Testimony of J. Nicholas Counter, III President, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, my name is J. Nicholas Counter III. I am the President of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers - known as the AMPTP. The AMPTP represents the companies that produce movies and television shows.1/ Our job is to negotiate and administer collective bargaining agreements with the guilds and unions which represent those employed to help make movies. We negotiate with the directors, writers, screen actors, musicians, art directors, cinematographers, editors, costume designers, make-up artists, sound engineers and set designers. The list goes on highlighted a few just to reflect the great variety of professionals who collaborate to make a motion picture. - I've I have been asked to testify today about the extent to which so called "moral rights" are ensured through collective bargaining. The question of "moral rights" and collective bargaining was discussed in the last Congress during the debate on the Berne Copyright Convention. After an exhaustive study, this Committee found that U.S. law, taken as a whole, provides American creators the equivalent of "moral rights" required by the rights of paternity and integrity. Article 6bis of Berne - The Committee's Report states that those rights emanate from the Lanham Act, various state statutes, as well as common law principles such as libel, defamation, misrepresentation and unfair competition. We agree with the Committee. The existing laws work together with America's flexible, open marketplace to ensure that the rights of artists, copyright owners, and other creators are adequately protected. Collective Bargaining and Creative Rights Many copyright experts recognize the collective bargaining process as a particularly effective means of addressing and resolving concerns about creative rights. The movie industry is the preeminent example of employees and employers actively negotiating to establish creative rights. And the contract between the Directors Guild and the producers that is negotiated by AMPTP provides a good example of how the process works. Every three years, the directors and producers revisit their collective bargaining agreement. The parties last met for a formal negotiation in 1987 and will sit down again in just a few months for the 1990 round. Note that the parties meet during the term of the agreement to discuss creative rights issues of mutual concern. The 250-page employment contract presents a comprehensive set of rights that a producer must provide a director, and covers everything from health and pension issues to "moral rights." The Register of Copyrights observed in his March 1989 report on Technological Alterations to Motion Pictures that, "[L]abor relations in the motion picture industry have a long history and do not present a situation where the economic leverage of the employers dwarfs that of the employees." (p. 68) As the person who sits across the table from the DGA's negotiators, I can tell you that the Register couldn't be more correct. I can also state with confidence that artists' rights can be best fashioned, shaped and given substance if they are the product of informed discussion between those who best know our highly specialized business. Indeed, 40 years of free market negotiations have made America's film industry one of our nation's strongest. The Committee should note that once the DGA and the AMPTP reach agreement, the results are far-reaching and widespread. agreement is frequently adopted by production companies not affiliated with the AMPTP. In fact, the vast majority of Our America's motion picture production companies rely on the standard DGA contract. Credit Where Credit is Due - and directors The collective bargaining agreement (the "Agreement") guarantees that every director gets credit for his or her work. Those credits you see at the beginning and end of a film, and on all the newspaper ads and billboards, are assured as a result of extensive negotiation. The Agreement requires the director's name to be prominently displayed: - on the screen when a film is shown theatrically, on TV, or on videocassettes; - in advertising or publicity on most billboards, posters, newspapers and other media; - on the record jacket when a soundtrack from the film is released; - on the cover of a book identified with the film. These rights are specified in great detail. The Agreement even prescribes: the size of the type that must be used to spell out - that the director's on-screen credit must appear by itself and other conditions that ensure visibility and publicity.2/ Each of these provisions is negotiated point-by-point, and each is valued by the director whose contribution is prominently noticed. Producing, Editing and Releasing the Film The Agreement goes well beyond the important issue of director credit and details the director's role in the production and release of a film. One of the chapters of the Agreement that sets forth a director's creative rights begins by noting that: The Director's professional function is unique, and requires his or her participation in all creative phases of the film-making process, including but not limited to all creative aspects of sound and picture. |