Netflix and the United Services Union Verdi have agreed that since July 1st, both the collective agreement for film and television workers employed for the duration of the production and the collective wage agreement between Verdi and the producer alliance will form the basis for remuneration in series productions.

The agreement also stipulated minimum fees for directors.

The Federal Association of Directors (BVR) protested against this regulation and described it as "breaking a taboo".

With more than 550 members, the federal association is one of the largest professional associations in the film industry.

In the opinion of the BVR, the agreement with Netflix is ​​neither a collective agreement nor a common remuneration rule, but a “deal” that is disadvantageous for directors.

Hardly any directors are represented at Verdi

Jobst Oetzmann, director and screenwriter and member of the advisory board of the BVR board, says that the negotiation area "Remuneration for the creation and use of a work" is traditionally ordered by the BVR, because Verdi does not represent fictional directing.

The trade union has hardly any members in this area and is therefore not representative for representing the interests of fiction directors in commissioned productions.

The Federal Association of Directors is therefore negotiating remuneration rules for directors for all length formats with the public and private broadcasting groups as well as with the producer alliance.

The directors' association concludes joint remuneration rules, as has been made possible by law since 2002.

It acts by empowering its members and by fulfilling the legal requirements, above all representativeness and freedom from opponents.

According to Oetzmann, remuneration for streamers must also take into account the circumstances under which films or series are produced and how they are used.

An example is the regulations of the DGA (Directors Guild of America).

There, the creation of the work is paid for, according to certain conditions, formats and times, and then the scope of rights according to territories, posting times and the number of subscribers and according to success.

The fees negotiated by Verdi with Netflix did not take this into account.

They are remarkably low and only scaled according to budgets.

Verdi steps into the argument

In the interview, the director and screenwriter points out that the Federal Association of Directors has been in negotiations with Netflix for the same area – 45 minutes of fiction – since 2020 and that a few weeks ago they declared the negotiations to have failed.

"Verdi is thus struggling in the upcoming arbitration proceedings between the BVR and Netflix."

According to calculations by the directors' association, the result of the contract means that directors' remuneration is one third of that in the United States or other countries.

Netflix's goal is obvious: low-wage countries would be established and productions would be relocated there.

Should these become more expensive, one will find new low-wage countries and move on there.

"It's a strange reversal of roles for a union that's involved, even if it 'only' affects the direction: starters in the undercutting competition." Netflix announced a few weeks ago that it was not prepared to pay the appropriate fees in Denmark , and announced that they would boycott the production site in Denmark.

The BVR will continue the arbitration.

In the end there will either be an agreement with Netflix or an arbitration award.

An arbitrator's verdict, which experience with ARD has shown, indicates appropriateness.

Broadcasters and producers would accept this even if no agreement was reached, says Oetzmann.

According to the directors' association Netflix, the arbitration will not be spared.

There is no reason why Netflix, with its German productions and worldwide use, should not be subject to the Copyright Act with its clear requirements for the achievement of appropriate remuneration.

The international platforms would have to submit to European and German law just like everyone else.

Anything else would be a failure of the legislature, says Jobst Oetzmann.