| Current mood: |  determined |
| Current music: | Istanbul (not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants |
theatre copywrite laws
This little rant has been brought to you in response from ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
mabfan's blog. http://mabfan.livejournal.com/231348.html
It's a very important subject with multiple angles and, well, I think more people should know about what's going on with it.
This is actually one of the biggest debates in academic theatre right now. (the copyright laws, not this particular issue of the high school and Chicago) Both in academic dance and theatre the laws are getting tighter and tighter squeezing both pressure and money onto the academic institution. I'm all for the copyright laws. Truly I am, both as an theatre artist and as a writer, but at the same time we need more wiggle room. For example, at my university we wanted to update a play to modern day. This changed all of 4 lines. Two of which were revolving around the price of a fancy hotel room. The copyright people came in and threatened to close us down. Now we can't even cut a line from a show unless we get the author's permission. So what are we doing? Running an extra shakespeare and looking at other works by long dead people who can't sue us if we cut half their words for the shorter attention-spanned audiences of today...
Then there's the whole director notes thing. It's starting to be that when you purchase the play you have to pay another fee IF you use any of the director's notes. Example: So and so crosses SL to the door and opens it. Well, yeah, of course the guy has to go open the door, right? The person on the other side is knocking...
Now we have to pay an additional fee.
Dear God, think about Noises Off! The only way that show works is to be rock solid on the blocking... blocking that we know works from previous shows!
One the other side of the coin, I HATE the fact that copyright laws cover the play and the director notes, and in many ways the scenery and costumes because it's uber easy to tell if someone has stolen a set or a costume from photos, but it won't cover the lighting design. Oh, it covers my lighting plot. But not my design. But the design is all someone can see from photos. So as long as you don't hang a ETC Source Four 36 degree unit from the third catwalk two feet from center with a Rosco Colorizer with a window template and a Lee 202 gel and shine it directly onto Lucy's tomb in Dracula you can steal my idea. Maybe you don't understand yet. So, change that unit to a 26 degree and you can do it. Change the Color and you can do it. Change the position of the light, and you can do it. Shall I go on?
What a freakin' crock!
A good example of a whole show. I did an original piece in grad school. There was talk of it going to Broadway. I asked if they'd be taking the Production Team with it. We were told no. Then I asked, "But they'd use our Production Design?" and I was told yes, and the University would be compensated for that. "The University" Said I, "But that's my art?"
"Ah," They said, "But you're 'art' belongs to the University"
I said, "No, no it doesn't. I never signed anything that said I give up all my rights. I still own my designs, and if this goes to Broadway with this set and those costumes, and my lights, than I want credit for that design. My name deserves to go with it. I don't care if you don't want to take me, personally, with you, but I, along with my fellow team, better have original designer credits! That's how copyright works in theatrical design."
It didn't go to Broadway - it wasn't a very good show, although amazing set and lights (see my website at www.elizabethzernechel.com and see if you can tell which one it is...
The biggest problem is that every theatre is different, and so taking the same show with the same "concept" into another theatre automatically changes the lighting design plot. So you could have seen the original show and been told by your director "I want that" and you move into the new space. Now you can have the same color washes, same face light, practically the same angles for everything, specials, etc.
Now, we in the business try to protect the designers. That's where the name Lighting Supervisor comes from. We are re-establishing someone else's design. Supervisors are payed less as well. I'm okay with this. I've been a lighting supervisor many-a-time. It's not easy and I feel comfortable with that title when I'm not the original designer. When I worked for the Cincinnati Ballet, I took a tour to Miami U. in Oxford Ohio. My job was to adjust the lights and cues and make them work for this new space. I ended up having to rewrite most of the cues because of the size of the stage, but the case is still that I was a Supervisor, not a Designer.
Now there's a big difference between this and borrowing. Take this idea:
My friend did a production of Richard III in a very small space. Only about 3 meters wide and 3 meters deep. He had no followspots but wanted to isolate every monologue like they were being spotted. So he had two window templates. One for either side of the stage. (remember 3 meters is really, really small) Every time someone started a monologue he'd bring up the intensity of a window, highlighting the person, and reduce the intensity of the rest of the stage.
Okay, this is a brilliant idea. Truly. It's a lovely way to keep your environment and your audience in that environment but enhance what's going on.
I loved it!
Two months later, I started working on the opera of "The Marriage of Figaro". You can see a picture of the show as my little corner pic up there. The set was two side walls with doors and windows and a very deep stage that got deeper with every act. I didn't want to use Followspots (I really dislike using followspots for anything other than musical-comedies, I feel they are a lazy lighting designer's tool) So I created a series of window for the stage. There's three sets of three. One set of three is from Stage Left coming through the window, on is from Stage Right coming through that window, and one is from the top. But that isn't all. Each set of three is reinforced by window templates coming into the stage from the front.
(You can see the difference if you look really close at the floor - again, for more pics see my website.)
Anywho, I used these windows as isolation areas for the songs.
Is this stealing / plagiarism?
No. Actually it's not. It's borrowing, twisting the idea, and making it my own. And I always give credit to the original idea. (Thanks Steve!!!) We've laughed over it many a night because it worked so well.
So, copywrite laws. I truly do love them. They are important. We deserve to have protection. But we all deserve to have protection, not just the playwrights.
I guess my tirade is over. Maybe you learned something new. Maybe I'm preaching to a choir. Eh, it's all good either way.
