This Tuesday the Screenwriters in Series 2022 meeting took place at the Film Academy, organized by the ALMA Screenwriters Union, with the support of the Community of Madrid. The writers for the screens addressed the autumn premieres and the analysis of the emergence of streaming platforms since 2015, as well as the suggestions they have had in the work of the creators and screenwriters.
Borja Cobeaga ('I don't like driving'), Anna R. Costa ('Fácil'), María José Rustarazo ('Nacho'), Roberto Martín Maiztegui ('La ruta') and various representatives of the board of directors participated in the meeting. of ALMA, such as Carlos Molinero, president, María José Mochales, Pablo Barrera, Teresa de Rosendo and Natxo López.
The first demand of the scriptwriters is the need to have a fairer regulation that protects the rights and work of the creators of the series in Spain, something for which the support of the Government is essential. European legislation establishes that the remuneration must be proportionate to the creators for the success of the production, but it is necessary for the platforms to be transparent about the audience and viewing data.
asymmetric bubble
As of 2015, the number of productions has disappeared and this is around the ceiling, this greater volume of production has of course not been more stable or linear in the conditions of its creators. "This number of productions is not translating into work for the sector, because they are seeing the teams that carry out the work," said María José Mochales.
Before, there was a work model with longer seasons and chapters, which had teams made up of 12-13 people. Now this has changed, there are fewer chapters and the duration is up to 50 minutes, positive aspects for the creative process, although it must also be noted that now three people work at most, and one is the one who creates the series ». “If you do not have a series created by you, it is difficult to be working on a platform. We are noticing a fragmentation, a few scriptwriters concentrate several projects for platforms”, added Mochales.
Carlos Molinero, president of ALMA, presented some examples of contracts with totally unfair clauses, "which are not tolerable and have no place in Spain". “Rights are being violated and they want us to shut up. There are many examples of clauses that don't make any sense and will never be in US contracts,” he said.
Help from the Ministry
“From ALMA we have to try to reach framework agreements with the platforms so that certain things are not signed, but it would be essential to have the Ministry of Culture in this whole process. The government is not interested in the stories, only in being a nice and cheap dish.
Molinero also insisted on the importance of being able to go hand in hand with other groups, such as producers. “They are not in this fight, so we must strengthen the union and continue fighting for our rights,” he declared.
The screenwriter Natxo López assured for his part that "the producers came here because there is talent and because it is cheap, especially because it was cheap." The irruption of the platforms, he said, has brought positive aspects, such as "attracting and taking care of talent, but the problem arises when they send you the contract and you face giant platforms with a global dimension like these." Heavy on everything, López encouraged "to be brave, find out and go to ALMA, where we can advise on these abusive clauses and we look for formulas to fight against them".
Pablo Barrera focused on the intervention in the change of role of the production companies with the irruption of the platforms. “Now the producer becomes the transferor (replacing the scriptwriter) and the platform works as a producer. This conversion of the production companies into service providers has implied many changes”, explained the scriptwriter of 'Brigada Costa del Sol'.
'The paper house', stolen by the US
An example is 'La casa de papel', the product that has done the most to promote the Spain brand, and yet it is not Spanish, since it belongs to the US. It means that everything is that heritage that is produced without prejudice to our And this should be known to the legislators. The generalist televisions already fought before to keep 100% of the rights of everything that was done, but with the irruption of the 'streamers', abusive clauses have been introduced that have no place in Spanish legislation”.
On the other hand, Teresa de Rosendo stated that on many occasions, when from the platforms they assure that the contracts are based on those of the US, "it is not true." “They are not the same and also the laws are different. Throughout Europe there is concern because more is not being remunerated when producing to broadcast in many more countries”.
For his part, Borja Cobeaga assures that the arrival of platforms has brought positive elements: “Many of us who do comedy and who don't want to write only 'remakes' of films that have been successful in other countries have been able to take refuge in fiction to TV". The creator of 'I don't like driving' said as a negative aspect the fact that sometimes it is not correctly communicated who has written or created the series on the platforms.
For Anna R. Costa, creator and screenwriter of 'Easy', the platforms "are not a panacea and there is some covert censorship." “Each platform has an editorial line, but also a structural censorship and creators have to defend our projects. They should give more freedom and confidence to the others, who are the ones who make their content”.
María José Rustarazo, scriptwriter of 'Nacho', intervened to say that the series "are becoming too politically correct, with more morality than it should, which means that creators have to defend our projects more".
Finally, Roberto Martín Maiztegui pushes in value since the entry of the 'streamers' “has generated a moment of beastly work with a muscle that we have never experienced”. “Now there are more ways to do what was before. In 'La ruta' we have had total freedom”.
