JMB Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I wonder if you can help. I am the ICT Technician in a SEN school in Devon. I am working on some drama with our FE students, who would very much like to put on a short version of Aladdin for the younger students. I have done some digging around, first on the Disney website, then on MFI, and then finally on the UK Josef Weinberger site, and it looks like permission for us to do a small show under the banner of “Aladdin Jr” would cost us £420. This is quite a bit beyond our means! We have a PRS licence that allows us to play music in school...I've emailed Josef Weinberger to plead for a discount, but can anyone with experience in this sort of thing give me any ideas that would enable to put this show on? I'm looking for loopholes, calling the show "Aladding", that sort of thing! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 The story "aladdin" is a traditional story that's not copywritten so write your own version based on the original text and you don't have to pay anyone a penny. The characters, traits, costumes, names, songs and visual sequences you see in Disney's aladdin (or any other companies productions) belong to them and you must get their permission to present them onstage, not doing so is not legal and highly unethical. There is no shortcut other than the route you've already followed - rights for a single performance of big-name shows typically run in to thousands of pounds PER PERFORMANCE Your PRS license does NOT enable you to stage musicals without getting express permission from the rightsholders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 If it is one group of SEN students doing something in-house for another group of SEN students I really wouldn't worry. I doubt very much that the event will be open to the general public let alone on a commercial basis. You worry about getting them all out alive, copyright is not that important in that world. Have a great time with your version of "A-Lad-In Cullompton" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 Thanks guys! I've spoken to Disney a couple more times now, and they've waived the license fee on the condition that we don't replicate the characters too closely (we're not allowed to look or speak like them) and don't use the word "Disney" anywhere in the proceedings. Which is great news for us. Apparently we're not allowed to video the production, but people in the audience CAN! Peculiar. I guess I know where me and my video camera will be sitting during the show... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 The filming is becoming an interesting one, I imagine they dont mind parents filming, esp with a SEN school, but if you had the ok to film whats stopping you take a big crew in to film. Most rights say no filming at all, but if you ask they are ok with a copy to keep as evidence and prosperity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 He means for posterity, you deffo can't become prosperous or they will sue you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 That's the one ¬_¬. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 The thing with education is that some people in it just ignore the legalities and do it, others have a panic and ban everything, while others try to do it properly and ask permission. Back when I was teaching, Disney gave me permission to stage Aida - there were a number of absolute rules, but it was ok - but didn't come off because none of the students that year were up to it!. I've worked for QDOS for many years, and I asked if I could stage Boogie Nights. The author was surprised, but managed to find me some of the beer stained band parts and a word version of the script - the only rule being I HAD to clear the copyright on the music content myself - which I did. He even came to see it, and asked us to preview his new musical before it was done professionally. Weinbergers and the others help when they can, but much depends on the views of the copyright holder. It's not unknown for spot checks to be made - as in a man with a violin and his own copy of the band parts who plays in the pit - just to check that no alterations have been made! It never hurts to ask - but expect no, more often than yes. Keep in mind that doing things without permission can easily backfire and even get you fired. With an SEN group, highly unlikely for publicity reasons, but worth remembering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 You could certainly look for inspiration in a big library for childrens stories and come across the original story behind lots of "all rights reserved" shows, then write your own script and directions without using the same characterisations that the company uses. Remember that ALL the big name shows -Grease, High School..., Wicked etc are very heavily righted and the owners need to preserve the value of their asset so do not want copies or disreputable shows out there and WILL persue you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamDram Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Gonna bring this thread back to life for a little... My school is looking to put on a musical 'based' on a selection of different numbers from different musicals.There will 25 minutes worth of songs from Into The Woods. Am I right in thinking, because that the songs will be standalone, and the acting inbetween is not associated with Into the Woods, that it will be covered by PRS and does not require licencing from Disney? http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Broadly speaking, no disney songs are covered by the blanket PRS agreements (there are exceptions but as a general rule you should assume they're not) and Into the Woods is actually owned/published/controlled by MTI for live action/stage performances. If you were just presenting one or two songs from the show then it would fall under the concert staging exemptions but since you're talking about presenting 25mins of songs I don't think anyone is going to classify that as a concert staging as clearly the show makes up a significant part of your entire event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamDram Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Broadly speaking, no disney songs are covered by the blanket PRS agreements (there are exceptions but as a general rule you should assume they're not) and Into the Woods is actually owned/published/controlled by MTI for live action/stage performances. If you were just presenting one or two songs from the show then it would fall under the concert staging exemptions but since you're talking about presenting 25mins of songs I don't think anyone is going to classify that as a concert staging as clearly the show makes up a significant part of your entire event. Hmm, I did fear as much. thanks Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Into the woods is Weinberger in the uk. Knowing the songs can be a bit long so you might be, call them up and ask, + being education there is a low rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Ah Wienberger. DON'T EVEN THINK about being 'clever ' with "We're only doing xxxxxx" so we don't need a licence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Ah Wienberger. DON'T EVEN THINK about being 'clever ' with "We're only doing xxxxxx" so we don't need a licence. Why I say check with them. To be fair when I have spoken with them they have been good at knowing the answer, there is another rights agent for score who last time I dealt with (a few years ago mind) was not the most help. ITTW when we did it as a full show cost LOTS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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