We keep hearing the global streaming model is broken for writers
So we're banding together to strategize and share information in a centralized place
Who we Are
The Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) brings together 31 screenwriters' organisations from 25 European countries. The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG) has 14 members from 12 countries. Together, our organizations represent approximately 67,000 professional film and television writers worldwide.
What we want
We want a set of basic principles to protect writers’ interests in their contractual relationships with global streaming companies and ensure they are fairly treated and properly remunerated for their work.
A Global Response to Global Companies
Solidarity
To ensure a global response, IAWG and FSE and their members will coordinate their relevant activities, work to adopt and protect international norms for writer credits, and exchange information about their campaigns and negotiations on a regular and organised basis. Where possible, they will involve other writers guilds not currently engaged with IAWG or FSE, subject to their agreeing to this set of basic principles.
Transparency
WE insist that information on the audience and associated financial performance of the works our members have created is information which they are entitled to know. Whether arrived at by collective bargaining backed by industrial action and/or by legislative means, Guilds will ensure that they and their members are adequately and effectively informed about the audiences generated by their work and the associated financial performance.
Sharing in the Economic Life of What WE Create
The audience support, and consequent financial performance, of a work are in large part the result of the quality of the story and its telling, which originates with the writers. Accordingly, writers are entitled to a proportionate share of the financial performance of their work, however that may be derived. This principle applies regardless of the legislative or industrial basis of the contractual relationship. Acknowledging that there are substantive differences in compensation processes in different countries, nonetheless proportionate remuneration should be broadly comparable across the globe.
Collective Bargaining
It is our conviction that the principles described here can most effectively be established through Collective Bargaining facilitated by whatever legislative and/or industrial processes are necessary to defend the rights and remuneration of our members.
What we know
Guilds with collective agreements make their minimum terms and conditions publicly available. For writers without the benefit of these agreements, non-disclosure clauses embedded in individual contracts prevent us from knowing exactly how they are compensated. Anecdotally, we do know the global streaming companies prefer 100% buyouts for a single lump sum and resist sharing viewer data beyond top ten lists. WE are working to change this.
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