What you can and cannot do concluded
6. Photocopying, arrangements, and adaptations. The making of photocopies is restricted under copyright law. There are �fair use� provisions although it is unlikely that they would apply in the case of public performance.
If copies of scripts are required for rehearsal or performance purposes and they are unavailable either for purchase or rental, then permission to copy must be sought from the play publisher. If copies of music or songs are required for rehearsal or performance purposes and they are unavailable either for purchase or rental, then permission to copy must be sought from the music publisher named on the music, not the owner of the stage rights nor the performance rights society. If permission to copy is granted, then this may be conditional upon payment of a reproduction fee and/or an undertaking to deliver all copies made to the publisher after use.
The licensing agreement with the licensing agency will almost certainly contain language regarding making no changes in the script and/or music as provided without first obtaining written permission. Here�s a typical example of how an agreement might read: �The granting of this license to you to perform the play is not to be construed as a right to. . . [make] changes of any kind. . . in the play including but not limited to the deletion or interpolation of new music, lyrics or dialogue or change in the period, characters or characterizations in the presently existing play. . . . Any violation hereof will be deemed a willful infringement of the copyright of the author(s) and shall automatically terminate this license.�
Changes requiring written authorization range from simply �cleaning up the language� to changing the gender of roles in the play. This is especially important to consider if the script requires any adaptation to conform to community standards of acceptable language or behavior. If the changes required by the community are not allowed by the copyright holder, the producer�s only option is to select another play. It does not matter if �they did it that way in the movie.� The movie producer paid a substantial amount of money for the film rights, which usually do include the right to make any necessary changes.
Even what was done in recent major revivals cannot be used to justify an unauthorized departure from the script as provided by the licensing agency. Remember that such productions involve not only, again, a substantial amount of money, but also the active participation of the copyright holder(s) or their representatives. Nothing is done without their consent. The fact that such changes have not been authorized for release to the licensing agency may mean that the persons with the authority to permit have had second thoughts after seeing the changed script onstage.
The making of musical arrangements of copyrighted works, changing the melody or words, or adding new words all arguably constitute an adaptation and should be strenuously avoided.
The licensing agreement for a musical play will specify which accompaniment option is to be used (usually either full orchestra or single piano reduction, though other options may be available for some shows). The use of any other arrangements, including recorded music or MIDI sequencing, is allowed only with advance written permission. Newer developments in the growing use of synthesized accompaniment (and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization�s unique position to take the lead in this) are noted in the 3/25/07 NYTimes article by Jesse Green, �Theater�s Alive With the Sound of Laptops.�
7. Audio or video recording. As explained earlier, in certain circumstances, it�s possible to obtain a license to make a sound recording. However, the making of video recordings is prohibited almost without exception. The license to make a video must be obtained from the owner of the film and TV rights to the work, plus a synchronization license must be obtained from the publisher(s) of all music used in the production. The owner of the film and TV rights may be a film studio or independent producer who has purchased them from the owner of the copyright. The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization is probably unique in not only having retained the film and TV rights to certain of its founders� works, but also in having under the same roof the �grand rights� licensing agency and the music publisher for those works. For this reason, amateur producers of those works can negotiate a �special� license which includes the rights to videotape the whole work in performance, and to record the music in synchronization. However, the terms of the license allow for a single tape for archival purposes only; no copies may be made and distributed. Again R&H has come up with an innovation that responds to the importance to parents and other interested parties of a video record of a student performer�s performance, and has begun licensing the making of �keepsake� videos (up to a hundred per license) of certain R&H properties. Unfortunately, the links to information regarding the licensing of these �keepsake� videos, and the application form for such licenses, appear to have, at least temporarily, disappeared in the April 2008 revamping of the R&H Website. Meanwhile, at least one royalty house specializing in the educational theater market, Pioneer Drama Service, Inc., apparently now includes a video rights clause in the contracts offered to its playwrights, so that a license to perform the play can also include the right to allow anyone to record the performance, and make as many copies of the video as they want, as well as making it possible for the production to be broadcast on local access cable television (see FAQs page regarding Copyrights and Royalties at http://www.pioneerdrama.com: "May I videotape the performance?" and "Our local cable station wants to broadcast my performance. Is that okay?").
One of the worst horror stories I heard while researching this material concerned a girls� school in the United Kingdom. They had videotaped their production of a popular musical play and had distributed fifty copies of the tape. They had the misfortune to be reported to both the owner of the film and TV rights and the music publisher, both of whom sought the maximum penalty for the infringement of their rights.
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This page last updated on Sunday, May 4, 2008