• The years of the crisis. Artists? Let them work

A headline on December 18: «Writers in Spain, in a bleak situation: almost 80% do not exceed 1,000 euros per year for copyright». The news refers to a study commissioned by the Association of Collegiate Writers of Spain which portrays a reality that we all intuit: literature is basically a thing that amateurs do ... And, like literature, the whole culture. And is that good or bad for the common good? In the following lines, writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists and architects explain their economy and their experience between professionalization and amateurism.

BORJA COBEAGA (screenwriter)

«The aspiration is that the screenwriter charges 2% on the budget of a production. In 99% of cases it does not occur. In fact, the gap between caches is absurd: there are those who charge 2,000 euros and some who charge 20,000 for the same job. In ALMA [the writers' union] we wanted to set up a salary table and they put a fine on us. There are scriptwriters who are on the payroll of a production company, there are scriptwriters who have an exclusive agreement and there are those who go free and have it worse. Many times you have to take the initiative yourself, promote projects , go chasing customers ... It's an unstable job, impossible to foresee. Many screenwriters look for something in teaching to compensate. Now we talk about the screenwriter as a star, that figure of the showrunner has appeared: Verónica Fernández, Javier Olivares, Aitor Gabilondo ... Actually, I think they are paid more with creative freedom than with money ».

FELIPE BENÍTEZ REYES (Writer)

«I have never dedicated myself to anything other than writing. During the first years he lived very precariously thanks to some bolus, some collaboration in the press. Everything stabilized when I won the Ateneo de Sevilla Prize in 1995. The prizes, at that time, regularized the career of a writer ... I remember a time when there was no supply: a jury here, a talk there ... There were very buoyant years between 2000 and the beginning of the crisis. The system broke down when the savings banks fell , which were the ones that financed everything. Then there were the administrations that cut the investment in culture and the publishing houses that greatly reduced the circulation of the editions and the advances for the authors. His obsession is not to keep a lot of books without selling, but, of course, if the books do not exist they do not reach the readers. There is some vicious circle. The price of collaboration in the press also collapsed. I have charged up to six times more than what is paid now for an opinion ... If I am well as I am it is because I need little. I guess I would write even if it cost me money.

JACOBO Gª GERMÁN (architect)

«In any study in Spain you will find someone who does something else. That makes appraisals, that calculates budgets, that makes project management ... Two friends of mine teach in schools and in the afternoon they dedicate themselves to architecture. I teach at the university and I have editorial work. Before, it was estimated that the architect's fee meant 10% of a budget. Today, you have to do very well to charge 10%. I will walk for 7, 8% and I am expensive because I offer many extra services to the client: urban management, for example. If I made my brother's house and wanted to give him the project, I would have to charge him 4% of the expenses. There are customers who make a kind of auction, choose architect for the cheapest offer . They choose a project for a difference of 5,000 euros . It is a bit depressing. Many of the good students I have had in recent years have gone: to the United States, to Mexico, to the Middle East, to Switzerland ... Of course: if they are used here in a good study they will start with 1,000, 1,500 euros. Switzerland will be put in 2,500. They will not save, because the country is expensive, but they will live with dignity. What to put an independent study? it depends more on having a client in the family than on your merit ».

THE DEAR WELL (music).

«I was a painter, I made murals. I was doing well. My clients were decorators, architects, real estate companies ... I still get orders. The crisis came and I saw that that was falling apart, so I considered singing. It is not that the project of La Bien Querida was born as a job, but I always knew that if I sang in public I wanted to be paid. Then it was all fast. I never sang in bars. I made a model, made a record and saw myself at Primavera Sound. It is a work with ups and downs, but so was the painting. I am used to it, I am disciplined and, as it is my project, I take care of it a lot, I work it out. If I can't sing, paint or tile bathrooms, I'm skilled with my hands and I don't drop the rings . Sometimes I envy people who have job stability, but I'm also a bit skeptical. No one has anything insured anymore, the work is no longer like our parents' time. And, in addition, this insecurity may put a little on my batteries, which prevents me from being crushed ».

JIMINA SABADÚ (writer and screenwriter)

“With 24 years he charged 1,600 euros, he had social security. I had a literary prize that was fine and then I won another one, I knew English to translate ... But all that was over and I was left with nothing. I was taking 20 resumes a day but I did not get more than anecdotal things and projects that did not pay. On National Radio they didn't pay, on Vodafone Yu they gave you a presenter scholarship that is like saying they didn't pay. In television and cinema there is a kind of cult to the psychopath that finishes in very chungas situations ... All the cronyism is the one that is finishing with this sector. There will come a point where you can only devote yourself to culture if you have a father who gives you life . I ended up with a severe depression. I have no complaints about literature: I never expected to live on it and all the money I signed I charged well. But the writing for audiovisual is over. Now I am on issues of marketing and social networks, which is the only way I see today to live on the word. And I teach the Seventh Art School. I explain to students how to make an invoice ».

JORGE ARÉVALO (illustrator)

«I worked in graphic design and made illustrations as an extension of my work. At 30, I started to professionalize, but I never left the designer job, although the agency I worked for closed. The income was much better than that of illustrator and was perfectly compatible. Because of the sale of works in galleries, I have never received significant money, but perhaps I have won some client, some brand. Actually, the money in the illustrations is complementary in my economy. And pretending otherwise is a bit chimeric. There are illustrators who suddenly encounter a moment of stardom but success in this market is very ephemeral . I suspect that the popularity peaks are short ».

ANTONNA (musician)

«Music money is an interesting complement in my life, but it is a complement. Pay a good holiday, things like that ... And at a time when I was unemployed it helped me a lot, partly because it was a short period. In Los Punsetes we never saw clearly about living this. We are five and we live in Madrid, which is an expensive city, we did not have it easy. But we don't consider ourselves amateurs; when we are hired to sing we want there to be a contract, that there is Social Security ... I do not long to live on music, I like my work and, in addition, I would have to diversify a lot to get it. But I think it would be a disaster that could not be lived from art. Because if the money from this business does not reach the artist, it is because there is another person who is keeping it. What is already happening ».

RAQUEL DE LA MORENA (writer)

«In 2019 my literary income increased because I won the Titania Romance Novel Award, which is worth 5,000 euros. I spent them on a trip to London and Bath to document myself for the new novel and also pay bills. In a normal year, my income from books does not reach 30% of my economy. And that has already sold more than 8,000 copies in paper The heart of the banshee . I see it unlikely to be able to make a living in the medium term with my books; It is something that, of course, most writers aspire to, but I am lucky to enjoy my work as a journalist in Very Interesting . In that sense, I feel lucky. The authors do not always charge advances. When negotiating, I look more at the copyright I will receive and the circulation that the novel will have. In general, if we talk about books for adults, the percentage that is usually offered to the writer is 10% of the retail price before VAT in the case of the paper book . When they have offered me that, I have not negotiated. If the figure has been lower, I have negotiated in case that work will end up becoming a best seller . Over the years, it is more rare for me to make offers below that 10%. Writing on request can make it easier to live from your works, because it ensures the publication of many books if, for example, it is a collection; Lately they have offered me some work like that, but in my case, since I don't have much time, I prefer to write books of my liking. Everything has its pros and cons ».

DOMINGO VILLAR (Writer)

«I left work at the company with La playa de los drowned (2009), when the commitments began to be incompatible with conventional work. Also, I came to an entente cordiale with my wife. We thought that literary work would not give me fixed income but it would offer me the possibility of taking care of myself more than children. My wife spends more time away from home, I can be more aware of homework and stuff. We all write with the dream of someone reading us, not with the dream of living from books. Nobody writes to get rich. Nor does he set up a publishing house or a bookstore .. No one in his right mind. But I believe that the literary profession demands dedication and intensity; One is a writer all the time . So I think it's bad that writers have to have other trades. Then I see colleagues to whom the food uncertainty of this trade would be a problem and prefer not to have that concern. I understand. I also see others who feel sorry for not being able to devote all their time to books. And that makes me sad too ».

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