Heathers: The Musical - TRH / The Other Palace / @sohoplace

Ugh this is so gutting. And then the whole photo stealing fiasco as well, doesn’t seem like you’re having much luck with this transfer

yes @eldermillan - I kinda accounted for that with the 'etc'

Buckle up kids, it's storytime. (I apologise in advance for how long this post will probably be.)

So a couple of weeks ago I was passing the Haymarket and saw that the Heathers banners had gone up, so I took some time to snap a nice pic. I then posted this on Twitter a week before Heathers would be starting, and it did pretty well in terms of engagement, the Heathers Musical account even retweeted it (which is probably why it was so well liked), and after that, I thought nothing more of it. 

Here's the tweet!


Come Monday, I notice Heathers have posted an image that looks VERY familiar, and because it's MY photo that they've used, I know immediately that it's mine, and I'm a bit furious. Not only have they just taken a photo of mine without even asking, let alone asking for permission, but they've altered it and used it for social and ultimately economic gain. 



I quote tweeted this being a little bit shady tbh, about people needing to ask permission before using other people's photos, and after a few more people also tweet at them about this they finally make some sort of apology - though looking back on it now it purely reads as an admission of guilt, not as an actual apology. 



I know for some people they'll read this and think my reaction is petty, but this is a frustrating situation that's happened to me far too many times where people use my content on their own platforms, usually to promote something, without even asking me. I'd be fine with them using it IF they had actually asked me, but because they've bypassed that step I get ragey. Also, this isn't just a photo that I've taken on my phone, it's a photo that I've taken with my DSLR that I worked hard to earn, and learnt how to use/edit photos etc etc, so it's not only just stealing a photo but stealing my time and worth really. It's also illegal technically, and really BAD social media practise. 

Paul Taylor Mills also shared this photo on his social channels, albeit unedited, and finally credited my on Instagram after I'd commented, but the fact that the Heathers Musical account retweeted the original post and then claimed to not know it was mine... *eye-roll*

Not only that but I had to deal with a couple of ignorant people claiming that it isn't the same photo, when it is, so that's been super frustrating too. It's all just really gross and has definitely put me off the show, so despite me paying good money to see it last night, I sadly didn't enjoy it all too much because of this whole thing. 

It’s a shady thing for them to do. Too many people assume that images anywhere on the Internet are “free”, even more so when they’re on social media.

Unfortunately, although you have an automatic copyright, there’s also little you can enforce. It would be hard to prove any consequential loss. They may also claim copyright of the poster in the image, as well as various rules to do with derivative works and editorial use.

All I can say is do take it as a positive that they valued the photo (you can truthfully claim all the exposure came as a result of your photo) and I hope they might think twice next time.

I did event photography for a few years, watermarks on images etc and I know how widely they still ended up being circulated. Some asked for permission, most did not. But nothing that would ever be worth enforcing or taking too much to heart.

In theory, but look at how tightly the lampost lines up almost against the window.
To re-capture that position, on Haymarket, at dusk, without any double deckers driving past into view, with the traffic light on green, etc... Beyond unlikely.

Literally!! Especially as they'd retweeted it a week before. I work for a theatre marketing company, I KNOW the protocol that you *should* go through to use someone's photo, and that's just to simply share it. Doctoring it is then a whole other thing. Having this knowledge is what frustrates me so much, because what they should've done is simply DM me as soon as they had the idea to make this new asset, asking if I were ok with it, and I would've ok'd it. Wouldn't have even cared for credit tbh. 

Sorry to derail the woe-fest, but has anyone been back to ‘Heathers’ since it’s move? What are the changes? Does it lose anything being in a larger space? Does Martha now fly an actual unicorn?

Could it be that more than one person runs their twitter account? In the sense that one person retweeted your photo tweet last week and someone else edited the photo and posted it this week? In which case they may have got the image from PTM’s account after he took it and posted it as his own? Thought just crossed my mind as a way they could have ‘unintentially used your image’. Either way it’s still morally wrong but just one of those things that you unfortunately have to deal with these days when sharing anything on social media.

As for the show itself I’m looking forward to going back and seeing it again, I’m not going until October currently but thinking of entering the lottery before then. Does anyone know where the lottery seats are located? Or is it just a case of they fill free seats with them?

"Private PR Firm" whose professional business it is, is to post via social media channels. This requires a certain etiquette and above all a respect for digital laws.
Dismissing it as actions of a PR firm in no way validates it and in fact makes it worse. If said account is ran by a PR firm (which I doubt, given their responses and use of emoji) then they should be adhering to specific protocol.

I read, on here I think, a mention of loud noises and pyros in this? It wasn't really elaborated on then.

Is anyone willing to spoil it for me?

I finally caved and booked for this. Seeing it the same day as Company which could be an interesting exercise in musical and thematic juxtaposition. (I mean that sincerely, it sounds sarcastic however I write it)