Mr. Mark Byrne:

On the notion of buyouts, it is correct that, historically, under the arrangements that existed with Irish Equity, there was never a formal collective agreement in place. Custom and practice existed over a number of years which provided ultimately for a payment to be made to the artist based on the number of days worked, which is how it tends to work internationally and which is like a performance payment. On top of that, the artist would be paid a further sum either as an advance against future revenues or as a full buyout. It is correct to say that, historically, under the Irish Equity system for cinema films, there was a buyout.

We were involved, as part of Screen Producers Ireland, in a negotiation with Irish Equity of an agreement for Irish cinema, in advance of the EU copyright directive coming into place, which would end the buyout arrangement and provide for a share of revenues to be paid to artists based on the success of the film. At a point in time when the film would turn into profit, the artist would be one of the people who shared in it. We successfully concluded that agreement with Irish Equity. The agreement not only provided for a profit share but also an increase in the daily rate that was paid to artists. Unfortunately, despite it being put in place and implemented, Irish Equity withdrew from that agreement after a number of months.

In doing so, Equity informed SPI that its suggestion was that productions would continue to rely on the old agreement. The old agreement is the one that provides for the buyout. That does not work anymore because, under the copyright directive, we need to provide a mechanism for artists to share in revenues going forward. The way of addressing that issue is for Irish Equity to come back to the negotiating table. The WRC has written twice to Irish Equity asking it to rejoin negotiations. Equity, unfortunately, has not responded either time to the WRC. We very much urge Equity to come to the negotiating table in order that we can end the buyout system.

The Deputy also mentioned PACT-Equity. Element Pictures is a member of PACT, the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television, which is the equivalent of Screen Producers Ireland in the UK. Not all Irish producers are members. PACT-Equity, which is a negotiation between the UK producers guild and UK Equity, technically only applies to productions that shoot in the UK. However, it became common practice over a number of years for UK TV dramas shooting in Ireland to use PACT-Equity. Element Pictures has adopted that over a number of years or worked it on a number of productions. We would much rather use locally negotiated collective agreements. We have docudrama and TV drama agreements with Equity which operate very successfully. While in some instances it is an option to use PACT-Equity, we would much rather have a local collectively negotiated agreement in place.