What should you do if you know someone's doing an illegal production?- Page 3

[EganFan2]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 10:31pm

I say report them, too. Everyone knows you have to get the rights to a show. Other theaters can't do this show right now. Why should they get to? Doesn't seem fair to anyone.

[CJR]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 10:44pm

There was a time when you could get the full script online. Not that I'd ever use it but I think I still have it saved to disk or something somewhere. In any event, yes it's highly illegal, but unfortunately, schools do it all the time.

Im on the fence about this topic (and you'll understand why in a minute) but I say if it moves you to report the school, do it. Just send an email to the address someone provided earlier in the post. If you really have strong convictions about this being wrong (which yes it is) and you're mom is standing in the way of you doing something about it, then she is just as wrong as the school is.

My sophomore year in HS we put on Grease! Yeah yeah, cliche. In any event, the director we had, her husband worked on the Tommy Tune Grease on Broadway a few yers prior. While we did pay royalties for Grease through Samuel French, the scripts we received were not the scripts we used. It just so happened that her husband had kept a copy of his script and she xeroxed it for the entire cast.... and that was the version of Grease we put on. It was a hit and a half, sold out for the 2 weeks we ran AND it got our city to put a crap load of funding back into our theatre department. Illegal as that might have been, I really have to hand it to that director.

[kasim]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 10:50pm

i say talk to the principle first.

course as you said the teacher HAS to know what she is doing wrong.

But i'd probably just talk to them first.

[ihearttheatre]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:01pm

I bet that school would make a big deal if a student plagerized an essay. It's very hypocritical of them to illegally put on an entire production. Stealing is stealing.

Also, something needs to be done with that director. I'm certian he/she knows what he/she is doing is illegal because the scripts would have had to be obtained illegally.

I wouldn't mind seeing their makeshift Galinda Bubble, though.

[marvin2]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:19pm

Our school always records (and sells!) videos of their musical productions despite the fact that they don't buy video licenses for the shows (because they aren't available). However, they do pay for the license to put on the show.
I'll talk to the drama teacher about this, but not until this year's production is over: they've got a new drama director (so she might not record it).

ihearttheatre has a valid point. Having written a musical myself before, I know how much work goes into making one. I wouldn't want someone stealing my work. Talk to the principal or administration. I'm sure they didn't know about the legality of the production.

[pianodan]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:43pm

Thank you for reporting this - it's not fair to anybody when someone tries to pull such a stunt. Not fair to the millions of other teen girls who want to play Elphaba, not fair to the authors and producers who deserve their royalties (even though they're earning more than they ever could have expected, in this case), and not fair to the students at this particular school, who are expecting to do "Wicked," and are without a doubt going to be 'cease and desist'ed from doing and so.

Let's just make sure the right people find out as soon as possible, so the school can get on with picking a different musical! My Fair Lady, please PM me, or a friend on the board, and give her the name and city of the school, so you can honestly claim to your friend that you didn't report it. (While you're telling her "I told you so!") The Michael Cole email should be fine, and doesn't need much more than "hey - heard about an illegal production at X Academy in Ytown." Believe me, it's better that this gets shut down sooner rather than later!

And it WILL get shut down - here's a little story to prove it. There's a community theater company for teenagers in my hometown, which has thrived for 20 years. They mostly do book shows and pay royalties, but throw in some illegal revues (e.g. the music of one composer - which violates "grand rights"/3-song limit for non-cabaret settings) and haven't gotten in trouble. So last summer they did an "Oz-mania" revue, with songs from "Wizard of Oz", songs from "The Wiz", and for the second act, a sort of shortened version of "Wicked" (10-12 songs I think). Long story short, David Stone's office found out after the first weekend of performances, and shut them down. The group paid a "fine" by turning over the box-office receipts from the performances they did, which was promptly donated to charity. So the unnamed Jewish all-girls school won't get in big trouble, but they will be reported and shut down if they try to go through with it...

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:51pm

MFL...I wouldn't care what anyone says, even my mom...

...this...is...ILLEGAL! Report it, please. It's totally wrong, and I'm sure your school knows it in SOME way. Either that, or they're total dunderheads.

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:59pm

you should report it. ILLEGAL. plain and simple. the producers will find out, if they haven't already via this thread.

Updated On: 10/31/05 at 11:59 PM

[tagiunagi]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:06am

pianodan, that's sounding a lot like the company i used to belong to...

[my2cents]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:15am

CJR that version of grease sucks so i am sorry you had to do it, haha. And grease in itself sells out at most schools so I don;t think that audience was like "ooh lets go see that watered down candy colored version at Podunk high." I reported a community theatre for doing a current show, and I am glad I did. It is just wrong. my fair lady- send me the schools name or any one of a number of people on this thread that way you dont report it but your mind can be at ease.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:19am

Photocopied scripts do not necessarily mean a show is being done illegaly.

It is actually very smart - considering the security fear. If the production team is afraid that books may be lost or damaged - maybe photocopying them is a good idea.

[pianodan]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:20am

That wouldn't surprise me, tagiunagi, we're everywhere. If it's same Company, send me an email!

[CJR]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 12:24am

CJR that version of grease sucks so i am sorry you had to do it, haha.

It was actually pretty damn amazing, especially considering that I refused to be a part of any Grease cast purely on principle.

Posted: 10/31/05 at 1:04am

My Fair lady:
Post the name of the school and the city/state here and I'm sure others will be happy to help.
Then you won't have disobeyed your mother, and in truth, you won't have "betrayed" your friend.
-DT

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:30am

I'll turn them in, too! I can't believe a religious school would consider such an idea. Your friend is just being selfish, Fair Lady. If she didn't want to be in the show, she would most likely have helped you turn the school in herself.

Mr. Schwartz was lucky enough to write a musical that has become a huge hit and he should get every penny coming to him. It may never happen again! This business is far too unsteady and risky to allow people to play fast and loose with someone else's livelihood.

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:53am

While I'm pretty much on everyone's side here, I can't help but wonder who would produce Wicked without knowing that what they were doing was wrong?

Now that that's said, it is possible that the school could do it, and get away with it, depending on where the school is. I'm not talking about, "how close it is to people who could find out," but rather, what state it's in. State's have different laws about these sorts of things.

Allow me to go on. Let's say three friends decided, in their home, to "put on" Wicked for their family. All seems harmless, and any court would agree. Let's add money into it. Let's say that the three friends wanted some costumes and props, and wanted to make a poster for their front door. That was going to cost $100, so when Aunt Sally, Uncle Jimmy, and the cousins come over, they "charge" $4 per person to see the show to recoup their investment. If they made back $100 only, to be perfectly honest, nothing could happen to them. Let's say that they made $104.00. Well, that's another story. They have been "unfairly enriched" by someone else's property. Then will come the question of assets. They used $100 to buy items for the show. Well, those assets will have a resale value, and therefore, they've made even more.

If your all-girl jewish school does the same, casts amongst peers, performs for peers, and even the public, charges money, and makes a loss, it would be difficult for a court to find financial damanges to the copyright owners. Technically, people could do this and get away with it even if they were reported.

Ethics are morals aside, most schools are not likely to be able to afford the attorneys and court costs to fight a suit, but they might actually win it, truly, for the reasons I've mentioned. In addition, they could very well argue where the line was drawn between what was educational, and what was stealing.

Either way, don't do it. It's such a bad idea, and you know that all of those jewish girls who type things like "u r sooo MEAN" will be terrible. This will be awful, truly. From the sounds of it.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:00am

Profit margins have NOTHING to do with it, otherwise, all Broadway shows that lost money could default on paying salaries to actors, writers, producers, etc. The school would certainly lose any lawsuit it faced.

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:06am

I promise, it's true. In order to understand, you have to separate it from conventional Broadway thinking. I'm only talking about the owner of the copyright, and the violators of that copyright. I'm not talking about actors, producers, designers, or losing money on big shows and lawsuits. Those are seperate matters.

Firstly, those people are likely to have "contracts" entitling them to money. These usually help in lawsuits. Also, there are unions setting standards of salary, and more likely than not, investors who backed the show. The investors take the risk, and are therefore liable to possibly lose their money.

Profts are the only factor in determining a judgement in a civil copyright case. I swear. Trust me.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:11am

As many have already said: If they're doing any part of the libretto and songs to "Wicked," regardless of the race, gender or religious affiliation, and are selling tickets at any price regardless of profit margin, this is illegal.

However "quaint" you might think it is for an amateur all-girls school warbling away to a piano accompaniment... it's not fair, and it's not right. And it should not be encouraged or supported by a community or audience.

You have to look at it as if something were to be taken away illegally from you. If the person were young and unassuming, would that change the fact that you'd been robbed?

You may not prosecute to the fullest extent of the law (which I would be surprised if anyone did), but you would certainly stop the crime from taking place.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:21am

Personally, I'm not going to trust anyone with "boi" in his screenname as an expert on copyright law. Regardless of how much money they make, it's still illegal. That's why they can put a stop to the production before it starts; they're not supposed to be doing it in the first place.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:21am

While not familiar with civil copyright law, I daresay that a parochial school that steals performing rights to a huge Broadway hit like Wicked would find itself in such a moral conundrum that the publicity would shame the school into some sort of settlement. I doubt a school would defend its right to do whatever it pleases regardless of the law.

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:29am

Ok, that's fine. You're right that no school is likely to defend their unethical actions, and you're right that it's unlikley that any school would try, however, I simply thought it was an interesting point. It's possible that the show could happen, with the knowledge of the authors, and that nothing could happen, even if they tried. Civil matters are extrememly complicated, and 70% of suits won are never even paid. It could happen.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:36am

Does anyone remember the posting a few years back when someone was assisting on a high school production of ANNIE and realized that the kids had photocopied scripts for the first act of the show and had no second act scripts? It turns out the teacher in charge was sitting in front of a video player transcribing the movie word-for-word and she had just started on the second half of the film. She had no idea that scripts were rented and royalties were paid.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:39am

Photocopying full scripts/librettos/scores is illegal, even if you have the rights to do the show.

Read the fine print. There are rules that apply.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:55am

There are many teens who claim they're doing Phantom of the Opera, too. I don't know if those are illegal shows too or just plain B.S.