authors’ rights work

I’ve been an active trade union member all my working life. I believe in collective bargaining - not just as an means of ensuring decent terms and conditions for writers but as a demonstration of our central position in a free society.

Although writers work largely as individuals we’ve had remarkable success in coming together to act collectively and to promote copyright.

Through the Society of Authors, Writers’ Guild, Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), UK writers negotiate and monitor minimum terms agreements( MTAs); negotiate and administer collective licences and international reciprocal agreements for secondary rights; and combine with publishers’ organisations to license reprography. Working in co-operation with writers’ agents, these organisations provide rights management solutions and powerful lobbying and support networks in an increasingly joined-up marketplace.

Whatever the cultural, political and economic outcomes of digitisation and globalisation, the consensus is that content will remain king. That being so, it’s important that writers worldwide continue to take an integral place in considering and shaping the digital future.

My own work has included service on council, committees, and as vice-chair of the Writers’ Guild; as a non-executive director and vice-chair of ALCS; and as a non-executive director of CLA.

I’ve also served on negotiating teams for BBC radio and current BBC television MTAs, and the establishment of the BBC Forum ; the Producers’ Alliance for Cinema and Television ( PACT) agreement; BBC Worldwide collective licensing (PRIME); the bilateral agreement between the Publishers’ Licensing Society and ALCS; and chaired and facilitated the 2003 BBC 7 licence review.