BWW Exclusive: Read an Excerpt from John Breglio's I WANNA BE A PRODUCER- The Idea

What does a ''producer'' actually do? How does one travel from that great idea for a show to a smash hit opening night on Broadway? John Breglio cannot guarantee you a hit, but he does take the reader on a fascinating journey behind-the-scenes to where he himself once stood as a child, dreaming about the theatre.

Part memoir, part handbook, I Wanna Be a Producer is a road map to the hows and wherefores, the dos and don'ts of producing a Broadway play, written by a Broadway veteran with more than 40 years of experience. This comprehensive and highly informative book features practical analysis and concepts for the producer and is filled with entertaining anecdotes from Breglio's illustrious career as a leading theatrical lawyer and producer. Breglio recounts not only his first-hand knowledge of the crucial legal and business issues faced by a producer, but also his experiences behind the scenes with literally hundreds of producers, playwrights, composers, and directors, including such theatre luminaries as Michael Bennett, Joe Papp, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Patti Lupone, and August Wilson.

Whether you are a working or aspiring producer, an investor, or are just curious about the backstage reality of the theater, Breglio shares his knowledge and experience of the industry, conveying practical information set against the real-life stories of those who have devoted their lives to the craft.

To purchase today, visit: https://www.amazon.com

BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you an exclusive excerpt below!

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1

The Idea

Free as the Air

You're in the shower or driving your car and you have an idea. You're pretty sure it's something no one has ever thought of before. What's more, you think it's a great inspiration for a Broadway musical.

That's one way a musical may get its start. The idea doesn't necessarily have to originate with you, the producer. It can come from anyone-a composer or lyricist, a director, an actor, or even your mother-in-law. But it's your job as the producer to make it come alive.

Musicals are either original or based on another work, such as a novel, a movie, a straight play, or someone's life story-LES MISERABLES, the Victor Hugo novel; The Producers, Mel Brooks's movie; La Cage aux Folles, the French straight play by Jean Poiret; Hamilton, the life story of Alexander Hamilton.

Probably the most famous original musical is A Chorus Line, first conceived by the legendary director and choreographer Michael Bennett. In 1974, Bennett and a dozen other Broadway dancers met in a rehearsal room on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and spent the next twelve hours recording anecdotes and memories from their childhoods and professional careers. In the beginning, Bennett didn't know what would come out of these sessions; it might be a documentary film, a book, or perhaps a play. He knew only one thing: he would call it A Chorus Line.

Even though it is not based on a book, movie, or other copyrighted material, even A Chorus Line is based on source material-the interviews recorded in that rehearsal room. To permit the bookwriters, Nicholas Dante and James Kirkwood Jr., and the lyricist, Ed Kleban, the freedom and legal right to use this material for the show, Bennett obtained written consent from each dancer to do whatever he chose with the material in exchange for one dollar. (Bennett would later voluntarily give all the dancers who participated in the interview sessions and the subsequent workshops a share of his income from A Chorus Line in recognition of their contributions to the show. We'll talk more about this in chapter eleven, "Workshops.")

Protecting Your Idea

Unfortunately, no matter how brilliant or original you may think your idea is, it cannot be protected legally from anyone coming up with the same idea.

In a landmark US Supreme Court case in 1918, Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, "Ideas are . . . free as the air." As a further embodiment of that maxim, the copyright law of the United States provides that the law does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation. What the copyright law does protect is the manner in which these things are expressed. For example, if a producer obtains permission from the owner of the rights in a novel to adapt it as a musical, then the actual expressions-the book and lyrics-created by the bookwriter and lyricist will be capable of being protected by copyright.

Over the years, major motion picture studios have had to defend countless lawsuits in which a plaintiff has alleged that his idea was "stolen" by a studio. To prevail in such a case, the plaintiff would have to prove that the studio had contractually agreed to compensate him for the use of his idea even though it wasn't capable of copyright protection. This is something to which no studio would ever agree. In fact, as a rule, studios, and many writers and producers, will not accept unsolicited manuscripts or ideas from unknown third parties for fear that at some point down the road that person will claim his idea was stolen. Most such allegations are considered nuisance claims, but often they have to be defended with all the attendant legal costs and expenses.

Along a similar line of reasoning, titles are not generally protectable, except in certain circumstances. Let's assume someone wants to produce a musical entitled Rent. Prior to the opening of the now world-famous musical of the same title, anyone could have used the word rent as the title for a musical. It was, as Justice Brandeis said, "free as the air." However, the situation today is quite different. If anyone now tried to use the title Rent for a new play or musical, the owners of the estate of Jonathan Larson (the composer, lyricist, and bookwriter) would most assuredly commence a lawsuit seeking to prohibit its use. And they would prevail.

That's because the musical Rent has now achieved a level of protection which would undoubtedly be recognized by courts of law. Allowing someone else to use that title for another musical would confuse the public and permit that musical to compete unfairly in the marketplace with the Tony Award-winning play. In effect, the new musical with the same title would be trading on the success and popularity of the 1996 show.

To achieve this level of protection the title itself must have estab­lished "secondary meaning," which means that whenever one reads or hears the title, one associates it with the title of the famous work. Hearing the words gone with the wind immediately conjures up Margaret Mitchell's Civil War saga. The same holds true for Gypsy, Wicked, The Lion King, and The Sound of Music-all titles of famous musicals comprising simple English words. These titles have all established a secondary meaning beyond the actual meaning of the words themselves.

To prove "secondary meaning," the owner of the play, movie, or other literary work is required to prove that a reasonable person, when hearing the words of a particular title, will identify those words with a specific copyrighted work. That kind of recognition is based on the degree to which the specific work has achieved a high level of success, not only nationally but globally as well. The factors taken into account are the length of its run on Broadway and elsewhere throughout the world, box office success, Tony and other awards, critical acclaim, and widespread advertising, marketing, and merchandising.

Another factor to keep in mind is that secondary meaning, once at­tached to a title, applies only to a specific industry or business. Although the owners of Rent could prohibit another play or movie from being produced with the same title, they could not prohibit a moving van company, for example, from using the word rent as part of its business name. No reasonable person could confuse one use with the other and, consequently, there could be no confusion or unfair competition between the musical and the moving company.

From I Wanna Be a Producer © 2016 by John Breglio, published by Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

To purchase today, visit: https://www.amazon.com