One hundred and twenty five writers from all over Europe gathered in Thessaloniki, Greece, last November and committed to campaign for the implementation of a manifesto, which defines the role of the screenwriter in the 21st century.One hundred and twenty five writers from all over Europe gathered in Thessaloniki, Greece, last November and committed to campaign for the implementation of a manifesto, which defines the role of the screenwriter in the 21st century.Speaking at the opening, Wim Wenders (Chairman of the European Film Academy) said that it was important to finally give screenwriters the acknowledgement they deserve.

The conference Chairperson and FSE President, writer Christina Kallas, said in her opening speech that "It is writers who face the blank sheet and conjure out of nothing the stories that captivate the world. Everything else - producers, directors and distributors - come later. The writer is a primary creator of the audiovisual work."

Among the speakers was David Kipen, Director of Literature at the National Endowment for the Arts in the United States and author of The Schreiber Theory, which asserts that American film history can be better understood by concentrating on writers. He summed up the history of American cinema by saying that the first fifty years belonged to the producers, the second to the directors and the next will be for the writers. "We are historically at a kind of a crossroads," he concluded, referring to the conference, "and this is only the warning shot."

The European Screenwriters' Manifesto was launched at the recent Berlin International Film Festival with the backing of 21 national writers' guilds, including the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Collectively this represents approximately 9,000 writers across Europe. The Manifesto is a declaration of beliefs about the role of screenwriters and calls on others to recognise their contribution.

THE EUROPEAN WRITERS' MANIFESTO

Stories are at the heart of humanity and are the repository of our diverse cultural heritage. They are told, retold and reinterpreted for new times by storytellers. Screenwriters are the storytellers of our time.

European writing talent should be trusted, encouraged and supported. The European film industries need to find ways to attract and keep its screenwriters in the cinema and in their craft.

We assert that:
1. The screenwriter is an author of the film, a primary creator of the audiovisual work.
2. The indiscriminate use of the possessory credit is unacceptable.
3. The moral rights of the screenwriter, especially the right to maintain the integrity of a work and to protect it from any distortion or misuse should be inalienable and should be fully honoured in practice.
4. The screenwriter should receive fair payment for every form of exploitation of his work.
5. As author, the screenwriter should be entitled to an involvement in the production process as well as in the promotion of the film and to be compensated for such work. As author, he should be named in any publication accordingly, including festival catalogues, TV listing magazines and reviews.

We call on:
6. National governments and funding agencies to support screenwriters by focusing more energy and resources, whether in form of subsidy, tax breaks or investment schemes, on the development stage of film and television production and by funding writers directly.
7. Scholars and film critics to acknowledge the role of screenwriters, and universities, academies and training programs to educate the next generations in accordance to the collaborative art of the medium and with respect toward the art and craft of screenwriting.
8. Festivals, film museums and other institutions to name the screenwriters in their programs and plan and screen film tributes to screenwriters just as they do to directors, actors and countries.
9. National and European law should acknowledge that the writer is an author of the film. 10. National and European law should ensure that screenwriters can organize, negotiate and contract collectively, in order to encourage and maintain the distinct cultural identities of each country and to seek means to facilitate the free movement of writers in and between all nations.

We will:
€” Distribute this manifesto to industry members and the press in our respective countries. €” Campaign for the implementation of the agenda defined by this manifesto.
€” Seek the transition into national and European law of the legal changes demanded by this manifesto.

Chairperson and FSE President, writer Christina Kallas said: "What we tried to do by naming it the Manifesto is to challenge the international film community and to start a discussion about what has gone wrong and how we could set it right. It is a step in our campaign to give the writer her rightful place, as in the theatre and indeed in any other form of writing.

The Manifesto is also a political document that demands a much more favourable working environment for screenwriters regarding state aid and investment schemes for film funding, the equitable remuneration of screenwriters and political demand to the European Union to acknowledge that the writer is an author of the film. It is therefore extremely important that it should be signed personally by as many screenwriters as possible but also by other colleague writers and filmmakers all over the world.

The manifesto has been widely acclaimed and has been, without any prompting from the FSE, translated into a whole host of languages including Spanish, German, Dutch, Icelandic, Greek, and Norwegian. It has also been favourably received and supported by screenwriters and other filmmakers outside Europe, namely Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Australia and it is now reaching the US.

FSE is asking writers guilds around the world to present and distribute the manifesto to all its members and to use it as a tool to develop and enhance the status of screenwriters."