SAA - Society of Audiovisual Authors

Opening speech:

Time flies. 15 years ago, I was standing in a notary’s office in Brussels with Barbara Hayes, the current Chair of the SAA board, and a few others to sign the legal documents that established the Society of Audiovisual Authors.

Back then, the collective management organisations of European screenwriters and directors barely had a voice in Brussels. Today, we have 33 member CMOs, representing 174,000 screenwriters and directors across 25 countries. Who would have thought?

Collective rights management was mainly seen as a practice for music authors, not filmmakers. People didn't know it could work for screenwriters and directors. Worse, many audiovisual companies actively resisted the idea. And for many authors, rights and remuneration were something they had to negotiate individually or give up entirely.

We established the SAA with a simple goal: to give European screenwriters and directors’ CMOs a voice in Brussels. We wanted European policymakers to recognise audiovisual authors, that their rights matter and that they deserve fair remuneration when their works are exploited.

With the SAA, our members wanted to ensure that every EU initiative in the fields of copyright, audiovisual policy and cultural diversity would actually consider the people who create the works. Not just the media organisation, not just the producers or distributors, but the authors too.

Some of our members already had legal frameworks in place: France, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Spain. These countries had laws establishing unwaivable rights to remuneration for their screenwriters and directors.

Our founding members decided to raise awareness of these best practices. In 2011, we published the first edition of our White Paper on audiovisual authors’ rights and remuneration in Europe. This document laid the foundation for everything that followed: improving respect for the rights of Europe's screenwriters and directors while demonstrating how CMOs work to deliver remuneration.

Over four legislative terms, four landmark pieces of legislation were adopted: on Collective Rights Management, Audiovisual Media Services and Copyright. These were not adopted easily, or as they were initially proposed. We fought hard for better provisions that would improve the position of audiovisual authors. We tirelessly met with Commissioners, civil servants, MEPs and political advisors, taking SAA Patrons to Brussels and Strasbourg, to explain the needs of the audiovisual authors. We participated in consultation processes often dominated by media groups and tech companies, where our voices were the smallest.

As a membership organisation, the SAA’s advocacy papers and recommendations are the result of the team’s work and discussions with the members, during which strategies, legal victories, setbacks and solutions are shared. What happens in Poland matters to Slovakia. What France achieves inspires the Netherlands. This is collective action at its finest.

Building and developing the SAA has been an amazing journey I am very proud of. Thanks to the members’ cohesion, a dedicated team and Barbara's unwavering support as Chair, I get to live at the intersection of my three passions: policymaking, collective action, and art. As long as these three things remain at the heart of the SAA, you can count on me.

Over the years, the SAA community has experienced victories and defeats, learned and adapted, always persisted and looked forward.

Today, we will hear about the challenges ahead, so I won’t list them here. But what I can say for certain is that these challenges demand that we become even stronger. Even more united.

Fifteen years ago, in that notary's office, we signed the papers to create an organisation that didn't yet exist. Today, we are standing in a room full of proof that the SAA works and that it matters more than ever.

Thank you for being part of this journey. The next 15 years start today.

Celebrating human creativity

To celebrate its milestone anniversary, the SAA proudly commissioned an original artwork from Spanish painter, illustrator, and animator Rocío Álvarez. This piece embodies our commitment to defending the value and livelihood of Europe's creative professionals. By supporting human artistry, we reaffirm that authentic creativity remains irreplaceable in the digital age.  

“Rocío Álvarez's artwork reminds us what we're actually advocating for: human creativity. The thing that cannot be automated, replicated, or reduced to an algorithm or LLM. 

(....) People pay for handmade ceramics when mass production is cheaper. They pay for original art when prints are available. They pay for live performances when recordings exist. They will continue to pay for films written and directed by humans, if we can ensure that screenwriters and directors can actually make a living from their works. 

The technical solutions exist. What's missing is enough political will. Our job is to keep pushing. We must push policymakers to demand that streaming platforms and AI providers remunerate audiovisual authors fairly. One way or another. No excuses. No exceptions.”  

Extract from the closing remarks of Barbara Hayes, SAA Chair.