Petition (closed)

in their call for a modernised EU copyright framework that includes all creators:
 

It's time to act.

Act to end an unfortunate, simple reality: today, the vast majority of European screenwriters and directors receive no remuneration when their movies and series are watched on digital platforms in Europe.

There are many reasons for this unfair and harmful situation: the majority of EU Member States do not provide for a right to fair remuneration for authors; contractual clauses imposed on writers and directors deprive them of this right; contractual practices make the return of exploitation revenues along the value chain very opaque and uncertain, sometimes even for producers.

The draft Copyright Directive, currently under consideration by the European Parliament and Council, is the last opportunity to change the rules and give authors a chance to be remunerated.

The right to proportional remuneration already exists in a small number of European countries and allows authors to receive, through their collective management organisations, remuneration when their works are available and viewed. Today, in Europe, when you are an author, you have a hope of being paid if your film is on a platform in France or Italy, for example, and the near-certainty that you will receive nothing if the same film is available in Germany, Ireland or the Czech Republic.

This is exactly the sort of inequality that Europe can fix.

The construction of the Digital Single Market can and must put an end to these disparities and discriminations which weaken the authors and ultimately the creativity in Europe.

This is why we call on the European Parliament, the Member States, and the European Commission to hear the voices of European creators and adopt the following measure: an unwaivable right to proportional remuneration for authors, which would be collected directly from the on-demand platforms by the collective management organisations representing the authors.

There is no other way to guarantee writers and directors a fair remuneration for the on-demand exploitation of their works!

Support Europe’s screenwriters and directors. Sign the petition.

Signatories:

Robert Alberdingk Thijm, Miguel Alcantud, Visarion Alexa, Julia Altares, Alejandro Amenabar, Bill Anderson, Olatz Arroyo, Peter Balko, Otto Bathurst, Julie Bertuccelli, Karolina Bielawska, Victor Bojinov, Fred Breinersdorfer, Vinko Bresan, Ed Bye, Ramon Campos, Benoni-Ioan Cărmăzan, Peter Carpentier, Carlos Clavijo, Dan Clifton, Borja Cobeaga, Isabel Coixet, Philippa Collie Cousins, Konstantinos Costa-Gavras, Mircea-Stefan Daneliuc, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Jean-Xavier De Lestrade, Bavo Defurne, Toral Dixit, Paul Durgan, Klemen Dvornik, Christiana Ebohon, Nacho Faerna, Jacques Fansten, Marco Tullio Giordana, Tudor-Flaviu Giurgiu, Enric Gomà, Joaquín Górriz, Jochen Greve, Kristina Grozeva, Stere Gulea, Nic Guttridge, Kieron Hawkes, Napoleon-Leonardo Helmis, Hans Herbots, Miguel Hermoso, Alejandro Hernandez, Illy Hill, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Jessica Hobbs, Agnieszka Holland, Jan Hrebejk, Hrvoje Hribar, Tonislav Hristov, Lou Jeunet, Jonathan Jones, Karen Kelly,  Cédric Klapisch, Stephan Komandarev, Marek Lescak, Caroline Link, Zuzana Liová, Carlos Lopez, Miloslav Luther, Matevž Luzar, Serban Marinescu, Dalibor Matanic, Roger Michell, Radu Mihaileanu, Lynsey Miller, Carlos Molinero, Christian Mungiu, Călin Peter Netzer, Liviu-Doru Niţescu, Zrinko Ogresta, Rithv Panh, Ines Paris, Sir Alan Parker, Emanuel Alexandru Pârvu, Sverre Pedersen, Barnaby Peel, Adela Peeva, Metod Pevec, Nicolas Philibert, Nic Phillips, Dan Piţam Constantin Popescu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Radu-Christian Potcoavă, Paul Powell, Shok Prasad, Udavan Prasad, Diane Redmond, Alberto Rodriquez Librero, Michael Roskam, Stefan Ruzowitzky, Branko Schmidt, Jon Sen, Danilo Serbedzija, Alberto Simone, Marko Skop, Steve Smith, Birgitte Stærmose, Hugh Stoddart, Charles Sturridge, Ondrej Sulaj, Martin Sulik, Jan Sverak, Bertrand Tavernier, Anna Thomson, Fernando Trueba, Paul Unwin, Enrique Urbizu, Petar Valchanov, Jaco Van Dormael, Frank Van Passel, Jan Verheyen, Žiga Virc, Margarethe Von Trotta, Hans Werner Geissendörfer, Susanna White, Martijn Winkler, Virginia Yague, Benito Zambrano.