LMDA Publishes Sample Contracts for Dramaturgs and Literary Managers
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) is proud to announce publication of its Sample Contracts following ratification by the LMDA Board of Directors.
The mission of LMDA is to cultivate, develop, and promote the fields of dramaturgy and literary management in the United States and Canada. LMDA is committed to improving employment prospects and working conditions for dramaturgs and literary managers, and, in order to fulfill this mission, it has adopted the Sample Contracts as a supplement to the Second Edition of its Employment Guidelines, which were released in 2012. These Sample Contracts are intended as templates from which an individual or organization may draft a contract for a range of institutional and freelance dramaturgy positions.
The following Sample Contracts are available:
- Production Dramaturgy
- Script Reading / Consultation
- Writing for Theatre Publication
- Festival Dramaturgy
- Development Dramaturgy Outside of a Festival Setting
The Sample Contracts incorporate language that is the industry norm in the North American theatre business and are provided with commentary written by editors Scott Horstein and Brian Quirt to give context for use in drafting dramaturgy contracts. These documents represent the first time that the field has created recommended contractual language on a variety of issues, ranging from compensation, to terms of residency, to billing, to property rights.
Brian Quirt, LMDA Board Chair, says: “As a professional service organization, LMDA aims to empower our members to do their best work. These sample contracts offer an unprecedented level of support in navigating territory that can be complicated for individuals to maneuver on their own. They are an excellent starting point for collaborators to engage in a detailed conversation regarding the artistic and financial terms of their relationship, and lay the groundwork for future success.”
LMDA President Ken Cerniglia adds, “These are going to be of value not only to LMDA members, but to the field at large. These documents offer a compendium of best practices, collected from years of field research across the broadest range of disciplines and project sizes in how our members have been contracted fairly to all involved. That is why we offer these resources not only to our members, but to anyone in the field.”
The Sample Contracts are designed to work in tandem with the LMDA Employment Guidelines and to reflect the principles articulated there. LMDA recommends the use of both documents when negotiating contracts and other employment agreements. The Employment Guidelines feature chapters on ‘The Dramaturg–Employer Relationship,’ ‘Negotiating a Contract,’ ‘Guidelines for Freelance Dramaturgs,’ and more.
LMDA is distributing the Sample Contracts widely across the theatrical field and invites managing directors, producers, general managers, artistic directors and production managers to read the Sample Contracts as well as the Employment Guidelines and use them when appropriate to draft job descriptions and contracts.
The Sample Contracts and the Employment Guidelines can be found here.
