3 ms·

Somewhat tangential, but it makes me nuts that my son's small high school, that is always struggling for money, pays stupid amounts for Disney scripts for the s

Somewhat tangential, but it makes me nuts that my son's small high school, that is always struggling for money, pays stupid amounts for Disney scripts for the school plays instead of doing Shakespeare or any of the other public domain plays out there.

robertlagrant 2y ago
How much do they spend?
KerrAvon 2y ago
Arguably impoverishing the students, too. The impulse to pander to keep both the kids and parents interested is too strong, I guess.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
chimpanzee 2y ago
> pays stupid amounts for Disney scripts How much do they pay exactly? Does it come out of a specific program’s budget, eg drama? Just curious. To play a devil’s advocate: Perhaps the plays generate some money for the school or the drama program. Disney might draw a larger audience. Also, for better or worse (probably worse), Disney is “safe” and designed for mass appeal. Small schools probably have a harder time with these sorts of decisions. Ideally, a school might encourage adaptations of classics, to foster deeper understanding and creativity (as well as to ensure that there aren’t too many “re-runs”, furthering student and audience interest). But a larger student populace makes that easier via access to more ideas, more interest, more hands.
- technothrasher 2y ago
  They pay about $1K per production. It's certainly not making them any money, as the ticket sales amount to about $500 total, and that money is coming from parents and family who would be paying the $5 ticket price no matter what is on stage. Nobody else is attending these plays. I think the main reason they're doing it is because it is what most the kids want to do, especially because it is a combine high school/middle school play so there are younger kids in it. At least this year, they let the seniors pick the play and completely run the show. They're still paying about a grand for the rights, but they did make a more interesting choice, "The Crucible".
- senko 2y ago
  Since Disney classics often riffed off public domain works, the school conceivably might have gone straight to the source.
oliyoung 2y ago
Maybe the argument is accessibility, Disney is much more approachable and likely to get the kids invested and involved than Shakespeare and is worth the cost? Or they could just do Hamlet with Lions
bombcar 2y ago
As someone who has been involved with both, it’s substantially easier to work with high school kids from the Disney script vs Shakespeare. A good working copy of Shakespeare is going to run some money just for copies.
- mistercheph 2y ago
  It's easier for the same reason that in 500 years no one will watch or have heard of any of Disney's products, and people will still be reading and performing Shakespeare wherever English is spoken.

robertlagrant 2y ago

How much do they spend?

KerrAvon 2y ago

Arguably impoverishing the students, too. The impulse to pander to keep both the kids and parents interested is too strong, I guess.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

chimpanzee 2y ago

> pays stupid amounts for Disney scripts How much do they pay exactly? Does it come out of a specific program’s budget, eg drama? Just curious. To play a devil’s advocate: Perhaps the plays generate some money for the school or the drama program. Disney might draw a larger audience. Also, for better or worse (probably worse), Disney is “safe” and designed for mass appeal. Small schools probably have a harder time with these sorts of decisions. Ideally, a school might encourage adaptations of classics, to foster deeper understanding and creativity (as well as to ensure that there aren’t too many “re-runs”, furthering student and audience interest). But a larger student populace makes that easier via access to more ideas, more interest, more hands.

technothrasher 2y ago
They pay about $1K per production. It's certainly not making them any money, as the ticket sales amount to about $500 total, and that money is coming from parents and family who would be paying the $5 ticket price no matter what is on stage. Nobody else is attending these plays. I think the main reason they're doing it is because it is what most the kids want to do, especially because it is a combine high school/middle school play so there are younger kids in it. At least this year, they let the seniors pick the play and completely run the show. They're still paying about a grand for the rights, but they did make a more interesting choice, "The Crucible".
senko 2y ago
Since Disney classics often riffed off public domain works, the school conceivably might have gone straight to the source.

oliyoung 2y ago

Maybe the argument is accessibility, Disney is much more approachable and likely to get the kids invested and involved than Shakespeare and is worth the cost? Or they could just do Hamlet with Lions

bombcar 2y ago

As someone who has been involved with both, it’s substantially easier to work with high school kids from the Disney script vs Shakespeare. A good working copy of Shakespeare is going to run some money just for copies.

mistercheph 2y ago
It's easier for the same reason that in 500 years no one will watch or have heard of any of Disney's products, and people will still be reading and performing Shakespeare wherever English is spoken.