Strengthening
Collective Bargaining
for Audiovisual Creators
Screenwriters and directors
Collective
Bargaining
and EU copyright
directive
The project titled “Strengthening Collective Bargaining for Audiovisual Creators (screenwriters and directors)”, co-funded by the European Union, ran from March 2021 to June 2023. It aimed at strengthening the capacity of audiovisual authors’ guilds and representative organizations in Europe, with a focus on directors and screenwriters, to bargain collectively, to coordinate this bargaining at EU level, and to promote employment opportunities with decent working conditions and fair remuneration for audiovisual creators.
By addressing negotiation imbalances and explicitly encouraging collective bargaining by authors and performers with producers, broadcasters and streamers, the 2019 EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) offers prospects for the strengthening of contract terms and for fair remuneration for authors, co-authors and performers for the use of their works and performances.
The adoption of this Directive led the project partners – the Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA), the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE), and the Media, Entertainment & Arts sector of UNI Global Union (UNI MEI), to set up this programme to build capacity among audiovisual authors’ guilds and professional organizations.
The objective is to enable them to bring the volume of collective agreements with employers to a level where social dialogue and collective bargaining become the industry norm, and to facilitate transparency and improvement of terms and conditions of employment, including remuneration, across the EU member states.
This project also took into account the structural changes in audiovisual production that are caused by the impact of COVID-19 on the industry.
Project activities
Through a series of activities, directors and screenwriters’ representative organizations had the opportunity to increase their collective bargaining capacity by developing common resources and networking with peers and organizations who already have the experience of bargaining collectively.
These activities included online workshops for audiovisual authors’ representative organizations, topical webinars and EU-level dialogue meetings between FERA, FSE, UNI MEI and producers’ and broadcasters’ organizations focused on the implementation of fair remuneration provisions in the 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.
Based on these in-depth exchanges, common resources were developed to support screenwriters and director’s professional organizations as they expand their collective bargaining practice.
A database providing an overview in English comparing national provisions on fair remuneration (transparency obligation, contractual readjustment mechanism and dispute resolution) of the 2019 CDSM Directive in 10 EU member states (Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden).
An index of national existing collective agreements translated in English.
A report of the topics discussed throughout the project duration including collective bargaining toolkit.
This project has received the support of the European Union. The publication reflects the views of the authors only and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use of the information contained therein.
Toolkit
A toolkit on collective bargaining
The report entitled “Strengthening Collective Bargaining for Audiovisual Creators (screenwriters and directors) – Toolkit” summarizes key topics discussed during the project duration, with recommendations in form of toolkits on each topic, in order to provide reference documentation and advice to screenwriters’ and directors’ professional organizations.
Databases
Several comparative tools are now available to provide reference information on fair remuneration to screenwriters’ and directors’ professional organizations.
Contracts’ database
Created in 2019 as part of the joint FERA-FSE-UNI MEI project titled “Promoting Fair Remuneration and Collective Bargaining for Creators in the EU Digital Single Market”, co-funded by the European Union, the “European Directors and Screenwriters Contracts Database” is a collaborative online tool offering the possibility to compare the terms and provisions of more than 45 anonymous individual authors’ contracts, translated in English, broken into key provisions and classified in several categories.
2019 Copyright Directive database
The database provides an overview in English comparing national provisions on fair remuneration (transparency obligation, contractual readjustment mechanism and dispute resolution) of the 2019 CDSM Directive in 10 EU member states (Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden)
Collective agreements Index
The index provides an overview of existing national collective agreements and access to public agreements translated in English.
Other resources
Browse other resources such as publications, presentations, reports on previous joint programmes, etc.
European survey on the remuneration of audiovisual authors – Summary
An illustrated summary of the final results of a European-wide survey on the remuneration of audiovisual authors. It reveals some shocking findings about pay levels, unstable incomes, unpaid work, job insecurity, and a significant gender gap between men and women.
Copyright Directive Implementation
During the first webinar, experts and representatives of FERA and FSE’s networks heard from Ula Furgal, Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Information Law and researcher at the University of Glasgow’s CREATe Centre, who presented an overview of the Directive’s transposition 13, underlining the modest engagement of Member States at this point and the fact that the digital dimension of authors’ and performers’ remuneration for the exploitation of their works was largely absent from national transpositions while interpretation on certain issues e.g. transparency could diverge significantly from one country to the next.
The changing landscape for film and TV production
During the third webinar Gilles Fontaine, Head of Department for Market Information at the European Audiovisual Observatory, made a presentation. Based on the wide perspectives of research and publication of the EAO, it brings a broad and general analysis of the current situation of the film and television industries in Europe and broad speculation about the long-term prospects. He drew attention to the inherent structural problems of the current expansion of production volumes, in particular in the rapid growth of short-run TV series and suggested likely scenarios for the inevitable downturn.
Partners
Project partners
FERA (Federation of European Screen Directors)
Founded in 1980, FERA represents film and TV directors at European level, with 48 directors’ associations as members from 35 countries. We speak for more than 20,000 European screen directors, representing their cultural, creative and economic interests.
EU Transparency Register ID: 29280842236-21
FSE (Federation of Screenwriters in Europe)
FSE is a network of national and regional associations, guilds and unions of writers for the screen in Europe, created in June 2001. It brings together 31 screenwriters’ organizations from 25 European countries. It represents more than 8,000 professional screenwriters.
EU Transparency Register ID: 642670217507-74
UNI MEI (the Media, Entertainment & Arts sector of UNI Global Union)
Unites over 140 unions and guilds to raise standards and enforce rights for more than 500.000 creatives, technicians and auxiliary workers. Together, our members work for a fair, inclusive, equal, and sustainable global entertainment industry and a just transformation.
EU Transparency Register ID: 605859248462-93
Project experts
Dr. Ula Furgal
Project expert and Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Information Law, CREATe Centre, University of Glasgow
Barbara Persyn
Copyright and Media Law consultant
Olivier Vancappellen
Web developer, Lunafelina
Scripted by Steppers Studio
Legal mentions - 2023