Disney licensing

[Malcolm Gordon]

I would be grateful for some guidance. My society has had to change its next production and is now putting on ‘Life x 3’ at the end of April. This specifies the playing offstage of a track from Disney’s ‘The Fox and the Hound’ as an effect. No performance element is involved.

Which part of Disney should I approach for permission?

Many thanks.

[GR1]

If you can possibly use any other piece of music I would do so. Disney have a reputation for protecting their intellectual property and the fact that the track is specifically mentioned would mean that it is integral to the plot and not just any old tune played from offstage.

The Director should be invited to consider whether the audience experience would be reduced by the use of another piece of music....

[Malcolm Gordon]

Does the fact that it is integral mean that Disney won’t grant permission or that they will charge an arm and a leg? This must have come up before - the play is about 20 years old.

 It is not a specific track but the film that’s mentioned by a character. Changing the script would involve gaining permission from the rightsholder, wouldn’t it?

[Robin D]

I would seek advice from the rights holder assuming you have permission to do the play. It may be something they have dealt with hundreds of times before. Alternatively, they may already have suggestions for alternative music. The play is unplayable if these issues are not resolved, so of little value to the rights holder.  

[David Ripley]

As you say they refer to it, then it is heard by the cast and therefore 'Interpolated music' for which you need to get the specific rights, usually

As above, go back to whoever you licensed it from and see if they know what people usually do, otherwise it's approaching the Mouse who have little or no interest in the scale of your production, so may not get back to you. However just because they ignore you doesn't mean they won't pursue you until the Nth generation if you do use anything without their specific permission 

Changing the script is usually not possible for Amateur productions, you have licensed the play 'as is' so you would need to go back to the rights holders and ask them, so your questions to them might be

1 What do people usually do for this?

2 What can I do if Disney say no, assuming I need to ask?

[Malcolm Gordon]

Thanks all for the advice - I’ll start with Concord Theatricals.

[Jivemaster]

When "Frozen" was the only music little girls wanted to dance to Disney managed to rip several dancing schools to pieces for their unpaid use of their music. 

With your production, any Disney rights must be paid for, or you get approval to change the script to something that you can get the rights to perform OR you chose another play. That the rights owner of your play requires a Disney track devalues their product to zero unless they can include the Disney rights in their fee.

[Stuart91]

1 hour ago, Jivemaster said:

When "Frozen" was the only music little girls wanted to dance to Disney managed to rip several dancing schools to pieces for their unpaid use of their music. 

This will be far easier to track down these days too, when every dance school mum is live-streaming onto Facebook whilst the show is underway.

[Ynot]

Have to be honest, gave up trying to advise the multitude of dance schools that have used our venue over the years about the needs for proper PRS/PPL info. To my knowledge, few, if any, pay any heed to what they use in their shows, and AFAIK so far none have been caught by the rights holders - Disney or otherwise - for breaches. Which is of course why they'll continue to do it.