The Great Shakespeare What if

This is a fun report theorizing how Shakespeare may have managed his intellectual property and brands had he been alive today. Follow the link to hear the entire report.

NPR : Could Shakespeare Survive in Hollywood?: "If William Shakespeare were alive today, he might be in real estate.

Shakespeare made some money as a writer over the course of his career. But longtime Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart notes that his real wealth seems to have come from owning shares in The Globe Theater, as well as a substantial amount of property.

'He was a capitalist, no doubt about that,' Stewart says.

Today, Shakespeare's works are in the public domain. But as a living playwright, he would be collecting thousands of dollars in royalties -- just as Neil Simon does -- from the hundreds of productions of his plays in the United States alone.

One theater director in Denver, for example, said that his company's five-week run of Measure for Measure produced ticket sales of $470,000. Shakespeare's royalty would have been about 10 percent, or $47,000. That's just one theater in a medium-sized market.

As for publishing, Shakespeare Incorporated would stand to sell several million books a year. Last year in the United States, Shakespeare titles sold more than 775,000 copies. Shakespeare is translated into more than 100 languages; publishing royalties would rake in at least $10 million a year.

Shakespeare would have been popular in Hollywood, too. Like Stephen King, the Bard has spawned a cottage industry of film and television"