Visibility of Screenwriters

The low visibility of screenwriters and their work has been a concern of FSE and its individual members for many years. As examples, the FSE publication “Somebody Wrote It” and the campaign run by the Verband Deutscher Drehbuchautoren (VDD) “Kein drehbuch, kein film”.

The 16,400 episodes of television drama and 1,600 feature films produced in the members states of the European Union each year are written by screenwriters, members of guilds and unions, and would not exist were it not for their work (Source : European Audiovisual Observatory).

Various campaigns and activities intended to bring attention to the fundamental importance of the work of screenwriters to the film and television industries of Europe, worth €107 billion and employing 1.2 million Europeans (Source).

FSE established the European Screenwriters Awards in 2015 and held it again in 2017. It will next be awarded in 2020.

Additionally the FSE initiated the World Conference of Screenwriters (WCOS). Its first iteration in Athens in 2009 has been followed by three others and the fifth will be held in Copenhagen in 2020.

FSE believes that the low visibility of screenwriters is a contributory cause of their low payment and unstable working conditions. FSE will continue to emphasise it in its policy and practical work.

 

News on Visibility of Screenwriters

FSE President Carolin Otto calls on EU Culture Ministers to put arts, culture & creativity at the centre of our recovery.

2020.05.14

“As screenwriters we know the essential role which culture and the arts play, and will continue to play, in each of the member states as we construct and reconstruct our identity as citizens and as Europeans.”

COVID-19 FSE newsletters

2020.04.17

Regular review of various initiatives taken to tackle Covid-19 crisis in the audiovisual and cultural sectors, based on news from FSE member guilds, film funds, authors’ organisations in Europe and worldwide, newspapers, etc.

A New Website for FSE

2019.09.23

The brand new website of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) is online! New design, new features, new content…

A look back at WCOS 04

2019.04.03

Highlights of WCOS 04, the Fourth World Conference of Screenwriters held in Berlin in October 2018: speeches, resolutions, videos, photos…

FSE Award 2017 – Watch the Video

2017.11.30

At the ceremony of the 2nd FSE Award, European screenwriters speak in front of the camera to call for better contracts.

French Screenwriter Anne Landois Winner of FSE Award 2017

2017.11.23

Anne Landois, showrunner and writer of the award-winning TV drama series “Engrenages” (“Spiral”), received the 2nd FSE European Screenwriters Award at a ceremony organised on 23rd November 2017.

Danish Writer Adam Price wins inaugural FSE European Screenwriters Award (2015)

2015.09.21

Danish Writer Adam Price (author of TV series “Borgen”) wins inaugural FSE European Screenwriters Award. Brussels 21 Septembre 2015.

The European Screenwriters’ Manifesto

2006.11.30

125 writers from all over Europe gathered in Thessaloniki in November 2006 and committed to campaign for the implementation of a manifesto, which defines the role of the screenwriter in the twenty-first century.