CRSEA and Writers & Directors Worldwide Signed an Agreement on Cooperation
Confederation of Rightholders’ Societies of Europe and Asia (CRSEA) and the international organization Writers & Directors Worldwide have signed the agreement on cooperation in the field of protection of audiovisual authors’ rights. The partnership between the two organizations is aimed at promoting the interests of screenwriters and directors, as well as integration of creative unions of cinematographers of the Eurasian region.
The main goal of cooperation is to increase the level of protection of rights of authors of audiovisual works. Clarifying the licensing system and legalities of digital distribution of films, e-books and dramatic works from the authors’ prospective, studying international experience in promotion of legislative initiatives, support of young directors and screenwriters – these are the priorities within the framework of cooperation.
The partnership with CRSEA will be an important step for W&DW in implementing the strategy of creating regional alliances around the world. In recent years, W&DW has made significant progress in Latin America, China, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe by creating local alliances which support activities of authors’ societies in each region.
The agreement was signed by Andrey Krichevskiy, General Secretary of CRSEA, and Yves Nilly, President of Writers & Directors Worldwide. The parties emphasized the great potential of joint work to support creative industries in the Eurasian region.
According to Andrey Krichevskiy, cooperation between the organizations will have a positive impact on the development of cultural industries in Russia and in the Eurasian countries: “Modern technologies made the existing links between authors of creative content, its distributors and consumers more complicated. Digital tools allow you to copy audio, video and software, and share them via streaming services and torrents without any restrictions. Every year piracy causes multibillion-dollar losses to the music and film industries, and the most vulnerable party here are the authors – film directors and screenwriters. In this context, cooperation with leading international organizations is particularly important for us. Together we can effectively keep the balance of interests of all market participants and provide comprehensive support to creative industries at the national and global levels.”
President of W&DW Yves Nilly in turn pointed out that join efforts in protection of audiovisual authors and legislative harmonization are needed to meet the changes of the time:
«Faced with the arrival of platforms, new key players in production and distribution, or buy-out practices, the time has come for a worldwide mobilisation in favour of audiovisual authors and harmonisation of laws. We strongly believe in cooperation and partnership with an organization like CRSEA which can take the lead for an ambitious action plan in the region in line with evolution of the audiovisual market and the ever-increasing demand from audiences worldwide.»
Writers & Directors Worldwide brings together creators of dramatic, literary, and audiovisual works from different countries. The main goal of the organization is to protect the rights of screenwriters and Directors and promote the initiative to introduce the right to fair remuneration to authors at every public screening of the audiovisual works in cinemas, on TV, cable and the Internet. W&DW acts as an advisory body of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), as well as an official observer of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
