This week on Law and Video Podcast (Oct. 16, 2007) October 16, 2007
Posted by Gordon Firemark in : entertainment law , add a comment
This week’s Law and Video podcast is now available at http://www.lawandvideo.com Listen Live Tuesdays at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern.
This week’s topics:
- Is videotaping live theatre performances a “fair use”?
- Contracts and non-compete clauses.
- Video of event used for commercial purposes without consent of event producer.
- College Dorm / Lounge area showings of movies. Copyright Infringement?
- Copyright protection for literary/movie/comic book characters.
Update: Broadway talks stalled. Lockout likely. October 10, 2007
Posted by Gordon Firemark in : Theatre law, entertainment law , 1 comment so farAs of this morning, talks between Broadway producers and the stagehands’ union have stalled. On Tuesday, each side issued it’s “final offer”, and neither side blinked. No new talks are scheduled.
The major point of disagreement remains the staffing requirements for the load-in, the period during which a show moves into a theatre, equipment and sets installed, lighting hung and focused, etc. Producers contend that they’re required to have too many union employees on hand, with stagehands just ’sitting around’ while work is performed by just a few specialists at a time. For a business in which only 1 of five shows ever makes a profit, this kind of ‘featherbedding ‘ or padding the employment rolls is simply unfair, producers say.
In exchange for cuts in these requirements, producers had offered a 16% pay increase, but the union has stated that it will not make a concessionary agreement nor accept any cuts to staffing and work-hours.
Stagehands are the highest-paid union employees in Broadway Theatres.
In 2003, Union musicians struck for several days before New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg intervened to broker a deal. The city economy receives $5 billion annually in direct and indirect income from Broadway, so it seems likely that Bloomberg will again step in before a lockout interferes with the the approaching holiday shopping and tourist season.
Tags: noneDramageddon - Firemark speaks to playwrights October 5, 2007
Posted by Gordon Firemark in : Events , add a comment| October 6, 2007 | ||
| 12:00 pm | to | 1:00 pm |
Where: Loyola Marymount University. (University Hall)
Tags: none
