Who Owns a Devised Show? Collaboration Agreements for Theatre Collectives
A devised show starts with a room full of people and no script. Weeks later there is a piece of theatre: scenes improvised by actors, shaped by a director, written down by whoever had the laptop, lit and scored by designers who were there from the start. Then a producer wants to remount it, a publisher asks for the text, or a member leaves and wants to perform a scene elsewhere. Who owns it? If nobody decided at the start, the answer is usually unclear, and unclear answers end friendships and collectives.
This guide explains the legal background in plain terms, for the United States and the United Kingdom, and sets out what a short collaboration agreement should say. It is general information, not legal advice. If real money is at stake, such as a transfer, a film option or a publishing deal, have a lawyer read your agreement; many cities have volunteer lawyers for the arts who help at low or no cost.
Why devising makes authorship hard
In a conventional production, the playwright owns the script and licenses it to the company. Everyone else is hired to interpret it. Devising removes that clear line. Material comes from many people, often in forms the law treats very differently:
- Ideas and themes ("a show about our grandmothers' kitchens") are not protected by copyright at all, in either country. Only the expression of an idea is.
- Improvised dialogue and movement that nobody records may not be protected yet. In the US, a work must be "fixed" in a tangible form; in the UK, a dramatic or literary work only gets copyright once it is recorded, in writing or otherwise. A scene that exists only in the actors' memories is fragile in every sense.
- The written text that emerges, whether typed by a writer, a director or a rotating scribe, is the clearest candidate for copyright, which is why the person holding the pen often ends up looking like the author.
- Design elements such as a score, a set design or projected video can be separate works with their own authors, even when they were made in the same room.
The practical lesson: record your sessions and keep dated drafts. Documentation is what lets you show later who contributed what.
What the law says about joint authorship
Both countries recognise works with more than one author, but the tests are strict.
United States. The Copyright Act defines a joint work as one "prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole" (17 U.S.C. § 101). Courts have added two requirements that matter a great deal in theatre. In Childress v. Taylor (2d Cir. 1991), each claimed co-author had to contribute independently copyrightable material, and both had to intend to be co-authors. In Thomson v. Larson (2d Cir. 1998), the dramaturg who worked closely with Jonathan Larson on Rent was found not to be a joint author, largely because Larson never intended to share authorship: he kept the final say over the text and was credited alone. Contributing ideas, notes and even some lines was not enough on its own.
United Kingdom. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 defines a work of joint authorship as one "produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of each author is not distinct from that of the other author or authors" (section 10). UK courts do not apply the American intention test in the same way, but they still look for a real contribution to the expression of the work, not just to its ideas or management.
The consequences of joint ownership also differ. In the US, a co-owner can generally license the work non-exclusively without the others' consent but must share the profits. In the UK, a licence generally needs the agreement of every co-owner. In both systems, a collective of eight people who are all co-authors can find it surprisingly hard to say yes to anything.
Decide before you devise
The point of an agreement is not to predict every outcome but to make the default explicit, while everyone still likes each other and nobody knows whether the show will be a hit. Sign it before the first rehearsal, or at least before the first public performance. Keep it short enough that people actually read it.
Clauses worth including
- Who the authors are. Name them. Options range from "every member of the devising company is a co-author in equal shares" to "the writer is the sole author, and the ensemble is credited as having devised the work with her". Both are legitimate; what matters is choosing.
- Who holds the rights. Some collectives assign copyright in the finished text to the company itself, if it is a legal entity, so that one body can license it. Others keep it with the individuals. Our guide to how artist co-ops are run covers the legal forms that make company ownership possible.
- Credit. Write the exact wording for programmes, posters and any published text, for example "Created by the company" or "Written by A, devised with B, C and D". Say whether the credit must appear in future productions by other companies.
- Money. How royalties from future licensing or publication are split, and whether the split is equal or weighted. Separate this from fees for performing: being paid to act in a run is not the same as earning a royalty as an author.
- Who decides. Who can approve a remount, a translation, a film option or a cut for touring, and by what vote. Unanimity sounds fair but can let one person block everything.
- Leaving members. Whether someone who leaves keeps their share, can perform their own material elsewhere, and whether the company can keep using it. This is the clause most often missing and most often needed.
- Personal stories. Devised work often draws on members' own lives. Agree that a member can withdraw a personal story from future versions, or that it will not be used outside the show without consent.
- Design and music. Clarify whether designers and composers license their work for this production only or for future ones, and on what terms.
- Disputes. A simple step before anyone calls a lawyer: a meeting, then mediation by an agreed neutral person.
Common arrangements in practice
Most companies end up in one of three models, each with trade-offs.
- The company owns it. Clean for licensing and grant reporting; funders often prefer it, as our guide to grants for artist collectives explains. The risk is that members lose any claim if the company dissolves, unless the agreement says what happens to its rights then.
- Everyone co-owns equally. Feels fair in the room. Works best with a small group and a clear decision rule for future licensing.
- A lead writer owns the text, the ensemble shares in income. Common when one person really does shape the language. The ensemble's contribution is recognised through credit and a fixed share of royalties rather than authorship.
Whichever you choose, put the agreement next to the script in the company's shared files, update it if the company changes, and attach the final dated draft so there is no argument about which version was agreed.
When the show goes further
A reading night or a scratch performance may never need any of this. But devised shows travel more than people expect: to festivals, to new venues, into published anthologies. If your piece started life at a reading series and is now being picked up, settle authorship before you sign anything with a producer, who will want to know exactly whose permission they need. A producer facing an unclear chain of title will often simply walk away.
Sources and further reading
- United States Code, 17 U.S.C. § 101, definitions ("joint work", "fixed"), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School.
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 10, works of joint authorship, legislation.gov.uk; see also section 3(2) on recording.
- Childress v. Taylor, 945 F.2d 500 (2d Cir. 1991); Thomson v. Larson, 147 F.3d 195 (2d Cir. 1998).
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Founding documents, membership rules, decision-making, meetings, money and conflict.
Running a collectiveFiscal sponsorship explained
How a nonprofit sponsor lets an unincorporated project take grants and donations, and at what cost.
Reads & auditionsRunning a reading night
Choosing scripts, casting, rights, rehearsal time and a feedback session that helps the writer.