Unions Need to Relax Streaming Restrictions: Release the Archives

Is anyone else extremely frustrated seeing so much activity out of the UK with respect to streaming archival material? So many theatres film fairly high quality archival material of their shows that then just sits and collects dust. I know I have talked to several theatres in my area that I patronize and told them, "please consider putting your archival videos on a streaming platform. I would gladly pay for them." The response is always the same. Something to the effect of: "We would love to. We think it would be a great way to earn some funds to help us scrape by. We would love to share this material and remain engaged with our audiences. But we can't."

The strict restrictions surrounding this archival material has bothered me for a long time, but now more than ever just seems to highlight how ridiculous it is. The unions made exceptions for shows that were running during coronavirus and had to close early, but I think they need to take it one step forward. Let theatres earn some extra cash and stream their archives.

What do you all think?

Theaters in New York are tenants why would they be in charge of streaming shows that paid rent to play there? The archives are stored in Lincoln Center. It makes no sense for people to work on this and waive all of these restrictions. You have enough streaming platforms and TV to make yourself happy. Those union restrictions are there for very real reasons and any person under normal circumstances who had a real reason to see an archived production used to be able to do so.

Boq101 said: "Theaters in New York are tenants why would they be in charge of streaming shows that paid rent to play there?"



I think the OP was mostly referring to non-profit theatre companies, some of whom archive their own shows and are in control of those archives (within union limitations). There are many of these non-profit companies in New York who own their own spaces. Your blanket statement implying that all theatres in NY operate on a rental basis like the commercial Broadway houses, is simply incorrect.

Updated On: 4/9/20 at 10:01 PM

There's no UK archival recordings being released (and they do have their West End equivalent of the Lincoln Center), only already made commercial recordings (either already released on DVD or shown in the cinemas). Once you made a recording supposed to be released one way or the other, releasing them on any other way is only a matter of way simpler negotiations.

Archival recordings, on the other hand, weren't negotiated to have ever be released nor were they filmed taking a commercial spectator in mind to being with. If unions were the problem with releasing archival recordings, Wicked, Phantom, Hamilton, Aladdin, The Lion King and any other production would have simply released archival recordings of their UK casts.

sparksatmidnight said: "There's no UK archival recordings being released (and they do have their West End equivalent of the Lincoln Center), only already made commercial recordings (either already released on DVD or shown in the cinemas). Once you made a recording supposed to be released one way or the other, releasing them on any other way is only a matter of way simpler negotiations.

Archival recordings, on the other hand, weren't negotiated to have ever be released nor were they filmed taking a commercial spectator in mind to being with. If unions were the problem with releasing archival recordings, Wicked, Phantom, Hamilton, Aladdin, The Lion King and any other production would have simply released archival recordings of their UK casts."

That's not true. Both Curtains (West End) & Bandstand (Broadway) were archival recordings that made it to streaming. Both were not planned to be released and are now offered with special permissions.

Correct. Bandstand was in theaters in 2018.

I'm currently in a Masters program for arts administration and there is a lot of discussion about the opportunity for the industries (theater/dance/visual arts, etc.) to innovate in light of the current crisis. There is a general feeling that arts organizations will begin to further explore digital options in terms of presentation.

Jordan Catalano said: "With union rules the way they are, what you want will never happen here."

Jordan Catalano, I'm with you on this. There's SO MUCH that will go into this, and it won't happen with the snap of your fingers, or just because you really want it to happen. Sometimes you just have to make do with what you have, no matter where in the world you are. People are dying, people are unemployed, and your biggest concern is this?

trpguyy said: "HogansHero said: "I don't know about Curtains, but wasn't Bandstand a Fathom project?."

Bandstand was not filmed for commercial release. Rather the commercial release was cobbled together from B-roll."

I am not sure how that is possible but that is neither here nor there. The point is that everyone was compensated for the Fathom release so the issue now is expanding that license to streaming, which is not as big a deal.

Aside from this stuff, I think that as the crisis for the theatre continues to grow, perhaps for a year, we will see new efforts to bring theatre to people in fair ways. I also think that it is not out of the question that we will see new theatre performed live (with or without an audience) where everyone has been screened for the virus and is either negative or has the antibody.

HogansHero said: "trpguyy said: "HogansHero said: "I don't know about Curtains, but wasn't Bandstand a Fathom project?."

Bandstand was not filmed for commercial release. Rather the commercial release was cobbled together from B-roll."

I am not sure how that is possible but that is neither here nor there. The point is that everyone was compensated for the Fathom release so the issue now is expanding that license to streaming, which is not as big a deal.

Aside from this stuff, I think that as the crisis for the theatre continues to grow, perhaps for a year, we will see new efforts to bring theatre to people in fair ways. I also think that it is not out of the question that we will see new theatre performed live (with or without an audience) where everyone has been screened for the virus and is either negative or has the antibody."

I think this proves how selfish people can be. It doesn't matter if people are tested and it comes out negative. We don't know about this virus and how it can spread-if it can come back, if it can manifest in different ways. This has never happened before. We have to get used to the fact that theater will not be an option for a while. Even without an audience, it is not safe right now.

HogansHero said: "trpguyy said: "HogansHero said: "I don't know about Curtains, but wasn't Bandstand a Fathom project?."

Bandstand was not filmed for commercial release. Rather the commercial release was cobbled together from B-roll."

I am not sure how that is possible but that is neither here nor there.”

Not to hijack the thread, because as you say it’s neither here or there at this point, but: an afternoon of filming setups, a 3+ camera shoot of a performance with multitrack audio recording for mixing in post is standard operating procedure for B-roll. It’s not as involved as other shows who have filmed specifically for commercial release (and doesn’t look as polished), but the Fathom release was conceived after the show had already closed.

@hearthemsing no one is suggesting anything for now, but down the line. My point is that there will be a long period after we head out of the other end of the pandemic before enough people will come out and more importantly come to New York for theatre to be viable. "We" are learning about this virus, as we have all others. We will have a multiple layers of testing, we will have a vaccine, and we will move on. The first step in that will be the testing that allows people to safely return to work. The Black Death was not the end of the world, or we would not have Shakespeare et al.

@trpguyy I am familiar with B-roll from the non-tech side, but I don't know anything about what Bandstand looked like. (As I have posted many times, I have never been a fan of filmed shows.) I do know that it is not unusual for there to be footage that does not get used because it doesn't look good, but it sounds like they were able to cobble something together that was at least good enough. Thanks for the info. Maybe I will watch it one day.