Author(s): Brent Salter

Anthologies, Essays & Journals

This paper challenges the present legal system that prioritises the moral rights of the playwright and their sole ownership of a dramatic work. Recent public disputes between copyright holders and production companies over royalties, collaboration and the freedom to interpret a text, have led to a growing chorus arguing for the acknowledgement of non-writer collaborators and reform of the law to specifically address dramatic authorship. The author interviews a group of notable Australian practitioners to illustrate the complexity behind the creation and ownership of a theatrical work, and suggests that industry-based customary agreements, under the current copyright regime, are a more productive way to sustain harmonious collaborative relationships.