Challenges continue for European screenwriters

16 July, 2015

AWG members and others with an interest in TV, film and multimedia may find the latest SAA research into writers’ remuneration interesting. Our colleagues from the Society of Audiovisual Authors undertake regular research into matters of special concern to the author members of its 25 constituent organisations spread across 18 countries in Europe.

In 2011, the SAA produced its first White Paper into rights and remuneration. Now its 2015 White Paper has been released and paints a continuing picture of the challenges facing audiovisual authors and the actions needed to correct some of the greatest inequities.

To get some perspective on the challenges for performance writers in Europe, in 2013 approximately one million people work directly in a European audiovisual industry with €122 billion in revenues, producing 1,551 feature films, box office receipts of €6.28 billion and a staggering 8,828 television channels and more than 3,000 on-demand platforms.

The SAA White Paper states that in 2013, the 25 SAA members collected just €452 million for their audiovisual authors, a mere 0.37% of the industry’s total revenues.

The White Paper notes a number of areas of concern and calls for action in areas such as unfair contractual practices, online and on-demand rights payments, cable retransmission, private copying and the need for unwaivable rights for authors.

An executive summary of the SAA White Paper is available here and the document in its entirety is here.