Edited by darklord1967 - 4/20/13 at 5:21pm

Greetings friends, family, cosplayers, theater lovers, Batman fans, and supporters of Arts in Education!

Edited by darklord1967 - 4/20/13 at 5:10pm

Originally posted by jayzehr Sounds like an interesting project.  How hard was it to get the rights for this?

From the official website:

"Batman and related characters are the property of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment. “Fathers of the Dark Knight” is a non-profit, student cosplay stage production that is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed, nor licensed by DC Comics, Warner Bros. or any of their affiliates."

In other words, he never got the rights to do this.    The "cosplay" angle is one I hadn't thought of before, but I'm pretty sure mounting a full production is completely different than just dressing up for Halloween or Comicon. OP, I sincerely hope you have your legal ducks all in a row, because I would love to see this thing get off the ground.

Greetings Batman fans!!

The indiegogo.com fund-raising campaign for the all-student stage play "FATHERS OF THE DARK KNIGHT" is now active!

This is YOUR chance to contribute to a worthy cause and support Arts in Education for talented kids! Help me provide these hard-working students with an ambitious, exciting production that they can call their own by showing your generous support!

There are TONS of awesome perks available at different levels of donation! Click on the link below and get involved NOW!


FOTDK@indiegogo.com

Thank you so very much! 

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Actually there was no “process”.  As was stated before, my stage play is a “… non-profit, student cosplay stage production that is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed, nor licensed by DC Comics, Warner Bros. or any of their affiliates…”  No admission will be charged to see the show. It will be a limited 5-performance run, performed in a college campus auditorium.

 

I did not seek licensing for this student production from DC Comics / Warner Bros.,  nor was any required of me.  In 2004, DC Comics / Warners released the following statement regarding fan-based projects, and it has been their policy ever since.

"Warner Bros. definitely appreciates the enthusiasm and respect of its fans. We will continue to monitor the use of Warner Bros. properties as used in fan films/ creations. However, we will only consider taking action against such projects that are either commercial in nature, are commercially exploited or otherwise engage in or depict inappropriate activity."

The kind of stage play I am producing definitely has previous precedent:

In 2011, an Austin, TX troupe produced “Holy 1960’s Batman, Batman” as a community theater event.  This was an un-licensed production with a limited performance run.

Several Hollywood celebrities got together in 2012 to produce a series of LA stage events called “The 24-hour plays”.  One of the shows they did featured Matt Smith (of “Dr Who” fame) as Batman in a segment called “Gotham Autopsy”.  Several other Batman comic strip characters appeared in the show as well.  Again, limited run, and un-licenced.

“Holy Bouncing Boobies: A Batman Burlesque” was produced in Skokie, IL, completely un-licenced and limited run in August of 2012.

There was also the elaborate stage musical “Holy Musical B@tman!” produced last year by an LA stage troupe.  Not only did this production feature a full compliment of Batman characters, but other DC Comic book characters as well.  The youtube video of this production states up front that it is unlicensed and un-endorsed.

So, to answer your question: The process required for this type of thing is really quite simple:  Avoid making it a commercial venture that generates any kind of money and or profit.  This is obviously, something very few producers are willing to do! LOL! 

This production is being produced by my students and I out of love for the character and the mythology... not to make any money.  The guideline by DC / Warners  that mandates a non-profit / non-commercial status and appropriate depictions of the characters  is one that my production strictly adheres to… even if some of the productions listed above did not.

Edited by darklord1967 - 5/23/13 at 5:12pm