Authors - we need you

Gee, Alan, I hope I don’t get shot down in flames for my own honest enquiry …coz I’m not certain I’d like to be welcomed in the same spirit as the post above. At least my ignorance is much bigger than my paranoia, so I’ll not be afraid of your response to me repeating a previous question. However, I’d better take your advice and ‘READ the first post properly’. Be right back…


...Okay, checked it out. Also visited the website, although itÂ’s still under construction and didnÂ’t tell me much more than youÂ’ve already said here. I considered calling the mobile but I doubt youÂ’d appreciate chatting after 2:30 in the morning, and besides, IÂ’ve already paid for a phonecall by dialing up the internet tonight, so IÂ’d much prefer to communicate via the line thatÂ’s already open.

So far your ‘far too revolutionary’ approach is getting me nowhere. So forgive me for continuing to persist with this online forum. Hopefully, someone ‘HUMAN’ might read it? If not, maybe you’ll be able to help.


So first IÂ’d better check out some of the other posts above, to see if my questions have already been answered. Be right backÂ…


Alan said:
> your concerns have been answered, I believe, in one of our responses to
> one of alex's remarkably premature outbursts.

Â…Only bickering here. Okay, better go further backÂ…



> Armpit plays have no intention of charging commissions, purchasing or
> setting performing rights fees at all.


Does this mean you wonÂ’t promote works which DO charge rights? Or just that you wonÂ’t add your own fees to those charged by the author?
ItÂ’s unclear, to me and I suspect many others here, whether you are only seeking authors willing to donate their work or whether the resource is broader than that. If you DO accommodate those authors who expect to earn royalties, how is that arranged with your clients?


> Copyright of your work is protected and we have no interest in it. Indeed,
> should you gain yourself a publisher whilst that work is on our resource
> we will remove it as we do not wish to be in breach of copyright.


See, thatÂ’s another bit that confuses me. Copyright exists in a written work. It just does. Whether itÂ’s published or not. You say itÂ’s protectedÂ…but how? What stops your customers taking a play you give them and performing it outside the bounds of the performance rights? Like, it might start as a school classroom play, but whatÂ’s to stop it being produced for gain by someone in a different context, maybe years later?


My question then, is What exactly is the distinction you make about UNPUBLISHED plays? Is the assumption that 'published' means professional? IÂ’m not certain thatÂ’s necessarily a given, but I canÂ’t think of any published amateur examples so IÂ’ll assume thatÂ’s what you mean.
So my concern is for some of the unpublished work you are seeking. I work with a lot of professional playwrights, who all expect to get paid for the right to use their work, and yet none of them are published. Companies like the Perth Theatre Company obviously perform published scripts, but many new Australian works are simply scripts. They fit the description you seek, but they have all earned their authors an income. Now, these authors might be keen to see their work picked up by other companies, but IÂ’m sure they are concerned as to how rights and royalties are managed.


> Performing rights are YOUR business and you set them according to your
> wishes. If you wish to charge that is great, I do certainly, but not for all
> my writing and not for community theatre. If you wish to charge
> according to the calculations from the publishing industry fine.


I think this is still slightly ambiguous. So are you saying that your service gives authors the opportunity to charge? Or are you saying, if you want to charge, go elsewhere?
And in my understanding, the publishing industry and its associated charges are something entirely different to the fees payable for performance rightsÂ…yet your last sentence seems to confuse the two.
Maybe this is why you are getting so many people asking questions. YouÂ’ve confused them.


> Regarding stealing ideas...well, I dont think so dear. As to making money
> producing them...no.

ThatÂ’s reassuring, as far as authors who will be dealing with YOU. But can you speak for the people who will use your service? What protection is in place for authorÂ’s work so that users of your site arenÂ’t seen to be stealing or making money from them?


> Every Community theatre in WA and by year end, theatres across
> Australia will soon be getting a letter detailing EXACTLY how this resource
> will work for and on behalf of theatre in Australia and NZ.

Yes, but most of these writers donÂ’t affiliate with any particular theatre or even a community theatre. Putting more details HERE, rather than being so enigmatic, would help heaps.




> Dear na, I have watched and seen your posts on previous "issues" and
> your rapport with the illustrious Craig is obvious.


Hey! I got a mention! Although I have no idea why or in what context? I detect a trace of sarcasm toward na, or is it toward me? Â…I occasionally argue for or against her, but IÂ’ve never met herÂ…although I once lent her a hat..! I guess that creates rapport.


> at least you have not excused us of larceny.

Whoops! What was that? YouÂ’re admitting larceny, and are glad na is not excusing you? So do those others who accused you have a basisÂ…?





Glad to see you attempting to start a new business to help the theatre community. And I hope your bedside manner with people who have come to you with concerns and questions won't scare away any potential customers.

Cheers,
The illustrious Craig

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