Just a question.....

[musicalandlotrlovr]

Hi! I'm back! Anyway, I was wondering, how did you get the rights of "Lord of the Rings" to make this musical? Do you know who you should get in touch with if you want the rights to use a book or something?

[hama]

Doesn't anyone else have the answer to this one?

[Agburanar]

The rights to LoTR used to be held by the Tolkien society. Before that they were owned in part by I.C.E., now I don't know who holds them, but I suspect that the Tolkien Society would be able to tell you where to look.

[orkybash]

I would guess the Tolkien Estate, myself.

[hama]

Okay, I have actually answered this question elsewhere on the forum but the owner of the character and place names of LOTR is Saul Zaentz (sp?), Inc. He is listed as a producer of the films and perhaps his greatest claim to fame is as producer of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" starring Jack Nicholson. Saul Zaentz Inc. purchased the rights from the tolkien estate and has a dba (Doing Business As) Tolkien Enterprises. The Tolkien Estate has no control over his work beyond what is precisely described in his will.

I do not own the rights. I own, or I should say the company I formed, owns the first right of refusal to produce a musical for Broadway or London. If someone approaches Tolkien Enterprises about wanting to buy the rights for a broadway musical production I have the right to match the offer. If I fail or refuse to do so, the rights are then sold to that other party.

[Agburanar]

So if someone else wanted to do a LoTR musical you could say no? Good power. Does that mean you could get any musical stopped if you had good grounds to do so (and enough money!)?

[hama]

Well not exactly. Of course having the right to make sure some Broadway musicals never got done would be a great thing. Cats, Big The Red Shoes immediately come to mind. As for the power of my option on the rights, if someone else wants to to do a musical of LotR, they have to come to me first and if refuse to match the offer they make, then Tolkien Enterprises is free to sell the rights to them. It is a way of controlling the rights without having to pay the whole cost up front. It is like having an option. I hope to excercize that option before anyone else gets a production put together.