By Thomas Cleveland Lane
Member, Dramatists Guild
Okay, let’s say you’ve written an excellent piece for the stage, and, after the waters parted to let the children of Israel escape, they reconverged on the pharaoh’s pursuing army, by which I mean, you’ve had your work accepted by a theatre. Huzzah! Huzzah!
At this point, your job should be done. You’ve provided the tools, now it’s up to others to mold the production. So it would seem, but is there anything you can or should do? That is a question not so easily answered.
The last thing you want is to have some egotistical director make a hash out of your words. There is a notice on all copyrighted scripts leased out to various theatre groups that tampering with the script without the copyright owner’s consent is illegal. That law is generally regarded with the same reverence as the speed limit. Truth to tell, it is a law I have violated many times myself, and, I like to think, in every case for the better.
On the other hand, you do not want to be perceived as a nuisance by the performers or the production team, lest you never get to sell them another script, no matter how good it may be. To sum all that up: pick your battles.
One excellent battle to pick came when The Music Man, after it’s tremendous success on Broadway, was set to become a movie. It was one of the best film adaptions of a Broadway musical you would ever hope to see, but it did not come without a rather large bone of contention. The producers of the film were hoping to cast Cary Grant or Frank Sinatra as Professor Harold Hill. The writer, Merdith Willson, flat-out informed that, without Robert Preston, who starred in the stage version of The Music Man, there would be no film, period.
On the other hand. Willson offered no resistance to the many other cast changes, and they all lived happily ever after.
Often, after I write a script, I also write a character analysis. This can be a useful tool for the buyer of your script, but it can also be perceived as a damned insult. My advice would be offer it, but don’t insist.
If you are writing a musical production, but you must rely on a composer, you should do anything within reason if the composer is having trouble with rhyme of scansion. You must have a happy composer before you can even think of having a happy cast. But again, within reason. Do not let even the composer mar your lyrics beyond reason.
I had reason to write an historical piece, involving real and eloquent people. When I incorporated things these people actually said, I put the words in bold type with an instruction to the producer that these words could not be subject to fudge, as actors will sometimes do.
The best thing you can do as a playwright, though, is to wish your buyers every success, with broken legs a-plenty.
Readers can find playwright services and other ghostwriting services at Ghostwriters Central.