I just watched Marion Seldes accept a lifetime achievement award for her 60 years of service to the theater as an actress at the 2010 Tony Awards. After the award was presented to her, she zipped her lips, and walked off the stage. She never said a word.
Taking a cue from this great person, I have picked up my gauntlet and relinquished all of my creative rights to my last seven years of work on the body of work in question to the Executive Producer, who is actually not my antagonist; she has been quite supportive. Of course it comes with the conditions that it is only to be used for educational purposes, and the rights cannot be sold.
I expect that I will also gracefully decline any invitation to “collaborate” on any production in the Los Angeles and contiguous counties of any work that I may write in the future. However I may show up unannounced during the play’s run, if I am ever fortunate enough to have a play of mine chosen for a production again.
For it would be interesting for me to see if it worked on the stage; if I had successfully communicated my ideas, intentions, and words. The rest is for the birds.
Erica Bennett
“It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.” Dorothy Parker.
I’ve discovered that sometimes walking away is the best policy. For if there was a solid foundation of respect, suddenly a meeting can happen out of nowhere that is direct, constructive, respectful, as well as passionate. Needless to say, I am back on the project and the acknowledged “writer and producer” and “the driving force behind this project.” Lesson: pull out dictionaries in the beginning when job titles and roles are assigned, so that they are defined with equal understanding.