Screen Directors Guild of Ireland

The Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 recognised film and television directors as authors of their work .The Screen Directors Collecting Society of Ireland (SDCSI) was established in 2005 to collect and distribute payments due to directors for the exploitation of their work.

SDCSI was established to collect on directors’ entitlement to payments from the exploitation of their work nationally and internationally.

Foreign Collections

Throughout the European Union and in several other countries film and television directors are legally recognised as being authors of their work. This right of authorship may give directors an entitlement to receive payment for certain uses of their work – such as cable retransmission, private copying, video rentals. These payments are administered through the international network of authors’ collecting societies.

National Collections

SDCSI has no national agreement with Irish broadcasters and independent producers relating to payments for freelance directors for the secondary use of their work. SDCSI plan to establish a national agreement for all directors.

UK collections

Directors UK receives an annual payment to compensate freelance television directors for the secondary use of their work. Under the terms of the Directors’ Rights Agreement agreed with broadcasters and independent producers in 2006. Directors UK is charged with the responsibility of devising, implementing and administering a scheme for the distribution of payments to individual directors. This takes account of the type of programme, and the length and the form of the secondary use. The Scheme is based on information supplied by broadcasters.

Directors are entitled to payments for exploitation of their work in Ireland. It is crucial that remuneration of directors for secondary use of their works is recognised in Ireland and is in line with our European counterparts. It is equally important that SDCSI collect on foreign payments owed to Irish directors.

Monitoring members’ work is a significant costly investment. Directors UK is a UK Collecting Society that monitors transmissions on over 60 European channels to check whether a members’ work is shown and processes programme information provided by British Broadcasters. An agreement would enable SDCSI to collect on our members’ behalf while SDGI establishes independent agreements with foreign collecting societies.

Directors UK is the collecting society which represents British film and television directors. It collects and distributes money due to directors for the exploitation of their work.

The Society is also a campaigning organisation, working to establish and protect directors’ rights in the UK and abroad. It works closely with the Directors’ Guild of Great Britain (DGGB) and the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) to improve the conditions and terms under which directors are employed.

The current membership runs to over 2,500 directors and estates, working in all fields of film and television: from features to soap, from fly-on-the-wall to natural history.

Directors UK is a non-profit making organisation, led by an elected management board, themselves directors, with experience across a wide range of genres. The board meets regularly and supports the Directors UK permanent staff who monitor and organise the collecting and distributing of funds. The Society also employs specialist media and copyright lawyers.

Directors UK is recognised by all the UK broadcasters and has established relationships with sister organisations across Europe. The Society is a full member of The International Society of Audiovisual Authors and The Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, two umbrella organisations which support and co-ordinate the work of societies like Directors UK internationally.

Directors UK collects and distributes payments from two sources: through agreements with collecting societies in Europe and elsewhere (Directors UK foreign collections) and from UK broadcasters as a result of the Rights Agreements concluded in 2001 (DPRS UK collections).

Payments from the secondary exploitation of qualifying works vary from country to country and are regulated by criteria such as transmission type, programme type etc. (see Directors UK/SACD distribution guidelines).

Unless you register with the SDCSI you cannot receive monies due to you. SDCSI seek to win improved remuneration for directors and contractual and moral rights. The more directors who join, the stronger the Society becomes and the better the chances that we can improve the director’s position. To collect payments on foreign collections, you (and your works) need to be registered with the SDCSI. SDCSI is a non profit-making organisation and there is no cost to register. A management fee will apply and is currently not fixed.