coordinated opportunities to learn, engage, and participate in these special months at the Guild.
...
The Dramatist
Copyright Advocacy Month: Playwrights and Copyright
BROADWAY, 1926
The Rialto is alive with drama. At the Mansfield Theater, a revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Beyond the Horizon is enjoying a healthy run. At the Imperial, George Gershwin’s prohibition romp Oh, Kay is a bona fide sell-out. At the Mayfair, an unexpected guest upstages the opening night of a searing marital tragedy entitled The Half-Naked Truth. In the words of critic Brooks...
The Dramatist
“We Shall Overcome” Could Not Overcome the Public Domain: A Lesson in Copyright Provenance and Clearing Rights
The late Pete Seeger’s iconic civil rights song “We Shall Overcome” was thrust into the copyright limelight in 2017 when a New York federal court ruled that the original 1948 copyrighted version of the sheet music (with lyrics), which was owned by Seeger’s company, People’s Songs, Inc., had fallen...
The Dramatist
Copyright Advocacy: Between Never and Forever
The year 2019 will be a windfall for dramatists skilled at adapting works, as a large number of classics finally enter the public domain.