Two panels held during last week's CineLink Industry Days at the Sarajevo Film Festival tackled the same underlying question from different angles: what does it actually take to make sure the people who write and direct films get paid and stay creatively relevant in a fast-changing industry?

The first session, titled “The Long Road to Remuneration”, brought together heads of collective management organisations (CMOs) from Poland, Slovenia, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was moderated by Cécile Despringre, secretary general of the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA). The picture that emerged was one of hard-won progress in some countries and near-total paralysis in others, with collective management enshrined in law, rather than voluntary agreements, emerging as the clearest key to success.

Poland offered the most encouraging case study. ZAPA, the Polish Filmmakers’ Association, represents around 7,000 filmmakers, and now collects and distributes roughly €60 million a year, having recently expanded its remit to cover video on demand. Lidia Radlińska-Gutek, head of the Legal and Public Affairs Department at ZAPA, explained that the shift only worked once the law changed the payer of remuneration from producers to users, a system that better reflects fair, scaled compensation. But the complexity involved is still enormous: “CMOs are dealing with big businesses, so it requires serious financial, legal and IT expertise.” Streaming is now recognised as a primary window of exploitation, though Radlińska-Gutek noted that a government attempt to cancel VoD remuneration was only reversed after heavy lobbying from actors and directors, echoing a similar fight in Slovenia.

Slovenia's AIPA, a comparatively young organisation representing authors, producers and actors, collects around €8 million annually. Managing director Gregor Štibernik pointed to joint efforts and R&D as the keys to progress, and described a distinctly hands-on lobbying strategy: sending actors directly into parliament to make the case for authors’ rights. He called them “the best” advocates for the cause.

In North Macedonia, there are real difficulties affecting authors and filmmakers. Kiril Gjozev, secretary general of AZAS, is still working to get the organisation operational; administrative delays mean its authors currently receive nothing at all. “We aren't giving up,” he said. “Our films are getting recognition and awards, but creators should get paid too.”

Bosnia and Herzegovina's situation was the panel's most sobering account. Melina Alagić, general secretary of the Association of Filmmakers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, described how filmmakers briefly secured agreements with broadcasters back in 2015, only for a political decision to freeze all payments – a freeze that is still in place a decade later. A licence that had been granted was later revoked and reassigned to a rival organisation, effectively resetting the process.

Despringre's closing assessment cut through the variation in national experience: voluntary systems are too easily undermined or ignored, and mandatory collective management enshrined in law is the only reliable route to paying authors fairly. The EU’s copyright directive, several panellists agreed, is the catalyst that has made national reform possible, although implementation still depends heavily on local political will.

The second panel, “AI: Threat, Tool or Both?”, turned to artificial intelligence, bringing together screenwriters, producers and industry leaders from Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia and North Macedonia. The tone was notably more anxious than it was during the first session.

Writer-director Sonja Prosenc (History of Love, Family Therapy) raised a quietly unsettling question: when she sends off a script, will a human read it or will ChatGPT? Sashko Potter Micevski, of the North Macedonia Film Agency, was worried less about copyright in the abstract sense and more about a rising generation of filmmakers who may lack fundamental craft skills. Jana Vozarova, of Slovakia's LITA, was blunt about the scale of the problem: a multi-trillion-dollar industry has fed authors’ work into AI models without consent, transparency or payment. Producer Joanna Szymanska contributed another concern to the discussion: “tactile knowledge” carried through lived experience simply can’t be replicated by a model. She thus warned those present that AI-generated content risks making authentic, human-made work harder to recognise, or even a privilege that few can afford.