Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has issued a Fact Sheet on writers and superannuation.
SPA has argued that production companies are merely purchasing a writer’s intellectual property in a script, and that they are not engaging writers to “perform services” i.e. writing services.
We do not consider this argument to be a sound one.
The characterisation of writing contracts in this way is at odds with the practical realities of the relationship and the plain words of section 12(8) of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (Cth).
The language of most writers’ contracts (including the negotiated AWG-SPA writing agreements) refers to producers ‘commissioning’ writers to write scripts for a series.
Copyright in these scripts cannot be assigned to the producer until they are written. It follows that writers are engaged by producers to provide the service of writing the scripts, with proprietary rights being assigned following the engagement and provision of service.
Writers are engaged by producers to perform the task of writing, by their personal efforts and with a high level of creative control, in line with general direction (e.g. story conferences, notes and directions from the production company).
For more information, see AWG’s statement on writers’ entitlement to superannuation here.
If you have any questions about the above information or your entitlement to superannuation, you can contact AWG’s industrial team at industrial@awg.com.au. As a member of AWG, you are entitled to unlimited in-house industrial advice.
