As a result of the success of the first world conference (Athens, 2009), FSE and IAWG have developed a major event for screenwriters’ guilds with the “WCOS model”: hosted by a national guild, two days of intense lectures, debates, workshops and social events to explore both craft and practical professional issues common to screenwriters, combined with FSE and IAWG annual general meetings and a spotlight on the audiovisual production of the host country.
The Second World Conference of Screenwriters, organised by FAGA, took place in Barcelona, Spain in November 2012. It focussed on understanding how the digitising of content and new production and distribution models affect both storytelling and the professional environment. The event was tailored for “the writers of Hollywood to those of Europe and beyond, writers of blockbuster films and writers of low budget local films, writers of television drama and of cinema films and of the first web series, sharing in common their fascination with story, to exchange information, debate issues, to talk about how they work and how the immense changes of the digital era will impact, not just on the stories they tell, but how those stories will be changed by the new technologies” said David Kavanagh, Executive Officer FSE.
Screenwriters are convinced by the internet’s potential to boost the development of the sector, however the challenge they are now facing is to find new ways of organizing worldwide to share what is happening in each territory and seize the new opportunities that arise, including fair remuneration. “Writers are irreplaceable” said David J. Young, Executive Director of WGAw in an interview* in which he explains why it is so important for screenwriters to develop collective power.
* part of a series of interviews made by ALMA for the documentary film Writing Heads.