A recent article in Backstage outlined the approach Actors Equity is taking to stem the tide of surreptitiously shot video of theatrical performances that is prevalent on YouTube and other video sharing sites:
Its interesting to note that within the theatre community, there’s a wide range of opinion about such video. On the one hand, it is poorly shot and illegally obtained – but it also connects theatre into the kind of viral marketing that is so desired by marketers around the world.
Equity is absolutely right to protect the interests of its members, who are featured in these clips, but as online video explodes from every possible source, its going to be increasingly important that the theatre community figure out how to protect actors (and authors, and designers, and so on) from unauthorized reproduction of their work, even as we must adapt as much as possible in order to the prevailing means of communication in order to promote theatre without fundamentally altering or undermining our irreproducible work on stage.
Technology marches on, and as has always been the case for theatre, the field must decide how far it can or should march along with it.
Posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 10:14 am
by
Howard Sherman
Filed under:
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