Customer Reviews

Stage Writers Handbook: A Complete Business Guide for Playwrights, Composers, Lyricists and Librettists

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

...This is not a book about playwriting, nor is it that much help to a playwright who is trying to get his/her work noticed. Yes, there is a section about marketing and promotion, but the writer here is a lawyer and this book is strongest when it deals directly with the many legal quandries a playwright can get into. I have already consulted it numerous times in regards to copyright issues and what were my rights going into a production. That said, I do find it curious that, while she has a large section dealing with various legal issues between a director and a playwright, she has left out entirely any discussion of problems a playwright may have with Actors Equity. How could, for example, future productions be encumbered if you allow an Equity production to go forward? That question wasn't answered, but many others were and for that I find this book to be invaluable.

I've been telling everyone about Dana's amazing book.

The biggest surprise for me was that it's very readable--even enjoyable. It's not only a reference book to turn to when you have a question. I've read it through twice and gone back to specific sections when I needed them.

It's already saved me from making a couple of big mistakes, gotten me off my duff to take care of some business I'd let slip and given me direction in areas I never quite understood.

Give it to a friend - student, novice, mid-career or even established playwright, lyricist, theater composer or book writer - for his or her birthday. It'll be the best present they'll get.

This book is absolutely drop-dead necessary for playwrights who intend to work in the field--and for other writers, too. It includes scads of information you'll never get in any MFA program, like how to negotiate a good contract, how to decipher copyright law, how to divide billing fairly, and more. This is information you need, and information colleges and universities unfortunately don't get around to teaching.

This book is primarily focused on U.S. artistic business and law. If you live in another country, parts of this book will be useful to you, but you'll need to do research as to your country's law and business conventions. At least if you have this book, you'll have an idea what it is you're seeking.

Author Dana Singer published this book in 1997, and at that late date, it's odd that she didn't include more on using the internet in conducting your playwriting business. There are a lot of useful forms, organizations, and contacts provided in this book, but you'll need to Google them if you want to use the 'net for them. If a second edition ever comes out, hopefully there will be more weblinks, at least for the U.S. Copyright Office if nothing else.

Your knowledge of the points in this book can make or break your playwriting career. Though dated and synoptic, it's the most thorough-going collection of information on the topic I've yet seen. Read it, memorize it, and keep it on your desk. You never know, right?

Outstanding book, helped me negotiate a favorable contract for my first regional production, prevented me from accepting another offer that was VERY tempting, but according to Dana, just as unacceptable as my instincts told me, and helped me know just what to look for and ask when I secured representation. Incredible help for someone like myself who had absolutely no experience with the "biz" end of things

Although one reviewer here bitterly insists that you must "know someone" in order to be published or produced, this is far from the case...as my own career attests! I was a complete newbie and managed to get published on the first try (and got reasonable pay, too).

But back to the book. It is invaluable. Period.

Here you'll learn everything you need to know about copyright, contracts, publishing and producing, and much, much more. If you want to be a working writer for the stage, you're gonna need this book. :)

I just found this book to be very concise and very helpful. It broke down every aspect and is an excelllent resource to go back to. I jus tbelieve that now Dana needs to provide another edition since things have changed so much with the internet so we know what is and is not acceptable as far as submitting and using the internet for specific deals. I got the book 5 years ago and am still finding that I use it.

Dana Singer's "Stage Writer's Handbook" is probably the most helpful overall resource I have purchased as a playwright. "The Dramatists Sourcebook" and Dramatists Guild publications are, of course, indispensable, but Singer's book helped me understand the business and legal side of pursuing a career in playwriting.

The book is well-written and very accessible to those less versed in legal jargon. I can't recommend this book enough!!

One of the other reviews said it, unfortunately, well: the books of this type are nicely done and comprehensive in their way but you're fooling yourself if you really think these are going to help you get a play produced. And it's not just a matter of writing a good script; you'll never know because most of these markets will never even respond, no matter how carefully you adhere to their guidelines. I've submitted to the Victory Gardens Theatre multiple times - a theatre that proposes to advocate local playwrights, of which I am one - and I have yet to even get a response. And, yes, a SASE was enclosed each time. I get the impression that there's a nice and sizable trash-can near their in-box! Anyway, you'll find a lot of "oh-thou-had-better-be-professional-when-submitting-to-us-because-
we're-quite-impressed-with-ourselves" type attitudes, but the likeliness that they'll act professionally in return is minimal.

I'm sure this is a very nice book, just like the Writer's Market books about agents and publishers. The problem with these books is that unless you have a close personal friend in the publishing business or the theatre world, you will never get anything published or produced. No book can help you do that. It's a matter of luck and coincidence, and if you weren't lucky enough to go to college with someone in the business, you're out in the cold, and no book will alter that fact for you. Have a nice day.