Read a note from our CEO, Andy Harrower, who reflects on a year that saw an industry in crisis, the fall out of which has been felt acutely by our membership – and how we’re working to improve the working lives of directors against this backdrop.
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Statement from the Chief Executive
The last year has been incredibly difficult for our members and others employed in the UK television and film industry. The TV commissioning downturn has left many without work for long periods of time. A survey of our members in November 2023 suggested over 60% were not working.
During such times, the royalties that Directors UK collects and distributes to its members are a vital source of income. Following our successful renegotiation of the UK Rights Agreement in July 2022, this financial year has seen the first payments to members under the new deal. Amounting to £13.5m, this is the largest amount ever paid out in our UK distribution schemes, and £12.9m of this has come from our UK Rights Agreement. With a further £6.3m for international uses, we paid out a total of £19.9m to 5,596 directors.
In a recent survey of our members, we asked them to tell us what they value most from Directors UK. With nearly 1,500 members responding, 89% cited that being paid royalties for UK broadcast and international use of their work is extremely important, with 84% agreeing that it’s extremely important for Directors UK to negotiate future royalty payments for other uses of their work. That’s why the hard but often behind-the-scenes work of negotiating deals that secure the right value for our members’ copyrights will continue to be our focus.
An increase in the management fee deducted from UK distributions, from 10% to 13.75%, took effect in January 2024, having been approved at our AGM in June 2023. This enabled us to begin to build our investment in the people, systems and external legal and economic expertise Directors UK needs in order to put more money in our members’ pockets in the long term – and we are already on the path to doing this, with the total net royalty distribution in January 2024 nearly £400,000 higher than the previous year.
Of the other important things that we do on behalf of our members, ‘seeking to improve pay and working conditions’, ‘protecting and promoting the role of the director’, and ‘promoting equality, diversity and inclusion’ were cited often in the survey. Over the last year, we’ve done these things in many different ways.
We have recruited a Head of Industry Relations to lead our industry facing work focused on improving pay and working conditions for directors in the UK. Across our team we have ensured the director’s voice is heard, reflecting our members’ interests across many industry working groups in the fields of AI, copyright, diversity and representation, bullying and harassment, pay and working conditions as well as skills, training and career pathways.
Our reputation with government and policy-makers has gone from strength to strength – the recruitment of a Public Affairs and Policy Manager has enabled us to put more focus on this work and make significant headway. We’ve represented directors at meetings with officials from many areas of government and the opposition. We’ve contributed insights to the work around the Media Bill, on issues of AI and copyright, on audiovisual tax credits and the Channel 4 Licence review.
We were invited to give evidence at two Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiries: the inquiry into Creator Remuneration, where I appeared before the committee, and the inquiry into British Film and High-end television, where our Vice-Chair, James Hawes, shared a director’s perspective. These committees have the power to influence government and, as a direct result of our evidence, we’ve seen change in the form of tax breaks for independent film, and a Creator Remuneration report recommending the introduction of a number of initiatives to give better protection to freelance creatives and rightsholders.
Through our In Conversation series and our Masterclasses, our in-house events and career development programmes have sought to celebrate the craft of directing. But they’ve also been programmed to equip our members with the tools they need to weather the precariousness of a changing industry, with sessions covering financial planning, estates and wills, and a new Focus On strand to help directors understand how they can utilise Generative AI.
Holding those in power accountable when it comes to diversity and representation, we’ve been engaged in direct meetings with the principal broadcasters about their diversity strategies and how they can meaningfully create sustainable change within the industry. Our own programme of activities has shared best practice for how directors as leaders can set industry standards for diversity and accessibility on their productions.
We’ve continued to support the Directors Charitable Foundation, which helps directors in need both financially and with mental health support that is tailored with the director in mind. Our three-year funding commitment reflects the importance of this work which complements the offering of our own organisation.
As our membership continues to grow (now to 8,411 directors), we are the authoritative voice for screen directors in the UK. Whether it’s through the royalties we collect and distribute, through the deals we’re negotiating, or by the work we’re doing to ensure better pay and working conditions for directors, we will continue to use that voice to improve the working lives of our members.
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