Dear Juilliard Mafia,
We are writing to warn you about a development at the O'Neill Playwrights Festival, a situation so serious that we can no longer recommend that you send your scripts there, and hope to discourage you from mentoring or assisting them in any way. The problem is this - from now on, the O'Neill Board is determined to demand a percentage of the playwright's subsidiary income IN PERPETUITY from any play accepted for presentation at the O'Neill. This means that for four days of rehearsal, and a presentation with actors using scripts, you will owe them a permanent percentage of your income from that play.
This is so patently unfair, and so clearly against their own mission statement, that we can only assume they have lost their minds, or perhaps decided to think of themselves as commercial producers instead of the generous, helpful organization they used to be, devoted to playwrights and their work.
They tried to demand this participation from two writers this summer, but were thwarted by efforts by the Dramatists Guild, and the agent for two of the writers, John Buzzetti. Both writers said they would pull their work if this provision was attached and the O'Neill backed down, saying that since no warning was given, it wasn't fair to ask for the percentage. But last month they announced they would be demanding the percentage from the writers whose work was accepted this summer.
We urge you not to submit your scripts to the O'Neill. We urge you to talk to your agents about this, and not participate in any way. We are afraid this is the beginning of the end for an institution we have all admired and cherished. This is part of a disturbing trend in "development" organizations, where playwrights are increasingly expected to pay for their productions, in spite of the fact that those organizations raise money and get grants claiming that they exist to help playwrights. More and more, it's looking like those organizations exist to support themselves, not their writers. In this regard, beware of any contest that charges you more than $15 to apply, because that's about what readers are being paid these days.
Over and over again in class, we urged you to get over feeling grateful, and defend yourself in situations where you sense you are being taken advantage of. So this is just us saying it again. Do not give your work away, and do not pay somebody to produce it, and do not grant rights that are excessive. Do not encumber your work with percentages to people who think they deserve them just because they recognized you were good.
Please pass this information along to anyone you think could use it. The only way to impress on the O'Neill the insanity of what they are doing, is to deny them the plays that they need. Many of us have tried talking to them, and they are not listening. So we are taking this step, and encouraging all writing teachers in America to contact their students in the same way.
All our best,
Chris Durang and Marsha Norman
Dear Students,
We are pleased to tell you that after conversations with representatives from the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, including Wendy Goldberg, the artistic director of the Playwrights Conference and a board member, we have their assurance that they will not this year, or in the future, be asking for a percentage of future royalties from the plays they accept for development. They are looking for other sources of funding, but those monies will not come from your subsidiary rights.
Any issue like this can be complicated, and there may have been miscommunications on all sides, nevertheless we're grateful to receive these assurances from the board and the artistic director Wendy Goldberg.
So it is with great relief and happiness we once again encourage you to submit your application to the valuable O'Neill Playwrights Conference. You should also know they have extended their deadline for submission until October 23 (postmarked).
If you sent out a copy of our previous email, please send out a copy of this one to the same people. We're happy to be sending good news.
sincerely, Chris and Marsha