SAA Board of Patrons meets Commissioner Barnier

Costa-Gavras, (Z, Missing, Amen, Eden à l’Ouest), Jaco Van Dormael (Toto le Héros, Le huitième jour, Mr. Nobody), Fred Breinersdorfer (Sophie Scholl, the Final Days), Stijn Coninx (Koko Flanel, Daens, Soeur Sourire), Guy Seligmann (Sartre par lui-même, La mort de Danton, Dix mythes par Claude Lévy-Strauss) a group of eminent audiovisual authors - members of the SAA Board of Patrons, met today Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services in order to discuss the issues, problems and solutions that audiovisual authors are faced with at the European level.

In the heart of the conversation were the political and legal challenges the sector is experiencing: the changing environment of the film and TV industries, the necessity of a legal environment that fosters creativity, EU political push for a digital single market, and the fact that the EU framework remains to be harmonised in order to ensure effective economic and moral rights and remuneration for audiovisual authors.

The Board of Patrons explained to the Commissioner the objectives that are of paramount importance to SAA and namely: to defend and strengthen the economic and moral rights of audiovisual authors (screenwriters and directors); to secure fair remuneration for audiovisual authors for every use of their works; to develop, promote and facilitate the management of rights by member societies.

Finally SAA participants explained that the only realistic and sustainable solutions are to foster awareness about the importance of the protection of intellectual property rights as a basis for a diverse cultural landscape targeting European stakeholders and the broad public; to establish an unwaivable right to fair remuneration of European audiovisual authors for the making available right (online rights) and finally to ensure the effective implementation through collective management societies by improving procedures and co-operation on national, European and global level.