This past Thursday the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society filed an arbitration claim on behalf of Julie Taymor, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark‘s original director.  The claim is over the failure to pay royalties to the director.  In a statement the union said to producers:

…failed to pay to Ms. Taymor any royalties for the run of the production” in violation of her contract and the union’s collective bargaining agreement. Laura Penn, the society’s executive director, said in the statement that Ms. Taymor “has given nine years of her life to this project” and its producers had “absolutely no right, legally and ethically, to withhold royalties that are due to her.” Ms. Penn added, “In fact, the right to use her work, on Broadway or anywhere else, is dependent upon the payment of royalties.

The union represents theater directors.  The union says that according to it’s collective bargaining agreement, directors are supposed to receive royalties with a show’s first paid public performance, which occurred in November for the Broadway musical.