The 5th edition of the EU Audiovisual Authors’ Workshop in Ljubljana, organised in partnership by FERA (Federation of European Film Directors), FSE (Federation of Screenwriters in Europe) and SAA (Society of Audiovisual Authors), was hosted by the Directors’ Guild of Slovenia, DSR Screenwriters and AIPA. The topic of this year’s workshop was the potential implementation of the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market and the opportunities and challenges faced by audiovisual authors in getting fair value for the exploitation of their work.

The workshop took place on 4-5 March 2019 at SLON Hotel in Ljubljana, gathering around 45 participants from Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom, representing national directors’ and screenwriters’ organisations, as well as collective management organisations.

The workshop programme featured topical presentations "Trilogue final agreement on authors’ remuneration provisions in the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market", by FERA CEO Pauline Durand-Vialle, and "Mapping of current practices in negotiating and managing audiovisual authors’ rights throughout Europe in a fast-changing distribution market", by SAA executive director Cécile Despringre, as well as case studies by Create Denmark CEO Kasper Halkier, Laure Gicquel from France's SACD, Susann Reck from Germany's Bundesverband Regie and Kinga Szelenbaum from Poland's ZAPA. Expert panels discussed "Grey zones in negotiating audiovisual authors’ rights: where can the Directive help?", moderated by FERA CEO Pauline Durand-Vialle, and "Public relations: how to address decision-makers in implementing the Directive?", moderated by FSE Executive Officer David Kavanagh.

As the adoption of the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market is drawing nearer, the organising partners took this opportunity to empower a struggling European audiovisual authors’ community. FERA has also recently published the first results of a European survey on the remuneration of audiovisual authors, which can be downloaded here.