Writing Your Own Material

So what are the main reasons for and against writing your own material?

More flexible
When using other peoples skits you are restricted to what you can find and any conditions the author decides to put on their use. Writing your own material gives you the option to change and adapt the skit as you see fit. This frees you to be more adaptable according to the puppets you are using and the type of audience.

You own the copyright
Copyright issues can be very difficult to sort out. I have a few skits which I have picked up and I have no way of knowing who the original author is, let alone contact them. If you cannot contact the original author or give them credit then unless it is a public domain skit, you cannot be sure you can legally perform it. On the other hand you may find a skit that is perfect for your needs but it has a clause which means you can't use it or the performance rights may be too expensive.

Payments
When you own the copyright any payments required should come to you rather than you paying someone else for the permission to perform it. This payment may be part of the cost of the book or CD but it is still a payment.

Performance permission
It doesn't matter if the skit is free or the skit costs money. You need to ensure you have the authors permission to perform their skit or make any alterations to it. In some cases this permission comes with the skit but you need to be careful because some authors have a separate charge for permission to copy and/or perform their skits.

Selling scripts
Although I tend to make most of my skits freely available I am collecting material for a CD which will have many skits I have not made freely available. This will hopefully begin to provide a source of income which I can use to purchase some of the equipment that I can't make myself. If you decide to charge for skits you will need to make clear what any particular charge covers. I came across one author who has a seperate charge for the skit itself, the performance permission, permission to alter the skit and permission to copy the skit! At the other extreme is just having one all inclusive charge. The occasional author may also want to charge you for rehearsals as performances.

Personally I would have an all inclusive charge reserving the right to approve of any changes. You could have a separate charge to make whatever changes they wish but you will need to have a carefully written copyright clause.

Adapting skits
If you wrote the skit, it's yours to do with as you wish. You will find that adapting skits tends to be only required with other peoples skits. However adapting one of my own skits has proved useful in the past. This can be especially useful if you use puppetry and clowning because some skits can easily be adapted for either. Such changes with other peoples skits usually requires you to contact them and you may also have to pay a fee. The author is also perfectly within their rights to refuse permission.

Restrictions
Many skits come with restrictions. These range from copyright notices to sets of restrictions which limit adaption of the skit or what types of organisation can use it. When you write the skit yourself, you get to chose who and how your skit is to be used and can refuse permission for any reason you chose.

Scripts can be custom designed for your situation
I often find I am asked to do some skits about some subject or other. If I didn't write my own material I would often not find the material I need. As it is I can think about the subject and some kind of idea will eventually form in my mind. Script writers write for the characters they personally use. I have not found a skit yet which I have not had to adjust in some way to fit with the characters I use. When I write my own skits it isn't a problem.

More rewarding to perform your own skit
Writing your own skits is a challenge which has it's own rewards. The mere act of watching a live performance of something you wrote is immensely rewarding. Performing a skit you wrote yourself is even more rewarding. This is especially when the audience obviously love the performance.

It's fun
Writing your own material is fun. I find that I especially enjoy it when I am on a roll and new ideas are flowing through my brain. Competing a challenging skit brings with it a sense of satisfaction while the challenge itself is often great fun.

You can still use other people's material
Even though I write most of the material I use, there are still occasions where I make use of other peoples skits. If i know about a skit I can easily use which fits my requirements then i will make use of it. That way i get the best of both worlds and the audience gets more variety.

Time
It does of course take time to write skits. We do live in a busy world and skit writing does take time. However I often hear the saying at church (usually when I am being asked to do something) "if you want to get something done ask a busy person!" Time is never just available. We have to make time available for all of the things we do. We make time available for sleep, work, rest, social activities, hobbies, performances, practices etc. Skit writing is just another thing which time can be made available for. In fact if you can write down your ideas when yo get them it takes less time to write the skits themselves.

Copyright infringement by others
When you perform any skit there is never any assurance that some unscrupulous person will not steal your ideas or entire skits. Often there is no way of enforcing copyright because you have no way of knowing when it is being broken. This often deters people from writing their own material or making it available to others. I personally do not let that bother me. If I ever catch someone breaking copyright I will of course act appropriately. Plagiarism is a problem all authors have in common and in fact is a backhanded compliment. However I am not prepared to waste my time chasing copyright infringers or stop creating new skits because someone may try to steal it.

Material is readily available
For many subjects there is an immense source of ready made skits. these can be found in books, on websites, at workshops, on CD's, Tapes and video's. Many skits on the internet are free to copy and perform and some have restrictions or costs involved. Personaly I find that most need some form of adjustment to fit with my characters but often this can be resolved.

Conclusion
As you can see, there are far more reasons for writing your own material than using and/or adapting other peoples work. For me the main reason I write my own skits is because I enjoy writing them. However that was not why I started to write skits.

When I first began to perform I did not have the connections and resources that I am now blessed with. All I had was a little training from 'Cleaford Puppets' and a book of puppet patterns (I began clowning a little later) because that was all I could afford. Living on a low income means that I do not have the luxury of being able to purchase books of skits, expensive puppets and equipment (Which has proved to be a blessing).

I began skit writing purely out of necessity. My first attempts were (by my current standards) quite poor in quality. But with lots of 'constructive' feedback from my wife, I was able to improve very quickly. Right from the start I found that writing my own material brought a greater pleasure to performing. It is a great buzz to have an audience respond well to your performance when the materieal was written and performed by yourself.

The other benefits are just bonuses to me. I believe that with any form of performing art, if it is not fun, it's not worth doing it. You however may find that the copyright issues are more important because you want to sell your work or you may find that you can't be fussed with hunting for material and getting permissions. On the other hand you may just not want to write your own material. At the end of the day it is your performance and your decision but I would encourage you to at least try writing material before you make your decision.