EXCLUSIVE: The first investor non-disparagement clause we found was for the Scott Rudin-produced revival of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. (Click on the text for easier reading.)
Operating agreements for the Rudin productions of The Humans, Blackbird and Shuffle Along, and the Joey Parnes-produced Bright Star use roughly the same language. (The Humans, for example, prohibits investors from criticizing — in addition to Rudin and the Broadway show — the Roundabout Theatre Co. production, which was the premiere of the Stephen Karam drama.) The clause evolved and lengthened for Hello, Dolly!
The Dolly! papers also include an exhaustive confidentiality clause listing whom an investor can’t disparage and the social media options.
The takeaway: if you’re investing with Scott Rudin, keep complaints to yourself or share them discretely.
