Making Your Own Window Cards
Making Your Own Window Cards
theatrefan9660
Swing Joined: 8/26/14
#1Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/6/15 at 10:55pm
Hello,
I was chatting with a friend recently and we were discussing window cards that have been hard to find. I told him about Triton gallery and he said that the prices were too high for his taste (Personally I find them quite reasonable and the quality is amazing). Anyway, he said that he wanted to try making his own by taking an image of the poster online and making one in one of those custom poster websites because he found it to be way cheaper. I told him that this was illegal because he was taking property that wasn't his (the image of the original poster) and having it printed. Was I wrong in telling him that it was illegal? I was under the impression that it was because it was stealing but I wasn't really sure. Any insight into this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#2Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/6/15 at 11:00pm
It is in fact illegal. The artist who created the art or the producer who paid to have it created owns the copyright to the work and it can't be used without permission. It is, however, highly unenforceable, unless you're selling them.
theatrefan9660
Swing Joined: 8/26/14
#2Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/6/15 at 11:03pm
That's exactly what I told him but he said the same thing-that nobody is going to see it but him and he doesn't plan on doing anything with it besides having it in a personal collection. But the fact of the matter is that it is still illegal no matter what his plans for it are.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#3Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/6/15 at 11:13pm
There's no harm done if it's for his personal collection. It's also illegal to photocopy a page out of a book at the library, but if you're taking it home as part of your research for a term paper, no one is going to make a fuss over it. It's when you profit from it that things get dicey.
theatrefan9660
Swing Joined: 8/26/14
#4Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/6/15 at 11:14pm
What do you think the odds of him getting caught doing it are? Realistically?
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
bwaylyric
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/22/03
#6Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/6/15 at 11:41pm
No one seems to care when those Times Square street vendors sell framed colored prints of Broadway show art. Many of them are just reproductions of the playbill cover, but still.
Updated On: 5/6/15 at 11:41 PM
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#7Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/7/15 at 12:02am
I would imagine the quality would be very blurry. Has he tried eBay? They have original window cards there for way cheaper than Triton Gallery.
theatrefan9660
Swing Joined: 8/26/14
#8Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/7/15 at 12:14am
He did try ebay, but he could not find the one he was looking for. The only ones they had were signed and cost 100+ dollars.
#9Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/7/15 at 12:19am
It's definitely illegal, but he's right thinking that he won't get caught... but it won't be very good quality either.
There are some great reproductions on amazon of old Broadway posters. It would be cool if in the future those images could just be available online to order whenever someone wanted to print them. You could pay a small fee as a "lease" and print yourself a copy.
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
theatrefan9660
Swing Joined: 8/26/14
#12Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/7/15 at 12:21am
It would definitely be cool. For some reason the poster he was looking for was prematurely discontinued so it has been absolutely impossible to find. Realistically how bad do you think the overall quality would be?
theatrefan9660
Swing Joined: 8/26/14
#13Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/7/15 at 12:25am
@Fantod
Like me, he's looking for a window card from once. I told him that they were discontinued and that's when he got the idea just to make his own...and that's how we got here.
Edit: Apparently he's looking for a lot of others as well but he's only told me of the one. I guess he wanted to know if it would work for one before trying others?
Updated On: 5/7/15 at 12:25 AM
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#14Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/7/15 at 12:30am
Well Once is on Triton for a discounted price ($45 instead of $75), and I'd say that that's only a few more dollars than the price to print your own 14 by 22 window card, plus the dramatic increase in quality.
theatrefan9660
Swing Joined: 8/26/14
#15Making Your Own Window Cards
Posted: 5/7/15 at 12:35am
I told him about the one on Triton and for him it would be $45 for the poster and then $16 for the shipping. He thinks that $61 in total is too expensive. Maybe I should just tell him to order the movie version of the poster instead? If he's that insistent on having one?
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