The Spidey Project?

The saga of the "Spider-Man" musical gets weirder and weirder...

So if you didn't know, "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark", a musical version of the super-hero's adventures with music by U2 and directed by Julie Taymor, is currently lurching through Broadway previews at the Foxwoods Theater. It has been besieged by bad press, bad reviews, bad stunt work, injured and quitting actors... and all of this for the bargain price of $65 million.

Here's the latest twist: according to this article on Playbill.com, playwright Justin Moran is producing The Spidey Project, an effort to put up a full-scale Spider-Man musical from start to finish in just 30 days with volunteering (I assume) artists. He wants to open his new musical on the day before "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" finally (FINALLY) opens its own doors. (Yes, that's right: "Turn Off The Dark" hasn't even officially opened yet. Insane.)

I appreciate this in spirit, I do. Spidey can be done so much better than what I gather is happening over at the Foxwoods, as we all know from the very serviceable job Sam Raimi did with his first two Spider-Man films, and I don't even mind the third so much.

The trouble is this dude doesn't have the right to do this. I understand: we live in a world of parody, fan-films, fan-fiction; hell, even the hugely online popular "Very Potter Musical". This Spidey project, to me, doesn't fall into the same category as those listed above, and I detailed the reasons why in a post I left on the message boards of The Spidey Project:

You say outright that you do not intend for this to be parody, which to me means you aren't protected under parody laws. ("Our goal isn’t to tear down Julie Taymor or parody her production," Moran told the New York Times. "Our goal is to do what she should have done in the first place, and that’s just make a really good musical.") Except you don't have the legal right to make that musical. You're giving yourself a month to develop a musical about Spider-Man, a character that you do not own the rights to, and (again) say yourself that this is not a parody.

You really think you can do a halfway decent Spider-Man musical in a month? I don't. Maybe you can, maybe you can't... the bottom line is you don't have the right to do it. I'm a broke playwright, too, and a HUGE comic book fan... I realize that "Turn Off the Dark" is a giant train-wreck. I would LOVE to write a Spider-Man musical, or a Batman play. I can't. I don't own them. Neither do you.

If Marvel issues a cease and desist I expect that you'll take the whole "the corporate man is shutting us down!" angle, but it's really for the artists like you and I (I'm also a playwright) that these copyright infringement laws exist. In such an instance, Disney/Marvel would just be exercising their legal rights, and in my opinion would have to choice but to do so.

I know, I know... fan-made films featuring popular characters and fan fiction appear all over the internet. This is true, yes. The waters of copyright infringement are as muddy as they have ever been these days. In fact, many rights holders let these things go on simply because they see it as good advertising. But this, to me, is not in the realm of online fan-films and fiction, and it is not in the same realm as the YouTube sensation "Harry Potter" student musical, for a number of reasons. Primarily because that was a student-produced on-campus project that was clearly intended as parody and did not pose direct competition in anyway to the primary rights holder. This is a semi-professional guerilla theatre style production that is positioning itself as an alternative to "Turn Off the Dark"; if it wasn't you wouldn't be publicizing your opening night as the day before "Turn Off the Dark" opens.

And all of that fan-created content that's out there is free. I assume you won't be charging admission to your Spider-Man play, correct?

Some people will comment that I have no sense of humor. Perhaps they're right, when it comes to such areas as copyright infringement. I understand the motivation and the passion here, and as I happen to be a HUGE Spidey fan I shudder at what Julie Taymor and co. have done to him. That, though, does not give me the right to write and market and get professionals to work for free on a counter-programming musical that will open one day before and in the same market as the officially sanctioned project. This crosses the line, to me, from fan-created homage or tribute, to theft. I would expect legal action of some sort to be taken against you. Truthfully, in the best interest of all who create theatre and art and music and don't want to see their rights of ownership stolen from them, I would hope legal action is taken against you.

Nothing personal, though.