27 April 2012
Posted in TV

Frances Greenwood is fed up with being considered too old to write TV drama

‘“I work in TV”; just saying it gave him satisfaction……Secretly, he liked the fact that it was one of the better-looking industries, and one that valued youth. No chance, in this brave new world of TV, of walking into a conference room to find a group of sixty-two-year-olds brainstorming. What happened to TV people when they reached a certain age? Where did they go?’

(from One Day, by David Nicholls, Hodder and Stoughton, 2009)

Sixty-two years old? That’s me. And I didn’t go anywhere. In fact, I spend a lot of my time brainstorming ideas for TV. OK, so I’m usually doing it alone in my study, but I still have a brain and it still storms.

All over the UK, there are older writers like me who, once the brainstorming is over, struggle to be heard. Of course, there are some older writers in TV, but they are in a tiny minority of an industry increasingly dominated by two main groups.

First, there are The Heavyweights - not many of them, but they’re pretty much guaranteed a slot somewhere on TV. They start with one successful TV series, and now there’s no stopping them. And good on them, I say! These are our top-notch writers, who are rightfully occupying their thrones at the peak of the scriptwriting Parnassus. They are there because they’re good -- bloody good. They’re also lucky. And I use that word advisedly, not in some mealy-mouthed, bile-spitting way. They’re lucky because, having written that one breakout series, there will be no stopping them – for the moment. (I will come back to them when they’re 62.)

Next on the pile are The Young Turks. They are aged somewhere between 20 and 35 – or even 40, if they can sell themselves as younger than they actually are. Basically, the younger the better. They swarm all over television drama, eager, energetic, confident, full of ideas. They write Hollyoaks, Skins, telly for Young People. Now, however, they also write Holby, Casualty, Doctors - telly for the not-so-young. Why? What has happened here? Well, as far as the BBC is concerned, some of the flak has to be directed at its Writers’ Academy. Again, this is not a personal attack on its creators, for whom the idea must have seemed to tick a vast array of boxes marked compliance. But, just to give you a flavour of its intentions, here is part of the Academy’s call to writers put out last year:

‘The Writers’ Academy is a major initiative aimed at discovering and training the next generation of writers for BBC 1’s flagship shows: EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, and Doctors. The scheme works as an apprenticeship for writers.’ This call for applicants also included a quote from a writer, who says: ‘Writing for television can feel like running across a muddy field at night being pursued by man-eating pigs - the Academy gives you a torch.’ Well, I have news for him: those are not man-eating pigs, they are grey-haired writers. As one agent recently told me: ‘You just have to do the maths. Seven years of the Academy. Eight graduate writers getting an episode each of Doctors, Holby and Casualty. If they keep on getting employed by these shows, that’s a total of 56 new writers pushing out 56 writers who were already there.’ Although the Writers’ Academy is open to people of all ages, and some of more mature years do get in, the emphasis is inevitably on youth. Another TV agent told me that he has difficulty selling even his 30-year-old writers, such is the demand for the ‘next new bright young thing’.

16 April 2012
Posted in Film

Three important European bodies have come together to demand legislation for equitable rights payments for European film and television directors and screenwriters. They are calling for unwaivable enforceable rights, fair contracts and stronger resistance to arguments put out by the pirate lobby.

The Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA) which represents authors throughout Europe who are members of collecting societies;  the Federation of European Film Directors (FERA) which represents European film and television directors; and the Federation of Screenwriters Europe (FSE) which represents European screenwriters, are united in their commitment to facilitating production and distribution of our members’ work based on legal clarity and fair remuneration.

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, which is a member of the FSE, fully supports the statement.

Joint statement from SAA, FERA and FSE: An end to buyouts in Europe

We are committed to internet culture, we are determined to play our part in its development, and we want our work to be seen on as many European screens as possible. It is the creative talent of our members which will appeal to audiences online and across borders and create the demand that will fuel business innovation, employment creation and the many benefits which flow from an active cultural environment. This talent deserves fair reward.

Above all, we are seeking an end to the buyout contracts that deprive our members of so much legitimate income. Buyout contracts force authors to accept payments that take little or no account of subsequent use. They divorce the creator from the success of the work. The recent European Court of Justice ruling1 against ‘Cessio Legis’ is an important step forward, but it is only a start. We are appealing for EU legislation to make buyouts illegal, initially for online use and eventually for all means of distribution. The moral argument is the same in both: authors should be allowed to share in the success of their work. This will allow them to survive and do more work: in effect, it’s a virtuous circle.

Our online ‘Making Available’ right, taken in buyout contracts and exploited for a decade, in many cases without payment, should now be made enforceable, allowing negotiation of rates for online use.

Where this exclusive right is transferred to the producer, we ask for the enactment of an unwaivable Right to Equitable Remuneration payable to authors, for online use at first, and in due course for all means of distribution. This would be collectively negotiated, and depending on territory would function either as a benchmark rate underpinning local contractual negotiations, or as an actual rights payment collected and distributed by collecting societies. Our members have experience of both systems.

Flexibility will be essential, to reflect our differing legal cultures; but not the kind of ‘flexibility’ that merely allows producers and financiers to impose one sided contracts on individual authors with impunity. Most authors’ contracts are currently signed under considerable pressure. It is time to redress the balance of power.

It is also essential that the Commission reverses the current undermining of free negotiation by some competition authorities, for instance in Ireland and the Netherlands. In a free society, the representatives of creators must be permitted to bargain collectively and agree appropriate rates and conditions.

We welcome the imminent publication of an EU Directive on the governance of collecting societies and are determined to remain in the vanguard of efforts for greater transparency, efficiency and democracy in collective management. However, delays on resolving governance issues should not be an excuse for policy makers to shy away from strong, urgent and immediate support for solutions to the problem of fair payment.

Our associations emphatically reject the insinuations of the pirate lobby (and some powerful internet operators) that simply to require payment for use constitutes some kind of attack on free speech. This sophistry needs to be resisted by all, the Commission and Parliament in particular. Bullying is not less immoral for being practised by large movements.

European audiovisual authors will not stand idly by and see their industry destroyed. We speak out for democracy, and for the principle of fair trade. ‘Free access – but not for free!’