Why so little NYMF buzz this year?

[Holbee]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 12:13pm

Granted, I haven't seen anything, but then again, there's been little report and compulsion to see anything...

[Not Enough Time]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 12:26pm

The festival came under serious fire earlier this year regarding several contract concerns and the Dramatists Guild discouraged its members from participation. A 2 percent/ten year subsidiary rights agreement (in author excess of $20,000) in the NYMF contract was deemed excessive by the guild. The industry has eyed the festival warily in the past. Questions about actor hours and the real benefit of participation in a festival wherein the individual productions bear most of the cost arise annually, but the summer DG/NYMF disagreements (with NYMF indeed making the accommodations DG required) definitely cast a "hands off... leave it alone" pall over this year's festival. The lack of buzz is certainly a result.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 12:53pm

I don't see that as any kind of result. It's still getting the same media coverage via Theatermania and NYTheatre and BroadwayWorld.

[Not Enough Time]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 6:36pm

The reality is that buzz is generated by promoters and many of them have distanced themselves a bit from this year's festival. The inevitable showdown between DG and NYMF over 2011 opens the possibility of major changes for next fall. That could mean a significant restructuring of the festival which is itself worthy of buzz. But this year a little distance is prudent.

[dexter3]

Posted: 10/12/10 at 9:39pm

I think the incident with the DG definitely has something to do with the lack of buzz.

But mostly I think it's lack of quality this year. The controversy with the DG probably convinced all of the more established and experienced writers to pull out of the festival. It was right around the time that writers had to accept the invitation from NYMF once the selection process had been done.

The lackluster review in the NYTimes of those 8 shows didn't exactly send people running to the box offices either.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/theater/09nymf.html?src=me&ref=theater