A Bill of Rights

THE MELBOURNE DRAMATISTS BILL OF RIGHTS

1. ARTISTIC INTEGRITY. No one (e.g., directors, actors, dramaturges) can make changes, alterations, and/or omissions to your script—including the text, title, and stage directions—without your consent. This is called “script approval.”

2. APPROVAL OF PRODUCTION ELEMENTS. You have the right to approve the cast, director, and designers (and, for a musical, the choreographer, orchestrator, arranger, and musical director, as well), including their replacements. This is called “artistic approval.”

3. RIGHT TO BE PRESENT. You have the right to attend casting, rehearsals, previews and performances.

4. ROYALTIES. You are entitled to receive a royalty for your work. If any other Creative in the production is being paid, or if any admission is being charged you can negotiate a flat fee per performance or a minimum 10% of the gross box office revenue, whichever is the greater. You must never be paid less than any other Creative.

5. BILLING CREDIT. You should receive billing (typographical credit) on all publicity, programs, and advertising distributed or authorised by the production company. The nature of your billing (including size, order in which it appears, etc) is subject to your approval. Billing is part of your compensation and the failure to provide it properly is a breach of your rights.

6. OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. You own the copyright of your dramatic work. Playwrights do not assign (i.e., give away or sell in entirety) their copyrights When a production company wants to mount a production of your play, you actually license (or lease) the public performance rights to your dramatic property to that entity for a finite period of time or number of performances.

7. OWNERSHIP OF INCIDENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS. You own all approved revisions, suggestions, and contributions to the script made by other collaborators in the production, including actors, directors, and dramaturges. You do not owe anyone any money for these contributions. If a production company uses dramaturges, you are not obligated to make use of any ideas the dramaturge might have. Even when the input of a dramaturge or director is helpful to the playwright, dramaturges and directors are still employees of the production company, not the playwright, and they are paid for their work by the production company. Neither dramaturges nor directors (nor any other contributors) may be considered a co-author of a play, unless you have agreed in writing that they are a co-author.

8. AUTHOR’S CONTRACT. The only way to ensure that you get the benefit of the rights listed above is through a written contract with the production company, no matter how large or small the entity. The basic contract can be obtained from the Australian Writers’ Guild: www.awg.com.