3-27-09
“No Reviews” Clause Has Theatres, Critics Scratching Their Heads
Thunder and Lightning Ensemble development director and publicist Kimberly Logan had a problem. She had sent invitations to a number of critics for the opening night of Jack Goes Boating on March 12. Four of the critics said they were coming, including TimeOut’s Kris Vire. Then, a few days later, she realized that their contract with Samuel French specified no reviews.
No reviews? Why would Sam French give a company rights to a show, but then take away their most direct means of getting publicity for it? Surely, this had to be a mistake?
So she called Sam French. And kept calling.
“It took three phone calls to clarify what [the contract] meant,” says Logan.
And what it meant was…what it said. No reviews.
“The press was absolutely invited to come to the show,” says Logan. “They were just not allowed to write about it.”
This is where Vire comes in. He was one of those critics planning to come to opening night. But that morning, Logan e-mailed him and explained about the “no reviews” clause. Vire thought that was odd. He called Sam French, and he posted the story on TimeOut’s blog.
“Now T&L is stuck with a production it can’t promote through traditional means, and no press clippings they can use when applying for grants,” wrote Vire.
But, largely thanks to Vire, T&L has gotten lots of press for Jack Goes Boating. It’s been all over the blogs, people have offered to buy reviewers tickets. In fact, Nina Metz bought her own, and reviewed the show for the Trib anyway.
The publicity on T&L’s “no reviews” clause has gotten so big that Sam French doesn’t even want to touch it. It took me three calls, too. Finally, I got in touch with the director of licensing. When he found out why I was calling, he showed regret that he had picked up the phone.
“You have to speak to our president,” he said. “This has gotten way out of control.” He hesitated, then he said, “It’s a non-story that became a story.” How is it not a story, I asked. He hesitated again, then said, “You have to speak to our president.”
I’m still waiting for the president to call me back.
I’ve been trying to think of reasons Sam French (Logan says it was at the request of the playwright, Bob Glaudini) would specify no reviews. The play was first produced by LABrynth Theatre at the Public Theater in March of 2007. It starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, who just a year earlier had grabbed his Oscar. And it got lots of reviews—most of them quite positive. They’re all on the internet.
Now, Hoffman is in the midst of shooting a film version of the play in New York. Could Sam French and Glaudini not have wanted reviews to interfere with the film distribution?
Perhaps, but there’s another production of Jack Goes Boating scheduled for the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley, California in June. The public relations manager for the Aurora says she doesn’t know of any “no reviews” clause in their contract. If the film is shooting now, it won’t be released till well after June. Wouldn’t Glaudini and Sam French be afraid that those reviews would interfere with distribution?
And what about the reviews from the Blackbird Theatre in Ann Arbor, which did the play this past November? Artistic director Barton Bund says the show did very well in their 90-seat space. And critics loved it. I know. I read the reviews. Google found them for me. The play was also done at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento last July. I read those reviews, too.
So, if the playwright and Sam French are worried about critics’ opinions interfering with movie publicity, it seems they’re shutting the barn door after the horses have been gone for days.
Vire wrote that a Sam French representative told him that they put in the “no reviews” clause instead of not letting the play be produced.
“Rather than simply denying the rights, French deemed T&L’s 12-show run in a 35-seat theatre small enough that it couldn’t hurt.”
Logan got a similar answer.
“We’re only a 35-seat theatre, we pay actors when we make a profit—that’s normal in Chicago. To them that’s an amateur production that should not be reviewed.”
To judge a theatre by the number of seats shows a complete lack of understanding of the Chicago theatre industry which, I am guessing, licenses more plays from Sam French than any other single market. And classifying it as amateur, if that’s what Sam French did, only ensures actors won’t get paid. There has to be box office in order for actors to get a share of it.
Meanwhile, Logan reports that the second weekend of Jack Goes Boating—after Vire’s blog post—did extremely well. They’ve even decided to add a performance, this Sunday, March 29.