Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1466490
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 MAY 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 MAY 2022 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Stagun Teatru Malti WITH response to your report of 24 April, 2022: there are two aspects of Stagun Teatru Malti. The development side and the production side. I created a business plan by which I suggested that a grant of €20,000 be created for the development of three plays a year. This grant was designed solely for the creation of new scripts in Maltese. Not a penny of it was to be spend in the production of the plays developed. €2,500 a year from the €20,000 were returned to the Manoel to pay for printing expenses and reading room fees. Each author was contracted for four drafts of each play and every draft was then acted out by leading actors in a reading session. Other authors were invited to write critiques of the dif- ferent drafts. Everyone was paid. Add legal, auditing, management and office expenses and the fund ends up with approximately €15,000 for three new scripts paid solely to authors, actors and critics. Most years we came in overbudget, and Staġun Teatru Malti made up the difference. I invited the authors to come up with ideas but more often than not, I suggested themes to them, which they gladly accepted to work on. I wrote seven of the 20 scripts produced so far. I was paid out of the grant and yes, I paid myself more than an author with little or no experience. If you're inter- ested my film and TV CV is on IMDB. Every draft was submitted to the theatre, which has the right to refuse the play. If a script is refused, the au- thor is paid up to the draft at which the development is stopped. In all, I ended the development of three plays so far. And the authors were all paid accord- ingly. Your statement that "but he is still entitled to annual €20,000 grant from theatre's budget for the develop- ment of that script" is misleading and defamatory. The €20,000 goes for three finished scripts per year and are not a direct (or indirect) payment to me per- sonally. Any author who submitted the four contracted drafts, was is owed full compensation whether the play is per- formed or not. The Manoel Theatre's rejection of the script does not negate the remuneration owed to the author. What hogwash! The 72% (cited in the audit report) were remuneration from ticket sales at the production level. The €20,000 were normally deposit- ed in the STM account which also in- cluded all profits from the production's ticket sales. The payments you indicate are for the services as producer, direc- tor (for those plays which I directed), Therese's wardrobe services, Therese's accounting (€500 p.a.), publicity (Face- book boosting), local publicity, office, legal and auditing. The figures you quoted are for the total remuneration for two years of work over four pro- ductions paid out by STM production business not from the development grant. But the way you put it is a mali- cious attempt to smear my name, my wife's name and is not based on the whole truth. Sir, you are wrong! The finished plays were then pro- duced in partnership with the theatre. The cost of the development was never included in the budget of the produc- tion. Profits and losses were divided 50/50 after all expenses were paid (an approx. €30,000 per production, which means that so far I have risked half of about €600,000. All for new original Maltese drama. It's ok. You need not thank me for that risk taking, which according to you should go unremu- nerated). Remember that all remuner- ation beyond the development stage was never paid out of the €20,000 but out of ticket sales instead. Oh yes, you did not mention the fact that in these ten years I contributed approximately €80,000 in profits to the Manoel The- atre. One other thing. The €20,000 was always paid in arrears which meant that most years I had to dish out the €20,000 before I received them. I did not charge for that service, nor did I charge interest. Ix-Xiħa: it was not a public outcry that stopped ix-Xiħa, but the perverse, politically motivated activism of a certain portion of the Nationalist uni- verse. Let's not pretend this was some sort of national reaction. The Manoel will have to answer to this in court. Kenneth Zammit Tabona at first re- fused the play. During the DCG inquiry the magistrates found nothing wrong with the satirical content and encour- aged me to continue: see the court transcripts. The board reconvened and with Kenneth Zammit Tabona present, the board unanimously agreed to let the show be staged in 2022. Mario Azzopardi