Pageant concept may travel the world

Barbara Diamond

Festival of Arts officials are considering selling rights to produce

shows similar to the Pageant of the Masters at locations around the

world, an idea that is already meeting with intense opposition.

“I think the idea is crazy,” director David Young said. “Even

recalled board members Sherri Butterfield and Roark Gourley only

wanted to take the show to Las Vegas and San Clemente.”

Festival Executive Director Steven Brezzo is negotiating with

International Creative Management about representing the Festival in

the negotiation of licensing fees. The discussions were approved by

the Festival board, 5 to 4. Dianne Reardon, Kathleen Blackburn, John

Campbell, Robert Dietrich and board president Bruce Rasner approved;

Young, Scott Moore, Anne Webster and Bob Henry opposed.

“We are not talking about moving the pageant, changing the pageant

or altering the pageant in any way, shape or form,” Brezzo said

Tuesday.

The licensing idea is still in the talking stage.

“We haven’t been offered anything -- there is no signed contract,”

said Brezzo, who sees dollar signs dancing in the distance.

“One might ask why we are doing this,” Brezzo said. “Money.”

The Festival would benefit financially from the sale of tickets in

other venues and from licensing fees, he said.

“I and eight other board members have a fiduciary responsibility

to make site improvements and to do so in the most economical and

responsible way,” Rasner said. “We have three choices: a bond --

which is borrowing; fund-raise -- which is time consuming; or

entertain proposals which may or may not be in the best interests of

the Festival.

“I believe we should consider proposals that are consistent with

the goals of the festival and would not compromise the pageant and

the Festival season in July and August.”

Rasner said necessary renovations to the facility are expensive,

new ones keep cropping up, and the Festival is spending as much as it

takes in to maintain the quality of the pageant and to pay staff a

reasonable salary.

“We just refurbished the Festival Forum Theatre and the funds

didn’t come out of thin air,” he said. “We were just advised that we

would have to pay for an evacuation project out of the bowl next year

and it could cost as much as a quarter of a million dollars.

“The city also has announced that it is withdrawing its share of

the funding for the Playhouse parking lot, which puts a bigger burden

on the Playhouse and us,” Rasner said.

“Lastly, historically, the city has built storm drains in the

parks, but the city asked us to pay for the one here on the grounds

and it ended up costing twice the $300,000 estimate,” he said. “It

was a pretty big hit.”

The board is obligated to renovate the grounds that have been

neglected for 30 years, Rasner said, and it wants those improvements

to be architecturally significant and a source of pride to the city.

Licensing fees, rumored to be valued at as much as $10 million,

could also be used for year-round programs at Irvine Bowl Park and

increases in donations to the Festival of Arts Foundation, Brezzo

said.

“People think that all those scholarships and donations to art

groups come from the Festival, but they don’t,” said Festival board

member Young, president of the foundation. “The foundation is the

‘giving’ arm of the Festival and it hasn’t had a donation from the

Festival in four years.”

A 40-year lease was signed last year between the city, which owns

Irvine Bowl Park, and the Festival. Rent was reduced from about

$600,000 a year to 3.5% of the ticket sales and restaurants receipts,

estimated to be $174,000 this year, to be used for community

assistance grants.

“If what I am hearing is true, I am saddened,” City Councilwoman

Cheryl Kinsman said. “It is certainly not what [the city] intended.

The reason the rent was reduced was so the Festival would have the

money to make necessary renovations without going outside of Laguna.”

The lease agreement stipulates that the “Festival agrees that the

Premises [Irvine Bowl Park] shall be its sole permanent location and

that the Festival will not conduct the Primary Events at a location

other than the Premises, except for occasional demonstrations which

have prior written approval from the Committee.”

Licensing of other sites does not compromise the lease, Brezzo

said.

“That lease pertains to the pageant here, which remains here,” he

said. “This is not about the summer pageant. We would be

investigating venues that complement the Laguna pageant, not compete

with it.”

Licenses would be granted far from Laguna and a touring show is

not even on the table, Brezzo said. Shows would be licensed for

individual sites for specified periods of time.

“I have been on the board for 50 years and during that time, we

have had at least 30 offers from Japan, Europe and other parts of the

United States,” Festival board member Young said. “It sure could hurt

the gate here if it became commonplace.”

Brezzo said he proposed exploring licensing and he is the Festival

board’s designated negotiator with the management group.

“The board said, Steve, go back and talk to them, and if you think

there is a viable proposition, come back and present it to the

board,” Brezzo said.

Brezzo said he came up with idea after learning last year that a

number of productions similar to the pageant were under development

in other venues.

“After investigation, we found that the concept is not protected

and we were told that the only way to protect the concept at the

level we present it is to present it ourselves elsewhere,” Brezzo

said.

Brezzo opined that productions would more than likely be under the

supervision of pageant director Diane Challis Davy and be as

dependent on volunteers as the local pageant is.

The pageant is already protected under Trade Dress Law, said

Laguna Beach attorney and resident William Levin, who specializes in

intellectual property rights, which includes copyrights, patents and

trademarks.

Trade Dress Law protects design, packaging and the look of a

restaurant or a building other things, Levin said. It also protects a

production like the pageant, he said.

“Copyright does not protect an idea, but it does protect the

expression of an idea, and the pageant is the expression of an idea,”

Levin said. “The whole Pageant of the Masters is protected. The name

is a federally registered trademark.”

“I don’t think the pageant can stop people from doing living

pictures, but they can stop them from using distinctive features that

are uniquely associated with the Laguna pageant. However, they can

grant permission for someone to use the intellectual property in a

specific way and can charge compensation and set terms of the use.”

The tableaux began centuries ago in Europe, mostly related to

religion, according to festival research.

1933 was the first year living pictures were presented in Laguna,

under the title of Spirit of the Masters Pageant. Roy M. Ropp was the

first director.

The show was first held at the Irvine Bowl in 1941 and

continuously there since 1946. No show was produced from 1942 to

1946, during World War II.