Unions Need to Relax Streaming Restrictions: Release the Archives — Page 2

It baffles and is disheartening to me how uneducated people are on this board. You have no idea what goes in to even releasing a piece of b-roll, let alone an entire filmed production for free on YouTube. The actors, designers, creatives all have unions and contracts, and on top of them, the organizations/producers the shows were filmed under have God power. Getting that chain of command to approve anything is so involved.

It’s not just unions. It’s copyright, it’s business, it is everything BUT the art.

The majority of what we’re seeing out of the UK is from the National Theatre’s broadcast program which is built into every single shows contract to begin with - that is unprecedented and has never been done on Broadway.

There’s a passage in the book, The Song of Spider-Man, where Julie Taylor begged through tears to set up a camcorder at the back of the auditorium to film the final Spider-Man 1.0 preview. She was legally not allowed. No one would’ve ever seen it, it would’ve just been for her - the creator/director of the show. But it was not even close to a legal option. I know it seems simple that shows should just be able to record and post, but that’s not how it works. At all.

Hey, the BANDSTAND video capture was NOT put together from B-roll. It was a project conceived by the producers in working with FATHOM from the beginning. All contracts were negotiated ahead of time before the show closed. The Lincoln Center archive was a different shoot. The video released in cinemas is the same released by Playbill this week. It is in no way B-roll. It was shot over 3 days including day time unclose footage shot sessions. Word is Andy B. actually edited it himself with the film director/producer team. Archival shoots and commercial captures are two very different things with very different contracts.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk

TaleofTwo said: "You guys are completelymissing the point. I think most on this board understand what it takes to get such footage releasedin any way. But the fact is - why can the UK work out all these contracts and Broadway can't? Why were Cats, Kiss Me Kate, The King and I, Kinky Boots, An American in Paris, Billy Elliot, Fame, Rock of Ages,........ all filmed in the UK?

You should ask the BroadwayHD guys what hell they have to go through to film shows on Broadway, and how it is much easier to film in London(not necessarilycheaper)."

And while you’re at it, ask why they’re still under a monarchy and we have a president. Seriously? I don’t get the point of this thread. We’re different places.

hearthemsing22 said: "TaleofTwo said: "You guys are completelymissing the point. I think most on this board understand what it takes to get such footage releasedin any way. But the fact is - why can the UK work out all these contracts and Broadway can't? Why were Cats, Kiss Me Kate, The King and I, Kinky Boots, An American in Paris, Billy Elliot, Fame, Rock of Ages,........ all filmed in the UK?

You should ask the BroadwayHD guys what hell they have to go through to film shows on Broadway, and how it is much easier to film in London(not necessarilycheaper)."

And while you’re at it, ask why they’re still under a monarchy and we have a president. Seriously? I don’t get the point of this thread. We’re different places."

Sure.

And - wanted to add an example I forgot - The SpongeBob Musical, which toured the US at the time it was filmed in the UK. They decided to re-build the sets from 0 and to ship the original company there just to film it.

---

Fosse76 said: "TaleofTwo said: "You guys are completelymissing the point. I think most on this board understand what it takes to get such footage releasedin any way. But the fact is - why can the UK work out all these contracts and Broadway can't? Why were Cats, Kiss Me Kate, The King and I, Kinky Boots, An American in Paris, Billy Elliot, Fame, Rock of Ages,........ all filmed in the UK?"

Different unions,that's why. The UK and the US are different. Whether or not the UK unions are more reasonable and the US unions are unreasonably restrictive is arguable.

"

You're right, I'm sure when the unions came up with their rules they said, "what would be the most restrictive?" They have reasons for doing what they do, just as the UK does. There are so many factors to consider and none of us here will ever know what those are. It's not unreasonable, people are just selfish and think they should have access to whatever they want, when they want it and don't understand-or refuse to understand-why that can't happen. Sure, they can stream certain things right now, like how they're making Bandstand available. But it's not free. You have to pay for it. And right now, with millions of people out of work, how many can actually afford to do that? There's no one at Lincoln Center right now to make those archived productions available, so that's not an option either. It's an unfortunate situation but there are so many other things to worry about right now.