The Australian Writers' Guild has slammed Australian royalty collection agency Screenrights over a new policy which could see Australian screenwriters deprived of royalties.
The AWG has criticised the Express Dispute Resolution Procedure released on September 1 by Screenrights, a multi-million dollar organisation established to collect and distribute statutory royalty payments for film and television makers.
According to an AWG statement, the new procedure represents an extraordinary change to Screenrights practices and means that Australian screenwriters risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the royalty payments that Screenrights is entrusted by the federal government to fairly distribute.
The Guild has been in protracted negotiations with Screenrights for years over the approach Screenrights takes to their dealings with writers.
“For decades, Screenrights has favoured producers, distributors and broadcasters, distributing to them royalties that were owed to writers,” an AWG statement said.
AWG executive director, Jacqueline Elaine, said Screenrights was entrusted with millions of dollars on behalf of audio visual creators.
“They should hold themselves accountable to the highest possible standards,” she said.
“Unfortunately this new procedure is a stark example of an inconsistent, inequitable and non-transparent approach.”
The EDR Process will operate alongside Screenrights’ existing Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedure for Multiple Claims between Screenrights’ Members.
Two drafts of the EDR Process were released for comment in October 2014 and May 2015. Screenrights also hosted roundtables in Sydney and Melbourne in June 2015.
Screenrights chief executive, Simon Lake, told IF Screenrights initially proposed changes to its royalties distribution process in October 2014.
"At the time, we sought feedback from stakeholders and members to the proposal, which we believe is a common sense approach that will ensure royalties are distributed efficiently and fairly, particularly in the event of multiple claims," he said.
"Screenrights took into consideration industry feedback, including from AWGACS, before implementing the express dispute resolution on 1 September.
"There are two presumptions in the express dispute resolution policy which favour writers – specifically for series and serials produced after 1 January 2008 and mini series produced after 1 January 2010.
He said Screenrights paid the appropriate rights holders in accordance to Australian law.
"Screenrights continues to collect and pay royalties on behalf of its members," he said.
"More than $38.4 million dollars has been paid in the 2014/15 financial year”
The EDR Process will be reviewed by an independent reviewer after 12 months of operation.
Elaine said Screenrights’ announcement stated that their approach was based on 'common sense' and ‘standard industry practice’.
“It is far from common sense to introduce a policy where those most affected by the policy have raised grave concerns that have not been addressed”.
She says writers are not represented on the Board of Screenrights and “The policy and procedures might look very different if they were.”
The EDR process is a dispute resolution procedure that contains nine presumptions. It is used in cases where, based on one or more of the presumptions, a particular member is likely to be the relevant rightsholder of the royalties in conflict.
Screenrights determines whether a presumption applies to a conflict and will notify the members involved.
If a presumption favours a particular member, that member can rely on it to receive payment of royalties, unless the opposing member is able to overturn the Presumption or put the Presumption into question.