New guide for devised and collaborative theatre practitioners

A new guide is hoping to clarify issues around copyright and collaboration agreements when working on devised and collaborative theatre projects.

Created by the writers' union, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), Devised and collaborative theatre – a guide is available to download for free.

The 17-page guide covers a range of issues that can arise when working on projects with multiple writers – or even, in some cases, no clearly defined writer at all.

The areas covered include who counts as a writer; copyright, fees, royalties and definining percentage contributions; the importance of collaboration agreements; joint authorship and co-authorship; and what to do when a collaboration breaks down.

Writer, deviser, director and producer Jenifer Toksvig led the development of the guidelines. She said: "I’m very excited about this addition to the Guild’s amazing and comprehensive guidelines.

"Devised and collaboratively-made work is such a huge and magical area of theatre, and these guidelines will support and protect the writers and performers working in a collective space."

The new guide will be discussed at a free Edinburgh Festival Fringe event on Saturday 24 August. Writers who wish to attend can register here.