The Australian Writers' Guild has alleged Screenrights of misleading and deception. With that, Australian screenwriters have started a mutli-million dollar legal case against the Federal Government authority in charge of collecting and distributing audiovisual royalties.
According to Inside Film, the court proceeding was filed on March 3 by the 2,600 member guild. The action came after the protracted negotiations between the Australian Writers' Guild and Screenrights over the distribution of royalties to writers.
The AWG has accused Screenrights of misleading and deceptive conduct, by claiming to stand for the scriptwriters when it has not; stating writers have not been getting paid accordingly. However, Screenrights reiterated that it maintains the payment of the appropriate copyright holders.
The Australian Writers' guild is now heading to the Federal Court. AWG is asking for the recovery of tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments from Screenrights.
ABC NEWS Australia claimed that Screenrights was established in 1990 to collect and cut up royalty money to producers, broadcasters, distributors, music, script, and other copyright owners. Industry veteran and Writers' Guild President, Jan Sardi, stated that the royalty payments have all disappeared.
"They contacted me 20 years ago and said they had $400 for a children's show that I wrote and would I sign up as a member, so I'm one of the very earliest members of Screenrights," Sardi said. He added, "I didn't get any more money after that, that was it. When I asked questions, particularly after I had the film Shine, which was a world-wide hit, [I] didn't receive a dollar, you ask questions. I was given the run-around."
AWG President claimed that script writers were supposed to have a 22 per cent cut. But the writers have been written out. Scriptwriters also believed that they owed approximately $56 million.
The royalty payments would include an amount for educational copying and retransmission of the free-to-air broadcast signal on pay TV. Screenwriter Tim Pye, which is a former president of the AWG, stated that he had received "not a single cent" in royalties for writing shows like Water Rats, Wildside, Lockie Leonard, House Husbands, and Love Child in working as a screenwriter for 30 years.
"The Australian Writers' Guild is one of the founding members of Screenrights," he said via TV Tonight. He went on by saying, "We helped set them up with the mandate to pay scriptwriters and other creatives in audio visual work according to the scheme of allocations."
Meanwhile, Screenrights allegedly expressed that they are ready to defend the claims in the Federal Court. Moreover, the first schedule for the court trial is set on April 5.
