Category Archives: Theatre law

Producer Credit in Lieu of Compensation: Trouble in the making?

It's quite frequent in my practice.  My clients are asked to accept less than their usual fee or "quote" for work.  What's offered in exchange for this important concession?  You guessed it, Producer credit. Well, this is often very attractive to the ...

Read the full article »

Theatre Lovers: This summer’s for you!

As you may know, In addition to my entertainment law practice, I volunteer as the President of the Board of the Academy for New Musical Theatre.  The academy is an incubator for new ...

Read the full article »

Teaching Theater Law

Read the full article »

Should there be a “Director’s Copyright” in stage directions? (Reader survey)

I've recently been grappling with a question of whether a theater director's efforts to stage a play or musical can be protected by copyright. Now, at first blush, this might seem a simple  issue, but it's actually rather complex.  The parameters established by  copyright law itself, ...

Read the full article »

Asked & Answered: Video/Film/recording performances of plays.

Q: I work in educational theater. Every year we revisit the same topic: Filming performances. I keep telling the director and others that it is simply not legal to record a performance. The response I always hear is that they never sell ...

Read the full article »

Proposed “reform” bill puts investor financing at risk.

Legislation  presented by U.S. Senate Banking Committee chairman, Chris Dodd is working its way through the legislative process.  The proposed “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2009”  could make it significantly harder for film producers to utilize some of the most common investor-financing models to fund the budgets of their films. The bill is viewed by ...

Read the full article »

Who owns a play that’s partly improvised?

Last week, a colleague asked me the following question: If an actor improvises lines in a play, and the "author"/director of the play later wishes to write a screenplay which incorporates the actor's improvised ...

Read the full article »

Smoking Bans and the First Amendment…free speech goes up in smoke in Colorado.

The Colorado Supreme Court has dealt another blow to the First Amendment, holding that public health concerns trump the First Amendment in cases involving bans on smoking. Curious Theatre v. Colorado Department of Health and Public Environment The ...

Read the full article »

Jeremy Piven is Off The Hook. Fish story satisfies arbitrator.

THR Esq. reports today that Jeremy Piven's mercury poisoning excuse for leaving the Broadway production of "Speed The Plow" last season is sufficient, and he'll not be liable to the producers for breach of contract, or other claims. Here's the story:

Read the full article »

Jeremy Piven's fish-story gets him off-the-hook.

THR Esq. reports today that Jeremy Piven's mercury poisoning excuse for leaving the Broadway production of "Speed The Plow" last season is sufficient, and he'll not be liable to the producers for breach of contract, or other claims.  Here's the story: Arbitrator ...

Read the full article »