UPDATE: There was a technical difficulty but it's been fixed. Everything is working. Because of the snafu I am extending the offer an additional three hours. Enjoy and thanks.
You’ll be able to sample all of my plays and find just the right one for your audience. Theatres are always looking for good comedies. How about going to the writer of MASH, CHEERS, and FRASIER? Now you can license any of my plays for a very reasonable fee.
Whether it’s a full-length romantic comedy, a half-hour spoof on classic movie romcoms, or a ten-minute fun interactive piece there’s pretty much something for everybody. At the moment, 29 plays are available. All have minimal production requirements (no helicopters landing on stage required).
You can also buy any of the plays. A number of my readers have asked how they could read them since they’re not published. Well now you can.
Plus, as a one-time introductory offer, for the next 24 hours you may download one play for FREE. Yes, I said for FREE.
To receive your free play, simply add it to your shopping cart. Then enter the coupon code BLOG when you checkout. The play will be available for immediate download on the website.
One to a customer so go browsing. Offer ends at 9 a.m. EDT tomorrow.
And if you have a local theatre in your area and would like to see or perform some of my work, let ‘em know. KenLevinePlays.com. Again, the goal is to get as many productions of as many of my plays as possible. That goes for Broadway too. Happy to see one of my plays replace HAMILTON.
There’s the added benefit that I’ll promote your production on my blog and social media and as of today I have more than ten followers.
Anyway, check it out. Download a free play. And help me spread comedy – 99 seats at a time.
27 comments :
Good luck with the new site. Seems like a sound way to get your work out to the public.
Mazel Tov on your new site.
Ken, Congratulations1 Great way to make your work available. I wish you good luck.
Examined the opening of "When Romcoms Go Bad" -- Roz, Cary and Ralph are obvious stand-ins for Russell, Grant and Bellamy (I'm guessing "His Girl Friday" is one of your favorites, as it is mine), but "Molly"? Didn't want to use "Una," as in Merkel, every comedy heroine's best friend?
Cool stuff Ken, already bought A or B. But one thing... Quack Quack Productions? Do tell.
Just ordered OUR TIME! Hope to get to it in the next week or so.
I've just downloaded "When Romcoms Go Bad." I'm going to study the neck out of it. I'm hoping to learn a lot about writing in general and play writing specifically. CONGRATS on the website. I hope it makes you even richer than you already are.
M.B.
The web site is very user friendly! I meant to download “A or B?” for my free script, but I saw “GOING, GOING...” first, and got that one instead, since that was another one that I REALLY wanted to read. I’m half way through it and it is as hilarious as I knew it would be. I’m glad the price of the others is not prohibitive.
Ken, am I allowed to print out the plays I purchase and give to someone else? I’m not familiar with copyright laws. If Ken doesn’t answer, will someone else please do so?
Was able to get Going, Going, Gone! Thanks!
Thank you for this! I'm working my way through A OR B? in small doses to prolong my enjoyment.
I am so excited to read Going Going Gone - thanks Ken!
I tried to download three hours ago, but the free code didn't work. A couple hours later, it was FINE. Background Check.
Wow such a deal Ken! Thanks and I just used your BLOG coupon code to get "Surf's Up" for free. Thanks for that too.
The only thing I would ask for is: any chance you could maybe add an Autographed Copy option for, say, $5 extra? But even without that, the site is great.
Your prices are also quite reasonable. I may have to collect them all. ;-)
Good luck on your new website and thanks for the free play. I saw A or B at the Garry Marshall theater and really enjoyed it.
Ken: thanks for the opportunity to read A or B?, which I was particularly curious about. Not that my opinion counts for anything, but I think you've done a smart thing here.
My one suggestion is that you might like to give some indication of what the range of pricing is likely to be like - I know you can't give details, but *some* idea would save you answering a lot of really useless queries, and would give groups like the amateur ones around me an idea of whether it's worth contacting you or whether your work is going to be utterly out of their range. Some of these groups are *thrilled* when they come out $12 bucks ahead on a production!
wg
Thanks Ken. I just downloaded Going Going Gone (is it bad that I got a full-length play for my freebie?) and will read it tonight.
Thanks Ken. As a baseball fan I picked, Going, Going, Gone. Look forward to reading it.
Thanks for the play, Ken, always wanted to read one.
Diane D.: Not a lawyer here, but a layman with interest in copyright and trademark issues (which are frequently confused with each other). In my understanding, it depends on exactly what you want to (and then actually) do.
You wrote: "am I allowed to print out the plays I purchase and give to someone else?". A lot of copyright law becomes much clearer when you realize it's based on/about the literal meaning of the word; "copyright" = right to copy. As I understand it, you have the right to give, or even sell, the one instance of the work you purchased. Think of used bookstores; you bought a copy of the "Ken Levine's Friday Questions" book. You then sold that same copy to Tom's Used Books. Perfectly legal. Tom's Used Books then sells that copy to someone. Still perfectly legal. Even if it's become a rare book and Ken sold it for $5 and the store sells it for $100 and doesn't give Ken any of it. The key point being you never made a copy; there's still just the one instance of the book you bought, and neither you nor Tom's Used Books still has a copy.
However, what you can't do is make a copy of what you bought from Ken, give the copy to someone else, and keep your original. You've created a copy, increasing the number of copies of the work as you didn't destroy your copy, and did it without permission from Ken. Ken holds the copyright, or right to make copies, of his work. Unless he grants you permission (either free or for payment), making a copy violates his right to make copies, or his copyright. You've increased the number of instances of the work, and that boils down to the no-no under copyright law.
Diane, what you are describing would be copyright infringement unless you have Ken's explicit permission. From the site: "No portion of any script may be performed, or reproduced by any means, or quoted, or published in any medium without prior written consent of Ken Levine."
Also, seconding Wendy's suggestion. One of the biggest factors the community theatre I'm with (and I would assume most community theatres) uses in selecting plays is the cost of licensing them. We're okay spending more on shows that are likely to fill more seats (we spent a boatload on THE LITTLE MERMAID and don't regret it for a second), but any show is going to be a harder sell to small theatres if licensing costs are locked behind a contact form, especially when companies like Samuel French, MTI, etc. provide either exact pricing, minimum pricing, or an estimator tool right there on their site.
Tom Galloway and Covarr,
Thank you so much for your very thorough answers. I appreciate it. I was thinking of giving a copy to a local community theatre, so if I decide to do that, I will just give them the website information. GOING, GOING, GONE is wonderful!
If it makes Diane feel any better, Lewis Carroll asked the same question, perhaps even on a Friday.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was the 800-pound gorilla of British lit in the Victorian era, not only the Poet Laureate but considered the embodiment of the empire by many. Carroll photographed him and his family and tried his best to ingratiate himself with the superstar, but unfortunately went one step too far.
Tennyson had written a song cycle to be set to music by Arthur Sullivan, but decided to kill the project and keep the lyrics unpublished. Like a fanboy, Carroll not only got a copy of the suppressed work but made the major miscalculation of writing Tennyson that he had the lines and wanted the poet's permission to make copies for his friends. Tennyson was so outraged at this breach of professional ethics that he couldn't even bring himself to scream at the wannabe personally... he had his WIFE send Carroll a note expressing her husband's fury at the proposal. Carroll was so burnt by this reply that he didn't keep the letter, but his indignant response to Mrs. Tennyson survives. While not as vicious as the battles between Elizabethan authors, the incident was pretty hot stuff for that time.
(And no, Carroll was not a pedophile. He wasn't Jack the Ripper either, and he didn't have an affair with Alice Liddell OR her mother. He was a strange man, but not as weird as many of the theories people have concocted about him).
And just to completely clear the boards, Lewis Carroll DEFINITELY never had sex with Scotty Bowers, even if Bowers swears it was a three-way with Sir Walter Scott across the street from the Globe Theater.
A question for Ken [or anyone else who may know] Are these "kid-friendly" as in: to be performed by high school age kids. If they are, I might bring it up with the teacher at our drama dept at the local high school. Unfortunately, over the last 30-35+ years, the, town has become quite conservative to the point that they can't even play a song that may have the word "hell" or "damn" in it without people breaking into histrionics. Heaven forbid anyone even attempt to play a song that may contain rap or hip-hop.
Diane. Feel free to give a copy to your local theatre. Thanks.
Did anyone else have copies they downloaded not open correctly? I downloaded A/B and tried to open it in Adobe Reader but it said it was corrupted. It tried to download it again but the next two both said they couldn’t be opened and now I’m out of downloads :( I’d love to introduce this and others to my local theatre that sorely needs some good, new comedies!
Barry,
Email me at KenLevinePlays@gmail.com. I'll make sure you get uncorrupted copies. Sorry that happened. Thanks.
Ken
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