Policy Change to Benefit Playwrights

written by Patrick Healy

With American playwrights and theaters perennially pinched for income, the Public Theater and Roundabout Theater Company in New York are changing policies to help writers earn a better living while allowing theaters to retain a financial stake in new plays when they go on to future theatrical, film or television productions.

The new policies are a response to growing complaints from playwrights. They say that they cannot afford to support themselves on income from their plays and that they — not theaters — are entitled to have the chance to make significant money from their work in the years after debut productions.

A study by the Theater Development Fund this winter reported that the average playwright earns $25,000 to $39,999 annually from all income sources, with about 62 percent making less than $40,000 and nearly a third pulling in less than $25,000.

Leaders of the Public said in interviews that they were immediately altering their policy on so-called subsidiary rights to help provide “a living wage” to playwrights, who often turn to writing for film and television for their livelihood. While the Public previously took an average of 10 percent of royalties for productions mounted over a 10-year period, it will now forgo that percentage until playwrights earn $75,000 in royalties from runs elsewhere. The policy change will mean a loss of at least $100,000 in annual income for the Public, which has an operating budget of $19 million. “The playwright needs the money more than the Public does,” said Oskar Eustis, the Public’s artistic director.

Roundabout executives, in announcing their revision to subsidiary rights on Tuesday, said they were acting after discussions with playwrights about making money in the theater world. Roundabout had clashed in recent years with writers who were angry about the theater’s royalty policy; in 2008, the playwright Craig Lucas removed his play “A Prayer for My Enemy” from the Roundabout’s season because of the issue of future royalties.

Roundabout had previously taken as much as 40 percent of future royalties but now will negotiate a percentage only for works that are major hits at Roundabout and run for more than 18 weeks at its Off Broadway theater, the Laura Pels, and will not seek a percentage from plays done in its Black Box theater.

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