French fiction: the challenge of writing and development
Report of the Chevalier mission on French fiction March 2011, directed by Pierre Chevalier, Sylvie Pialat and Franck Philippon.
Extract, page 15:
"The writing phase is marked out by a excessive number meetings and reviews between scriptwriter/producer and broadcaster. For each of these, the scripts pass through several hands, at different decision-making levels. A growing number of round trips between these various managers (readers, programme managers, fiction director, programme director, etc.), who are often numerous and may have opposing visions or even change during the course of the project, is detrimental to the identity of projects. The constant turnover of certain teams - particularly those in the public service - was regularly pointed out by professionals during the hearings. Some of them recounted how, after having to reluctantly make changes to their scripts at the request of a programme advisor, they had finally seen their projects rejected by the channel, in the name of those same changes - the advisor having been replaced in the meantime. (...) as we all know, from the 3rd draft onwards, it's no longer so much a question of improving a script as of delaying the crucial decision to go into production, which falls to the broadcaster.. Doubts began to creep into people's minds, and so began the dark period when the scriptwriters would cut down - sabotage? - what they had spent months writing...".
OPCA Cinéma 2015
Observatoire Permanent des Contrats de l'Audiovisuel de la SACD (OPCA), Cinéma, 2015
Page 2 :
Less than 3% of authors can expect their royalties to be covered by box office alone.
OPCA TV Fiction 2016
Observatoire Permanent des Contrats de l'Audiovisuel de la SACD (OPCA), TV Fiction, 2016
Pages 35 and 20 :
For scriptwriters of live-action audiovisual dramasIn order to reimburse the royalties paid to authors and allow them to benefit from their proportional remuneration on these exploitations, the total international exploitation of audiovisual fiction programmes would have to reach a figure of 1.843 billion euros. To cover their MG, authors must hope that their work generates gross revenue at least 18 times higher than that of the best-selling series.
OPCA Animation 2018
Observatoire Permanent des Contrats de l'Audiovisuel de la SACD (OPCA), Animation, 2018
Page 50 :
For animation scriptwritersThe OPCA states that authors do not receive their proportional remuneration until the MG paid by the producer has been amortised, and that in practice the vast majority of authors never see their MG amortised.
Film and series writing in France
CNC/SACD study on film and series writing in France, April 2019
This study confirms that the remuneration paid by producers to film and television scriptwriters are advances on the proceeds of the percentages to be returned to them from the exploitation of their rights. So for film scriptwritersOn page 25, it is stated that "In the majority of cases, the GP is not reimbursed", so the producer does not pay any proportional remuneration.
The attempt to resolve this anomalous situation through collective bargaining has failed. On page 36 we learn that the option provided for in the 2010 professional agreement to provide additional remuneration after amortisation has only been applied to 78% of contracts, and on page 42 that ten years after their theatrical release, this has only been effective for 44% of these contracts.
Berger report on a new organisation of serial fiction in France
Berger report on a new organisation of serial fiction in France, October 2019directed by Alex Berger
Excerpt from page 40:
"The Guilde Française des Scénaristes (French Screenwriters' Guild) suggests a number of avenues to explore:
"The law classifies as copyright only the remuneration linked to the transfer and exploitation of screenwriters' rights. This qualification has led to the creation of the use of advances (NB: guaranteed minimum), which amounts to denying any value to the reality of writing work. Even if the transparency agreement signed in 2017 by the authors' organisations and producers' unions makes it easier to recover these advances, it does not make it possible to break with the symbolic dimension surrounding the practice of advances, which deprives the commission given to the scriptwriter of any value in itself. Screenwriters are thus obliged to accept as many rewrites as the producer wishes, without additional remuneration, because their remuneration is conditional on their script being accepted and distributed. The lack of a specific cost for commissioning is probably one of the reasons why development is sometimes abnormally long, and why it is difficult to maintain a strong artistic coherence throughout a project. In an industry where the race for innovation and creativity is on at breakneck speed, France is in danger of falling rapidly behind if it does not quickly put in place contractual practices associated with minimum standards for organising the writing process".
Working conditions and career paths of television scriptwriters in French animation
Working conditions and career paths of television scriptwriters in French animationStudy report (September 2019) commissioned by the SACD from the Centre de Sociologie des Organisations de SciencesPo and the CNRS, carried out by Maxime Besenval under the direction of Professor Gwenaële Rot
Extract from page 22:
"Faced with the reality of a business in which a large number of stakeholders demand high standards of service, we have to face up to the challenge. changes with sometimes vague and contradictory justificationsAs a result, a process of gradual erosion of attachment to projects is set in motion, as screenwriters are repeatedly denied recognition of their narrative expertise. Caught up in an organisational framework of production of an object over which the scriptwriter has no final authority, many of them find themselves prevented from taking part in the legitimate controversy over the quality and direction of the script, despite the nodal position that is theirs. These professional situations of lack of debate and common criteria on quality can then end up in devitalise the action. The need to make an effective contribution to reprehensible acts can in fact transform the activity into a genuine experience of self-denialconsidered to be pathogenic from the perspective of work psychodynamics ".
The author and the act of creation
The author and the act of creationJanuary 2020, report by Bruno Racinewith the support of Noël CorbinCéline Roux and Bertrand Saint-Etienne.
Extract from page 98:
"Firstly, there are "guaranteed" advances. In the audiovisual sector in particular, authors can receive a guaranteed minimum. The guaranteed minimum advance is "an advance on the percentages negotiated in the contract, calculated on the possible future receipts from the exploitation of the work, which come under individual management "69. This guaranteed minimum is acquired by the author definitively and the producer cannot take recourse against the author to demand repayment. Another practice is the payment of a bonus, described indiscriminately in contracts as a commission bonus, writing bonus, unpublished bonus or exclusivity bonus70. This sum is then treated as a lump sum remunerating the time spent creating the work or the exclusivity granted to the producer. Consequently, although the general principle set out in article L. 131-4 of the CPI is that of remuneration proportional to revenue, the rate of which is free, in reality this principle is clearly circumvented by recourse to the guaranteed minimum or the premium, which are analysed as flat-rate remuneration".
Scriptwriting and the risks of the job
Scriptwriting and the risks of the jobpresentation of a study currently being finalised, commissioned by the SACD from the Centre de Sociologie des Organisations at SciencesPo and the CNRS, and carried out by Maxime Besenval under the direction of Professor Gwenaële Rot
- 40% of respondents said that they had been victims ofburnout related to their work as a scriptwriter (a quarter of which were diagnosed by a doctor).
- 50% of respondents say they experience periods ofchronic anxiety related to their work as scriptwriters (35% diagnosed by a doctor).
- 41 % of respondents claim to have "already experienced one or more situations of moral harassment "This was the case for all of them. Of these, 60 % say they have experienced this situation more than once ("occasionally" or "regularly").
- Anticipation of negative professional repercussions (20 % of people who have experienced these situations).
- Didn't feel it would help them (65 % of people who had experienced these situations).
- The forms mentioned include blacklisting or payment blackmailthe microaggressions racist, sexist or homophobic, the humiliation and toxic behavioursthe pressure to go beyond professional boundaries, etc.
Buyout contracts imposed by platforms in the cultural and creative sector
Buyout contracts imposed by platforms in the cultural and creative sectorStudy commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee, carried out by Franck Macrez, Stéphanie Le Cam and Stéphanie Carre.
Extract from page 25:
EN 
FR_FR