The event held in Geneva focused on worldwide issues affecting audiovisual authors, and called for enhanced legal safeguards, fair compensation and policy reforms

A moment during the panel discussion (© Carlo De Rosa)

“Beyond the Credits: Strengthening Audiovisual Authors’ Rights”, a Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) side event, co-organised by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), the Latin American Audiovisual Authors Societies Federation (FESAAL) and the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), took place on 9 April at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. The event was moderated by Barbara Hayes, chief executive of The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society in the UK, and saw the participation of screenwriters and directors who contributed testimonies from three continents, as well as copyright experts who highlighted the imbalance between the crucial creative role played by audiovisual authors and the unfair lack of fair remuneration and protection.

Constance Herreman Follain, director of Legal and Public Affairs at CISAC, opened the discussion by highlighting the core issue at the heart of the gathering: “Screenwriters and directors are at the epicentre of the creative process; however, in many countries, their legal and economic protection does not adequately reflect their valuable role, especially in the rapidly evolving landscape shaped by streaming platforms and AI.”

To welcome the participants, Ángeles González-Sinde Reig, screenwriter, director and vice-president of CISA, introduced the topic and reinforced the importance of the debate: “Screenwriters and directors create first-class content, and yet they’re treated like third-class citizens when it comes to the protection of their rights. […] The rise of AI and streaming has exacerbated the problem, which existed before anyway.” She concluded by stating that a study of existing laws would help identify effective models and would inform policymakers as they consider ways to better protect audiovisual creators in an increasingly complex digital world. Ivory Coast’s suggestion to carry out a similar report was praised by González-Sinde Reig.

After this, Swiss screenwriter Emmanuelle Fournier-Lorentz took the floor, and when asked about the main challenges that she has faced throughout her career, which began in 2018, she said that she was surprised to find that in Switzerland, hers is one of the most insecure and least well-paid jobs in the cinema industry. “The already low wages have not changed since 2011, and the [minimum wages] are not compulsory and are almost never respected in the industry,” she stated. She explained how, at the beginning of her career, she was offered minimum pay for nine months’ work, which she had to negotiate for four months, ending up with barely any increase at all.

Kenneth Gyang, a Nigerian screenwriter and director, and a member of Creators@CISAC, commented on the state of such rights on his continent: “In most African countries, national laws do not grant any remuneration rights to audiovisual authors. Bringing a new work to the screen is a long and uncertain process, which often takes years. Without the ability to earn a fair livelihood, many of my fellow Nigerian creators have been forced to leave the industry.”

Sergio Vainman, an Argentinian screenwriter and vice-president of Argentores, discussed how, over his 50-year career, he has seen appalling work contracts that belittle the importance of creatives in the film industry, affirming: “There is no bread without flour; without screenwriters and directors, there would be nothing for businesses and cultural companies to sell, and nothing for viewers to watch around the world.” He described the situation as “heartbreaking, but unfortunately true”, because sometimes, the author simply gives away a great deal of their hard work after having been forced to sign contracts to be able to direct or write. Vainman stated that in some of the agreements he has seen, “the author grants the right for the work to be reproduced – in whole or in part – modified or adapted, freely and under another title, and for the characters to be used for independent commercialisation. This applies to all media invented and to be invented, or created and to be created, and in all territories of the planet discovered and to be discovered, without any limit on time or the number of uses.”

Following Serge Akpatou’s (Ivory Coast’s SCCR delegate) intervention on the worrying situation for West Africa’s copyright laws and remuneration, Christophe Geiger, professor of Law at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, brought up a recent study by the European Commission, which shows that 51% of audiovisual authors think that their remuneration is rarely fair, and 33% believe it’s never fair. He then discussed the pros and cons of copyright contract law: “The problem is that none of the authors would like to litigate against their producers, and if they do, they get blacklisted, and this also involves legal costs. So, it's certainly not a way to fix that. Some of my colleagues call copyright contract law ‘a toothless tiger’. There are many advantages to having statutory remuneration rights instead, especially when they are coupled with mandatory collective management – not least legal security for authors. We have had some very good experiences in the countries where this has been implemented in different fields of exploitation, such as Italy, Spain, Germany and Poland. A study would be very helpful here to make a comparative analysis.”

Hayes concluded the session by encouraging the delegates to support the WIPO study suggested by Ivory Coast, which González-Sinde Reig also favoured in her opening speech. The moderator also suggested that SCCR may consider developing a study on audiovisual performances in the framework of the Beijing Treaty.