FERAGeneralAssembly2014Report

This year's Federation of European Film Directors (FERA) General Assembly was held in Malmö, Sweden. You can read a statement outlining FERA's aims and agenda for the coming year here. A number of our board members attended the Assembly to represent Directors UK, including John Dower and Dan Clifton, who've written for us about their experiences of the weekend.

John Dower, Directors UK Board Member, writes about FERA and the challenges ahead:

Blimey. Where do I start? So, this was my first experience of FERA and it was a swift and deep immersion at the yearly General Assembly in Malmö, Sweden. I was there, representing DUK with fellow board members Piers Haggard, Dan Clifton (also on the board of FERA) and Delyth Thomas.

We were given a presentation by several Nordic Directors, which was both entertaining and impressive. Hearing about feature films and some of the most successful TV shows of our times – Borgen, The Bridge and Real Humans - was an eye opener, especially in terms of how much time and freedom directors get for prep and shooting. There are no showrunners on these productions yet they hit such a high standard with every episode. A highlight of the first day was a trip to the location where The Bridge is set with its creator Hans Rosenfeldt. Øresund Bridge spans the sea between Denmark and Sweden and the sight of 50 or so fluorescent-jacketed assorted Directors on the iconic Pepper Islet - where several dramatic events took place in the series - was very memorable!

“We are in for a fight it seems as access to our work becomes more variable, with VOD, downloads, digital TV catch-up services becoming more and more common...”

Europe's directors visit Øresund Bridge, the location of Scandinavian crime drama The Bridge

So, to the business of FERA. The first thing to say is that as a European organisation it has all the pros and cons associated with that. It is deeply strategic in its aims, embedded in politics, negotiation and lobbying and feels somewhat removed in that it all happens far away from the shores of the UK. However, much like the EU, a lot of what FERA is trying to do is likely to affect us significantly. Unlike the EU however, FERA are rather financially strapped; to such an extent that they only have one person working in their office – a bright, young French tactician named Pauline Durand-Vialle. EU rules have decreed that FERA can no longer receive funding from the EU itself, so while the new regime is being installed and lobbying takes place to replace this funding, the member countries are paying all the costs of running the office and wages. And, much like the UN, several countries’ director organisations have yet to pay up for a number of reasons. So, to sum up, FERA is very important to our futures, but is being run on a wing and a prayer. It seems mad to me.

What’s at stake for directors in Europe? The new regime which is about to take over, run by Jean-Claude Juncker, has pledged that there will be a focus on the ‘digital common market’. It appears to want to empower citizens and consumers to use more digital technology. How will this affect us? The secondary use of our work and that of all rights holders is shifting; we were told “the status quo will not stay, change is inevitable”. We are in for a fight it seems as access to our work becomes more variable, with VOD, downloads, digital TV catch-up services becoming more and more common, and the more traditional outlets of DVD sales, repeats on TV etc. decreasing. Pauline termed the challenge ahead as potentially “overwhelming” with authors’ rights being pulled between alliances with broadcasters, producers and owners/creators of the work. Apart from lobbying MEPS and other sections of the European Parliament, FERA has a big job ahead addressing copyright issues and the funding of projects and incentives for creators.

With all this focus on the question of secondary use of our work, there emerged big differentials in play between different countries in Europe. For instance, we voted to allow the Cypriot directors' organisation to join, a country where the role of director is not even recognised as a valid job! I was also struck by how often Directors UK was held up as a model directors' organisation – a collecting society and a champion of directors' rights too. No other country has a body that is automatically assigned the rights of directors.

“Right now, keeping our place at the European table and arguing for our status as creators, for our contribution as creators, and obtaining gender equality are the main priorities”

The last day saw a presentation on the state of gender inequality among directors. Delyth Thomas was joined by Swedish, French and Bulgarian representatives, all of whom echoed the call for an equal share of directing work. Some countries seemed to be doing well with gender equality, Norway and Croatia among them. The DUK pie charts and graphics really got the point over very clearly, underlining how effective properly presented hard data is.

In summary, the priorities of FERA for the next year are: i. the digital future of Europe (directors as authors and ensuring secondary use is respected), ii. gender equality, iii. pay and conditions (it was suggested that the Swedish set-up be used to rival the US showrunner model, as an alternative where the director is at the centre of the creative process).

I left feeling that we are in for a rough ride maintaining the income we have come to expect from the broadcasters. With my experience of games, where intellectual property is almost always bought out, I fear there is danger that television and film producers and investors will be pulling hard to go in that same direction. I remain of the opinion that we should be fighting for higher fees; no one has ever given me a reasonable explanation as to why anyone is paid more than the director on set. Still, that is a fight for the future. Right now, keeping our place at the European table and arguing for our status as creators, for our contribution as creators, and obtaining gender equality are the main priorities. Really significant changes are afoot in Europe and we need to be there to make sure the voice of directors is heard. Whether that will happen with one employee representing us there remains to be seen.

Dan Clifton, Directors UK Board Member and FERA EC Member, writes a bit more about the Nordic model of TV production:

What does it take to produce drama of the quality of the Sweden-Denmark co-production The Bridge, when the daily screen minutage on the series is as high as four minutes per day? It’s a question that’s at the heart of Directors UK’s current campaigning, as we push for better protection for British drama directors over working conditions and prep time.

The inspiring answer appears to lie in the intense creative collaboration that exists on the series between the show’s writers and directors. That was the message from The Bridge’s creator and lead writer, Hans Rosenfeldt, addressing delegates at the annual FERA General Assembly, held this year in the Swedish city of Malmö.

Dan Clifton beside a 1964 vintage bus, used to ferry the directors on their location tour of Malmö

“...the Conceptual Director on the series effectively becomes a co-creator who works with the writers several months ahead not only on casting, but on the complete series look and tone”

Hans was speaking to us on a bus tour of the famous 8km Øresund Bridge, the backdrop for some of the series’ most memorable set pieces. As we walked out across Peberholm (Pepper Islet), a 4km long artificial stretch that connects the bridge from Malmö to a tunnel running into Denmark, Hans described how the Conceptual Director on the series (a role similar but not identical to Lead Director in the UK) effectively becomes a co-creator who works with the writers several months ahead not only on casting, but on the complete series look and tone. The Conceptual Director will be given access to early drafts, allowing them to ask questions as a shared vision is formed. Then, once the final draft is locked, the Director enjoys a minimum eight week prep before going to camera. As Hans said, “the more it is a shared vision, the more likely the film is to be what you imagined it to be”.

In case that sounds too much like a vision of utopia, veteran Swedish director Harald Hamrell (Beck, Real Human) told us about the increasing pressures on directors in TV drama there over schedules and budgets, with the amount of screen time to be shot per day on a continuous rise. “There is a growing trend towards a showrunner-type culture in which directors are regarded as guns-for-hire rather than central collaborators”, he told us. But Harald was clear that the only way to preserve quality when schedules are tighter is a system which protects directors from late scripts and gives them adequate prep time.

“Søren Kragh-Jacobsen warned about turning directors into proletarians in a sausage-factory model of production...”

Sofia Helin and Kim Bodina, the stars of Danish/Swedish co-production The Bridge

We also heard from legendary Danish director Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, the Conceptual Director on the first series of Borgen. With a tight budget, Søren insisted that all locations on the show were contained within a 500m distance of base, and entertained delegates with tales of his battles with the controlling Danish Broadcasting Corporation who wanted to vet every choice, right down to the actors’ shoes! Søren said “you have to be tough, and enter character as ‘The Director’”.

He described how he fought to cast Sidse Babett Knudsen – then known only as a comedy actress – in the role of the Danish Prime Minister. Finally, when things got too much, Søren told his producers “Why have you hired me and paid me all this money if you all know better than me. Why do you need me?” Fired and re-hired later, he helmed the series to its stunning international success.

Søren warned about turning directors into proletarians in a sausage-factory model of production – and how, as the daily page count rises, cinematic story-telling is pushed aside in favour of stories that are merely driven by dialogue. “They want to diminish us, but on set you are king, and whether the series is good or not is in your hands”.