“The Color Purple” Broadway star wants royalties for song lyrics

LaChanze tweeted that she wanted money for lyrics she claimed to have added to "I'm Here."

She did not elaborate on the lyrics she says she added to the song but said she poured her "heart and soul" into the role and she "was a huge part at writing 'I'm Here'" for the stage production.

THOUGHTS?

This has already been discussed quite a bit in another thread.

Reposting from that thread:

What LaChanze is describing in the TIME article is not authorship (ideas come from everywhere), but then in her Tweet she implies actual authorship. Had she contributed specific lyrics to the song during the 2003 workshop, her agent and legal team would have negotiated that ahead of her contract being signed for the 2004 Atlanta production or the 2005 Broadway production. If there was any question about authorship, her team could have involved the Dramatist's Guild and/or taken it to court 20 years ago. If she had legitimate concerns over her contributions to the writing of the show, it would be odd to stay with the show for more than a year on Broadway.

But we can't take the tweet seriously if she is complaining (on 12/26) that she is being left out of press, when she willingly participated in press for the film that ran on 12/25 (the TIME article). All this just sounds like LaChanze being LaChanze.

What is especially sad about this flailing attempt is that she thinks doing it on social media is a good idea.

That's not how any of this works. Original actors contribute lyrics, lines, etc all the time while they're rehearsing a show. It doesn't mean they suddenly get credited as writers and get royalties from it.

Kimbo said: "Broadway61004 said: "That's not how any of this works. Original actors contribute lyrics, lines, etc all the time while they're rehearsing a show. It doesn't mean they suddenly get credited as writers and get royalties from it."

Just to amplify: It doesn’t mean they suddenly get credited as writers and get royalties from it 20 YEARS LATER just because they make a MOVIE, and the movie does better than anyone was expecting, and suddenly there might potentially be real money to be made."

Oh yes, there are of course cases where they work that into the original contract when the show opens. But just saying that there are also plenty of other cases where actors contribute a line or lyric or two and they never receive anything for it, so it's not as though this is some atrocity that is brand new and has never happened to anyone else.

Call_me_jorge said: "Totally not on the topic of this story, but semi related to actors receiving credit/royalties for their work. I had a thought about how WICKEDnot letting their performers do any special riffs outside of what was originally done/written. I’m curious if the reason for the change was they didn’t want to have to give credit to the various other performers who created different riffs and styles for the show, a la having to given Eden some sort of credit for “things I’ve never felt!”"

I always assumed it was the Disneyesque vibes of running a tight ship as part of a well-oiled machine. Wicked is a strict “brand” at this point and it sounds to me they like to keep things orderly and steady with little room for surprises.