Copyright, Collaboration and the Future of Dramatic Authorship
Brent S. Salter · 2009
Recent, very public disputes here and overseas involving eminent playwrights and their directors and dramaturgs have fuelled a chorus of commentary about the 'ownership' of a stage work. Are collaborators who contribute words or ideas to the development entitled to copyright protection and royalties from subsequent productions? Playwright Alana Valentine is opposed. It's an incredibly-skilled job, she says. No matter how many minds are involved, 'I take the risks. It's my version. I typed it up, so it's mine.' Salter examines the complexities of reform and the limitations of the single-author ruling, citing the case of Company B Belvoir versus the Samuel Beckett Estate, which demonstrated how the freedom to interpret is prescribed even after the author's death. Under the current copyright regime, he concludes, industry-based customary agreements are a more productive way to sustain harmonious collaborative relationships.