(This is the final of a five part series called “Lessons of Producing.” You can read the previous Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3 and Lesson 4 on our blog.)
We are finally at the end of these series of blogs.
You have had a producer, read, like, and want to produce your show. What happens next?
Next Steps: The Option Agreement
You need an agreement between the producer and you to produce the show. It’s called an option agreement.
The Option Agreement gives the producer the right – but not the obligation – to produce your show. The key to getting a fair option agreement is knowledge. If you don’t know what to ask for, you are at a disadvantage.
What to ask for?
The best resource I know of for playwrights is the Dramatists Guild. You need to join immediately. They know more of what you need to know, and even better, they are on your side.
The Dramatists Guild will tell you based on their experience if the option agreement being offered by the producer is fair to the writer. But they will not negotiate for you. You have to do that on your own.
Working With Your Producer
You and your producer are now a team. More things can go wrong at this point when playwrights insist on things that seem unreasonable and unnecessary to their producers.
While putting together a creative team for the production, playwrights need to keep in mind some things in mind:
First, theater is a collaborative art. You wrote the words, but the actor and the director decide how they are said. Best to think of your relationship as that of a parent to an adult child. You don’t get to dictate like you could when they were little. These are professionals and their input should be respectfully considered.
Second, you need to keep in mind the difference between your rights as a playwright and things that are out of your control. You have the right that what you wrote will not changed without your permission. You don’t have the right to have your cousin star in the lead role instead of the “A” list movie star the producer wants.
Third, you have the right to attend rehearsals. You don’t have the right to attend the business meetings of the show, nor to dictate who is selected to do the marketing or advertising.
Fourth, keep in mind that your negotiating power depends on who you are. If this is your fifth production I’m more likely to listen to you than if this is your first.
Finally, if you are at this point you are so close to a production! Please don’t sabotage it by insisting on things you can’t have. A good collaboration sometime involves compromise for the sake of the work.
How Do You Get to a Production?
Often, it’s not what you know it’s WHO you know. We’re looking for good scripts for the Hip Hop community right now. Do you have one?
Let us know below in the comments section or by contacting us. We’ll listen to your pitch and read your work, and take it from there. Let’s get started!