Broadway Blog - The Plight of the Playwright

There's an interesting thread on the BWW Message Board discussing "The ongoing complaint of the playwright." which references a recent Variety story. That piece, by Robert Hofler, references:

"The prevailing impression of a new book from the Theater Development Fund, "Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play," is that playwrights find themselves financially "exploited," especially when compared to their counterparts in the lucrative worlds of TV and film."

And it goes on to discuss the economics of being a playwright in 2010 including royalties, weekly payments and the semi-startling summary that

"The average playwright earns between $25,000 and $39,000 annually, with approximately 62% of playwrights earning under $40,000 and nearly a third making less than $25,000. These sums are not what playwrights make from writing plays. Rather, it's the income they make for playwrighting plus teaching, TV writing, etc."

It's interesting timing as we'll be announcing something new on BroadwayWorld.com to help burgeoning playwrights as early as this week (if all goes to plan, which sometimes it does). It's important to the future of theatre and plays in America -- and to keep playwrights writing FOR the theatre instead of losing them to the lure of the Hollywood dollar. More to come on this one, later in the week.

In the meantime, check out the thread and weigh-in here.