Broadway Contracts and Assessments

As a Guild member, what happens when
your show is produced on Broadway?

The forty-one buildings in mid-town Manhattan called“Broadway” generate BILLIONS in gross revenues each year, with nearly an equal amount grossed from Broadway tours across the country. But what share of that is yours? And why? To help you figure it out, read on!

We offer Guild Members with an upcoming First-Class production a Broadway Consultation with the Executive Director of Business Affairs and a fellow writer/DG member who has been through the process of having a show on Broadway and can share their insights about the experience.

During the Broadway Consultation, you'll get to ask any questions you may have about bringing your show to Broadway. You'll also have the opportunity to learn about the following aspects of the process:

• Broadway economics, and how writers like you fit into its financial model;

• How to navigate unexpected challenges such as disagreements between collaborators on the creative team and/or what happens when a show closes early;

• How to approach conversations regarding subrights and licensing of your show;

• Industry standards for writers as laid out in the Approved Production Contract, and how these standards prevent the exploitation of writers making their Broadway debut;

• How you can support your theatrical writing community at large by upholding the standards of the Approved Production Contract.

• To learn more about how the Guild supports and protects its writers, please visit https://www.dramatistsguild.com/about-the-guild.

The Dramatists Guild established the authorial rights expressed in the Approved Production Contract or APC only after many years of determined and concerted effort and it has worked hard, and at great expense, to maintain these rights over the past century. So, in order to support the Guild’s ability to continue its work, Broadway writers have agreed to pay the Guild a small percentage of their royalties earned from their “first class” productions. These dues are called “assessments”.

Assessments are a kind of progressive tax, with over 71% of the Guild’s total dues income currently being paid by writers who represent less than 1% of our total membership. Without assessments, the DG would cease to exist, along with the protections for dramatists established by the Guild and memorialized in our contract.

The writers that have had the great good fortune and opportunity to have a Broadway production understand that their assessments do not just pay for the rights reflected in the APC and its certification process, including ownership and control of their work. These assessments also give writers the opportunity to pay it forward, to help all the DG members who have yet to get their big break and for the generations of dramatists yet to come.

Beyond past Guild members such as Tennessee Williams, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, Richard Rodgers, Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Oscar Hammerstein, Terrence McNally, Jerry Herman and many more, current members who paid assessments include:

Lynn Ahrens, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Lindsay Baker, Chad Beguelin, Stephen Bray, Edie Brickell, Alex Dinelaris, Christopher Durang, William Finn, Stephen Flaherty, Scott Frankel, Robert Freedman, John Guare, Kate Hamill, Joshua Harmon, Sheldon Harnick, David Hein, David Henry Hwang, Amanda Jacobs, Kyle Jarrow, John Kander, Russ Kaplan, Stephen Karam, Michael Korie, Lisa Kron, Tony Kushner, James Lapine, J.F. Lawton, Young Jean Lee, Steven Levenson, John Logan, Robert Lopez, Craig Lucas, Dave Malloy, Steve Martin, Douglas McGrath, Alan Menken, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Itamar Moses, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, Mike O'Malley, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Theresa Rebeck, J.T. Rogers, Sarah Ruhl, Brenda Russell, Irene Sankoff, Stephen Schwartz, Sherie Rene Scott, Marc Shaiman, Matthew Sklar, Glenn Slater, Stephen Sondheim, Jeanine Tesori, Stephen Trask, Paula Vogel, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Beau Willimon, Allee Willis, Scott Wittman, Sara Wordsworth, and Doug Wright.

When my show WELL made the unexpected leap to the Great White Way, I knew the Guild had my back while I negotiated the complicated, high-stakes world of commercial Broadway theater. - LISA KRON

I am proud and happy that by paying an assessment on my Broadway royalties, I help to keep strong and healthy the organization that has fought for theater writers like me since its inception. Major writers who came before me did the same, and it is thanks to them that I am able to own my work that appears on Broadway today. I consider it a privilege to ‘pay it forward’ for the playwrights and theatre songwriters who will follow me. - STEPHEN SCHWARTZ

Any assessment we pay the DG comes back to us a hundred-fold. - JOHN GUARE

I feel that the reason why I have so many rights as a playwright and can get the contracts I do is because the Dramatists Guild fought for them. It makes sense to me that the playwrights making the most money—that is, the playwrights on Broadway—should contribute more. I see the assessment not as a penalty for financial success, but rather as an opportunity for the privileged few who actually make any real money to make things better for playwrights as a whole. - YOUNG JEAN LEE

Before the formation of the Dramatists Guild, dramatists did not own or control their work; they were rarely even paid royalties. But beginning in 1926, the DG negotiated a contract with producers for licensing “First Class” (e.g., Broadway) production rights. Originally called the “MBA” (the Minimum Basic Agreement), the contract is now called the “APC” (the Approved Production Contract) and DG members are required to use it as a condition of Guild membership. It ensures that the writer will have ownership of their copyright, as well as approval over changes in the work and over the hiring of all artistic personnel, and the rights to be billed, to be present, and to be paid reasonable options, advances, and royalties, none of which were guaranteed prior to the existence of the Guild.

Members also reserve all the rights not specifically granted under the APC, including foreign territory productions, stock & amateur licensing, music publishing, and audio-visual adaptations. Any revisions to the APC that may be negotiated between the author and the producer must then be certified by the Guild.

DG members who are having their work produced on Broadway are required by our bylaws to use the APC to license their rights to producers, and then have those contracts reviewed and certified by the Guild.

Certification is the process by which a completed APC is submitted to the Guild for review. The Guild’s counter-signature then verifies for the writer that any revisions to the contract that were negotiated with the producer are consistent with the Guild’s recommendations for such types of agreements, and that the revised contract doesn’t have sub-standard terms that could negatively impact other DG members. If an APC is not certified by the Guild, it automatically terminates, so the writer is not bound to its substandard terms. A DG member can only license their work without a certified APC by withdrawing from the Guild.

In 2005, to accommodate the ever-changing landscape of Broadway, the full membership of the Guild voted to amend its bylaws and expand the range of productions which would be subject to assessment. Now, in addition to certified contracts, members are assessed on ALL their first-class productions in New York City, whether or not a production is produced pursuant to an APC. This includes any Tony Award-eligible production,whether or not it’s designated “first-class” pursuant to thecontracts of the various unions involved with the production.

The current definition of assessments reflects the advantages accruing to Guild members by the Guild’s successful and ongoing efforts to maintain standards for the production of plays and musicals on Broadway, providing benefits to dramatists regardless of whether such works are produced on any particular Guild contract. In fact, Guild standards have been so thoroughly adopted at every level of production in America that they have become generic, thereby benefitting non-member writers. But the standards can only be maintained if the Guild continues to operate as the bulwark against encroachment on authorial rights.

An “assessments provision” is included in each APC certified by the Guild, which describes the amount of the assessment and how it should be paid. The DG’s bylaws currently provide for assessments on a member’s advances and royalties of 2% for plays and 3% for musicals.

Members pay assessments by forwarding a “letter of direction” to the general manager of the production, instructing them to make direct payments to the DG. The Guild sends a letter of direction to the member for this purpose, during the certification process, but generally no later than six weeks prior to the first performance on Broadway.

If, for some reason, either the member or the producer does not wish to use a letter of direction, members can pay their assessments directly to the Guild and the DG will bill the member on a quarterly basis. When self-assessing in this way, a member needs to remember that assessments are based on the member’s gross royalties (prior to the deduction of any commissions a member may pay to a third party, like an agent) and are payable on the upfront advances and options.

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Dramatists Guild

The Season in Review Issue 2022-2023

Members

Broadway Contracts and Assessments

As a Guild member, what happens when
your show is produced on Broadway?

The forty-one buildings in mid-town Manhattan called“Broadway” generate BILLIONS in gross revenues each year, with nearly an equal amount grossed from Broadway tours across the country. But what share of that is yours? And why? To help you figure it out, read on!

Become a member

JOIN

Shop The DG Advocacy Store: New Shirts, Sweatshirts and Hoodies For Sale

The Season in Review Issue 2022-2023

Members

Broadway Contracts and Assessments

As a Guild member, what happens when your show is produced on Broadway?

The forty-one buildings in mid-town Manhattan called“Broadway” generate BILLIONS in gross revenues each year, with nearly an equal amount grossed from Broadway tours across the country. But what share of that is yours? And why? To help you figure it out, read on!

Become a member

JOIN

As a Guild member, what happens when
your show is produced on Broadway?