It's the right rights...
Without sounding too much like Corbyn at PMQ’s, I had an email this week from Claire, who is a first time producer.
“A friend has written a play and I’m thinking of putting in on in a pub theatre in London. I think I have some money too, from another friend. Now what?”
The first thing, Claire, and in fact anyone else putting on ANY production, are the rights. Not the copyright, which will always stay with the creator, but the rights to produce the play. If it’s an well known play the amateur rights will probably be with Samuel French or Warner Chappel and will be for the duration of your show. But for a new play the rights will be with the authors. You should not do ANYTHING until you have an agreement on the rights. Sometimes a heads of agreement in an email will do. Log for as many rights as you can for as long as possible in all the territories in the world. This isn’t you being greedy - it will make your production more favourable for potential investors if it should have a life after your production. Not many people in the biz realise how hard producing is. Not many professionals would work for free for years, sometimes, to see a pet project through to fruition.
Any questions or or comments?