| "There
are many routes to the top of the mountain, but the view
is the same." - Zen "If writers were
good business men, they'd have too much sense to be
writers." - Irvin S. Cobb
"The only way to deal with Hollywood is to cross
the state line and throw the script back over to them. On
second thought, make them throw the money over first,
then throw the script over." - Ernest Hemingway
"The trouble with being poor is that it takes up
all your time." -Willem de Kooning
"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of
money." -Picasso
|
- Copyright!
Always register your work with the U.S.
Copyright Office.
Copyright registration serves as proof of
authorship. It is also necessary if you
take legal action for copyright
infringement. In addition, U.S. Copyright
Office registration lasts for 50 years
and is renewable for 25 more years. Other
registration services such as the
Writer's Guild of America provide only
proof of authorship, and require you to
renew within five years. So whether you
use other services or not, you should
always officially register your work with
the U.S. Copyright Office.
The U.S. Copyright Office currently
requires 3 things to register a work:
- A clean, single-sided, unbound
copy of the work.
- The correctly completed form PA (see below),
with necessary spaces filled in
and signed in space 8.
- A check or money order for US
$20.00, made out to the
Register of Copyrights.
The materials should be mailed to:
- Register of Copyrights
U.S. Copyright Office
Washington DC, 20559
You should send your registration
materials by certified mail. Keep a copy
of the filled-in form, your work and the
certified mail receipts. If the materials
are in order, the Copyright Office will
send you a confirmation in the mail
several weeks later. Registration is
valid from the date the Copyright Office
receives your materials.
U.S. Copyright Office Form PA is for
registering dramatic works (plays,
screenplays). It is available from the
U.S. Copyright Office and from the
Office's web site in Acrobat (.pdf)
versions. We have included a scanned
version of it here which should be
acceptable (although we don't guarantee
it). It should be printed on a
laser-quality printer, taking up as close
to the full 8.5 x 11 inches as possible.
If possible, make the printout one
double-sided page. The Copyright Office
accepts photocopies of Form PA, but may
not accept non-standard size or
dot-matrix printouts.
Form PA (Side 1)
/ Form PA (Side 2)
- The
Dramatists Guild
The
Dramatists Guild is a professional
association for playwrights. You do NOT
have to have had a play sold or produced
to join the Dramatists Guild. Membership
fees are $75 annually for entry-level
membership. For membership information,
write the Guild at:
- The Dramatists Guild, Inc.
234 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
Tel: (212) 398-9366
Fax: (213) 944-0420
Next, ask for the Guild's Playwrights
Resources, a book that lists
contests, workshops and producers.
- Submission
A Few Tips on Submitting Plays
Research the theatre company and the type
of work they want to produce... Find the
creative director... Neatly bound and
typed... Be businesslike and professional
in your cover letter and remember the
main thing is your work itself, not the
presentation of yourself. Describe what
your play is about, what its style is,
what the production requirements are,
what the main assets of the play are
(e.g., meaty role for middle-aged actress
or ...), put your own contact information
on the play. Sample
Cover Letter
Hazards
The arts being a slightly illegitimate
profession, they attract a large number
of con artists.
Agents
Contests &Amp Festivals
- American
Theatre Magazine
- Dramatist's
Source Book Extensive listing
of programs, theaters, contests
and festivals for dramatic
writers.
- Moorpark
College One-Act Festival The
Performing Arts Department at
Moorpark College and the Moorpark
College Performing Arts Center
sponsor an original 1-act play
festival each year. Selected
plays receive a stipend and a
mounted production. Approx. 4
scripts are selected. Submissons
due date: Oct. 1, 1996 for
consideration for the F'97 1-act
play festival. Please submit
scripts for consideration to:
Prof. Les Wieder, Chairman,
Performing Arts Dept, Moorpark
College, 7075 Campus Road,
Moorpark, CA 93021. If you want
your script returned please
enclose self-addressed stamped
envelope. E-mail address:
wieder@pacificnet.net
Theatre Companies
Publishers
- Book Publishers
- Drama
Book Publishers Books and new media
for the performing arts.
- Dramatists
Play Service, Inc. Publishes acting
editions of plays and handles
nonprofessional leasing rights for these
plays.
- For the Show: A Guide to Small-Cast
One-Act Plays Guide to one-act
small-cast plays of any era written by
Lewis W. Heniford and published by
Scarecrow Press (4720 Boston Way, Lanham,
MD 20706. To submit citations for second
edition or request more information,
e-mail heniford@ix.netcom.com.
- Hollywood
Publishers Network, The Resource for
dramatic and prose writers.
- Playwright's
Forum, The A non-profit organization
devoted to the development of playwriting
talents in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Bi-monthly newsletter, links and
catalogue of members' plays section.
- Samuel
French Bookshops Play publisher and
theatre/film book seller.
- Networking Newsgroups and Mailing
lists, also called listservs,
Standard playwright's contract
- WGA Agency List. This list
of motion picture and television
literary agents can be obtained
by sending a check or money order
for $2.00 (payable to the Writers
Guild of America West) plus a
self-addressed, stamped envelope
to:
- Writers Guild of America West
7000 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Attention: Agency Dept.
- Writers
Guild of America (WGA/New York)
Writers Guild of America East
- Writers
Guild of America West (WGAW/Los
Angeles) 7000 W. 3rd Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90048
- Retiring to the Countryside
|
|