Yahoo! News: Ousted "Spider-man" director Julie Taymor sued the Broadway musical's producers on Tuesday for copyright infringement, claiming the show that was revamped after she left retained some of her original work.
Taymor, who spent years working on the critically-panned $70 million show "Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark," filed suit in federal court citing copyright infringement and breach of contract "arising from their unauthorized and unlawful use of Taymor's copyrighted written works," according to court documents.
8 comments:
I guess everyone wants a piece of the pie, and I can understand Taymor's reaction. If someone were using my work, I'd be upset too. I understand the producers.. The show was a disaster, they fired Taymor because artistically the show was failing. The cheapest thing to do is to try and breathe as much life into the work as possible. And they tried that. But that means retooling and recontextualizing existing material. Should an outgoing director take all their work with them? Or is it understood that the producers have to salvage the material left behind?
It's hard to draw the line between the current Spiderman script/show and Taymor's part of it. She invested a huge amount of energy and commitment into creating the "copyrighted 2004 treatment and the original book". I understand why the production was changed dramatically - something had to be done in response to the previews, horrible early reviews, and the multiple injuries inflicted on actors. But when they revamped this show, how much did they use Taymor's work as the foundation? I feel Taymor is right in demanding compensation- this show, however new, is just as much her's as it is the new production team's.
While I totally understand that Taymor should be fully compensated for her work, I'm a bit confused because it seems like she has already been compensated for her writing. Does she feel this isn't enough? Are the producers saying that she's been compensated but she really hasn't? I'm very intrigued by this and can't wait to see how it all shakes out. There's no way that Taymor's name can be completely detached from this show, based on the amount of time and work she put into her development. While the production has changed drastically since Taymor's exit, I'm sure it would still be a different show if Taymor had never been involved. She does deserve partial credit for what audiences see when they watch Spiderman now. I am surprised that Taymor would even be nominated for this Tony, since supposedly her work was one of the reasons why the show wasn't working. Then again, the Tony nod would make sense if her work was artistically great but not working for the show. Because of all of the questions that articles such as this are bringing up, I will definitely be following the development of this episode of the Spiderman saga.
And the Spiderman Saga continues... While it's not surprising that Taymor has taken this next step in order to protect her intellectual property, it makes sense that the producers don't have any desire to pay her because she wasn't able to completely fulfill her duties as the director to bring the show to opening. I think her recent nomination for a Tony as director of Spiderman probably helped her in making this decision, since it shows to some extent that others in the theater think she still had some artistic involvement in the overall outcome of the play, and what is being put on in the theater every night. As others have noted, it's hard to say where the line between Taymor's production and this new one is drawn. I think she does deserve some compensation for the work she did because it did push things in various directions and had an influence that was not completely negative upon the play.
Like everyone who has commented on this article, I am not surprised by Taymor's action and, were I in her shoes, I would probably do the same thing. Although I make no claim of being an intellectual property specialist, I can tell that this is a very sticky situation. The outcome depends on so many different variables, many of which are not accessible to the public. It depends on the agreements in the contract signed by the producer and Taymor. Taymor may not actually be entitled to the things she is fighting for. A little bit, I think that Taymor is doing this just for the publicity and to hurt the producer, not from any artistic rational.
I agree with Taymor, if they are still using her material then she should be compensated. However, I'm kind of surprised that she's actually going through with this lawsuit. She has been publicly defiled throughout the past two years, and though she'll be getting money from the lawsuit, it just brings her more attention. Any press is not good press--or at least in her case. If she's after money, then she should definitely go through with the lawsuit. If she wants to work with people anytime soon, it might be better to keep herself out of the spotlight.
Or, who knows. Maybe some producer will be smart and hire Taymor for a project. It would be risky, but everyone might just want to see what she'll come up with next.
Isn't this just a dramatically scaled up version of what happens when any director at any level gets replaced. If there is anything in Taymors contract that says this is a breech of her intellectual property then she should be making this much of a deal about it. She is a big name and she feels jilted and this stink allows her to work through her anger at being replaced. It's the producers show they wanted her gone. If your that worried about your intellectual property then have this settled in your contract if not then get over being fired.
Wasn't she paid for her work, though? If she was employed by the company during the time she did things for the play, isn't that the property of the company as well? And they did continue to list her as a co-writer, they didn't just pretend she never existed. However, I don't know how copyright laws work, and if she did copyright her work, I hope the production at least consulted with lawyers before using it. That seems like a pretty stupid mistake to make for a show under as much scrutiny as broadway shows are, and a scandal could well ruin it.
Post a Comment