THE COLLABORATION AGREEMENT
The art of collaboration is one of the most important aspects of being a successful theatre composer or lyricist. Essentially it is not possible that our art can exist without the skills and talents of a huge bunch of other people. We won't go in to how much producers, designers, directors, dramaturgs and actors contribute to your show (that's immense) but let's start with the tiny group of people at the very heart of your show. Let's call them the creators. Depending on the project, the number of people in this group will never usually be higher than four. They consist of the following:
1. The Bookwriter (they don't just write the script, they structure the story)
2. The Composer (they don't just write the music, they help with the story)
3. The Lyricist (they don't just write the lyrics, they also help with the story)
4. The Director/Dramaturg (They don't just direct the piece, they question the writers, they conceive of a vision)
If you are writing a new piece of musical theatre, make no mistake you are about to go through quite an intense experience that could last for years, so it's important to make sure you do your best to learn everything you can about collaboration. After all, you're going to be spending an awful lot of time with these people and like any relationship, it'll have it's ups and downs.
For now, I'd like to concentrate on the practicality and advantage of signing a collaboration agreement once you have found the right team of people for the project. Please note, that these are only necessary in self-started projects, as in commissioned projects, you are part of a team that has been hired by the producer and no such agreement is necessary, all aspects should be covered by your contract.
The collaboration agreement I provide here is a fairly simple document that exists in order to protect the basic rights of all those involved in the initial stages of creating a project. It usually covers only a few things, including rights to attend rehearsals, a division of the royalty pool and potentially crediting details. Essentially it sets out the basic nature of your collaboration and it's a great place to start to keep people happy and safe during the initial stages of writing and workshopping. Please note that as soon as a producer becomes involved you should show them your collaboration agreement so they can take this into account when moving forward with production.
There are a couple of different types of collaboration agreements. Those established early in the process and those established towards the end which can be more detailed and comprehensive and potentially involve more people. Please find examples and templates of each of the early stages below.
Please note that I have not input any finance figures into the templates below as each collaboration varies depending on the input of each collaborator which can vary from project to project.
Again, please refer to the Writers Guild of Great Britain and their information for really good, detailed advice regarding collaboration agreements.
https://writersguild.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/WGGB-Musical-Theatre.pdf
1. The Bookwriter (they don't just write the script, they structure the story)
2. The Composer (they don't just write the music, they help with the story)
3. The Lyricist (they don't just write the lyrics, they also help with the story)
4. The Director/Dramaturg (They don't just direct the piece, they question the writers, they conceive of a vision)
If you are writing a new piece of musical theatre, make no mistake you are about to go through quite an intense experience that could last for years, so it's important to make sure you do your best to learn everything you can about collaboration. After all, you're going to be spending an awful lot of time with these people and like any relationship, it'll have it's ups and downs.
For now, I'd like to concentrate on the practicality and advantage of signing a collaboration agreement once you have found the right team of people for the project. Please note, that these are only necessary in self-started projects, as in commissioned projects, you are part of a team that has been hired by the producer and no such agreement is necessary, all aspects should be covered by your contract.
The collaboration agreement I provide here is a fairly simple document that exists in order to protect the basic rights of all those involved in the initial stages of creating a project. It usually covers only a few things, including rights to attend rehearsals, a division of the royalty pool and potentially crediting details. Essentially it sets out the basic nature of your collaboration and it's a great place to start to keep people happy and safe during the initial stages of writing and workshopping. Please note that as soon as a producer becomes involved you should show them your collaboration agreement so they can take this into account when moving forward with production.
There are a couple of different types of collaboration agreements. Those established early in the process and those established towards the end which can be more detailed and comprehensive and potentially involve more people. Please find examples and templates of each of the early stages below.
Please note that I have not input any finance figures into the templates below as each collaboration varies depending on the input of each collaborator which can vary from project to project.
Again, please refer to the Writers Guild of Great Britain and their information for really good, detailed advice regarding collaboration agreements.
https://writersguild.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/WGGB-Musical-Theatre.pdf
DOCUMENT DOWNLOADS
| template_collaboration_agreement.pdf |
| template_collaboration_agreement.docx |
| template_colab_agreement_-_dramaturg.pdf |
| template_colab_agreement_-_dramaturg.docx |
