Wang Xingdong: Film legislation should include "script and creativity" in the core provisions

How to promote the prosperity of movie scripts, the foundation of my country's film industry, is a non-negligible content of film legislation. Encouraging the originality of films should become the core clause of the Film Industry Promotion Law. To this end, the author suggests that a special chapter should be set up in the legislation on "scripts and creativity".

Original title: Film legislation: "scripts and ideas" should be included in the core provisions

Recently, the State Council passed the draft "Film Industry Promotion Law"(hereinafter referred to as the "Draft") and submitted it to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review, which has become a hot topic in the film industry. Since serving as a member of the 9th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, I have submitted proposals for "film legislation" many times, and finally saw a "draft" with 6 chapters and 58 articles. The "draft" regulates the administrative review of films, film distribution and screening, and film industry guarantees, including in detail the fact that cinemas must comply with fire protection and public health. However, after careful reading, I found that the development, protection and legal use of the "movie script" on which film products rely for survival, as well as respect for the script and the original author's copyright rights, were not included in this Law. The author believes that the common crisis in the world film industry is the lack of good scripts and good stories, and independent originality is the core competitiveness of all knowledge-economy industries. The legal relationship between film production companies and script copyright owners should be regulated in legislation.

Article 14 of the recently released "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Prosperity and Development of Socialist Literature and Art":"Adhere to content as the king, creativity to win, and improve original literary and artistic capabilities. Focus on supporting original and basic links such as literature, scripts, and composition, focusing on personalized creation, and avoiding excessive and repeated adaptations." It can be seen that the "draft" does not formulate provisions to protect scripts and literary creativity, which obviously does not reflect this spirit. In the cultural industry, content is king, creativity wins, discovery determines performance, and invention promotes development. The key to the content of the movie lies in the script, and the right to invention lies in the screenwriter. Nowadays, China films buy a large number of foreign copyrights, repackage them, and remake them for release, fully exposing the weakness of our original films. This should not be the direction of development of China films.

How to promote the prosperity of movie scripts, the foundation of my country's film industry, is a non-negligible content of film legislation. Encouraging the originality of films should become the core clause of the Film Industry Promotion Law. To this end, it is suggested that a special chapter should be set up in the legislation on "Screenplay and Creativity", which should include the following aspects:

1. The principle of "Screenplay Copyright Authorization Letter" should be stipulated

. Article 6, paragraph 3, of the "Regulations on the Filing of Screenplay (Outline) and the Management of Films" promulgated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in 2006 requires that there must be an "Agreement (Authorization) Letter for Copyright of Screenplay (Outline)" for Film Recording. It is illegal for anyone to use script ideas without the authorization of the script author. Article 16 of the "Draft" omits the principle of "power of authorization" for the copyright owner of the script.

The copyright of the script is the original copyright of the film and is the foundation for project establishment and financing. Only the legitimacy of the copyright of the movie script can ensure the legitimacy of the movie product. The copyright authorization and licensing system is an iron-clad legal principle of the world's copyright system. The author noticed that the "draft" emphasized the government's "film release license" 13 times, but there was no clause on "movie script copyright licensing." Legislation should respect the principle of uniformity and cannot only safeguard the government's licensing power while ignoring the licensing power for script use.

2. It should be stipulated that ensuring the authorship rights of the screenwriter and original creator in film works

is personal rights. At present, movies and television are in a chaotic and disorderly state of signatures. Few films in the world have as many general advisers, chief planners, chief co-ordinators, chief producers, and chief producers as China films are titled at the beginning of the film. They all occupy the place before the writers sign their names. The writers and original creators, as the first rights holders of the film copyright, should sign their names first. Nowadays, in China, whether in films or posters, there are a large number of people who erase the signatures of screenwriters, deliberately drowning the signatures of screenwriters among a group of people who do not have independent copyrights, highlighting the signatures of stars and directors on the films, and even the directors 'signatures for their personal works. You should know that actors and directors do not have independent copyrights and are second-time creators. There is also a strange phenomenon. The film is flooded with signatures. Tea, drivers and all crew members all sign their signatures. There are as many as a hundred people as long as a lazy woman's feet are wrapped with cloth. The audience reads the movie story, not the list. The chaos and disorder of the movie's signature drowned the real original creator. After watching the movie, I don't know who wrote it? Legislation is to standardize the signature sequences and signature standards of films.

3. It is stipulated in accordance with the law that the original author's right to modify and protect the integrity of the work

. After a movie script has been purchased by the producer, no other person, actor or director may be invited to distort or tamper with its theme without the consent of the script copyright owner. Even after the transfer of rights, the original author still has the right to claim protection of his rights and interests. Article 6 of the Berne Convention to which my country has joined stipulates: "Not affected by economic rights. Even after the transfer of the above-mentioned economic rights, authors still retain the right to claim the authorship of their work, and have the right to oppose any damage to their work. Distortion, fragmentation or other modification of their reputation, or other damaging behavior."

"Who has the final say on script revision?" It actually became a question in the college entrance examination in China, which shows that it has become a bad habit in China to change scripts without the authorization of the author. Even scripts reviewed and approved by the National Leading Group on Major Revolutionary Subjects still arbitrarily tamper with the theme, secretly change characters, violate historical facts, confuse right and wrong, and make up plots during filming. The actor is changed, the director is changed, and the gunman is changed, which greatly damages the rights and reputation of the original author. Film legislation should respect and protect the original author's right to modify and protect the integrity of the work. There is no script in the world that does not need to be revised, but it must be authorized by the original author.

The author would like to point out Article 7 of the "Draft":"Intellectual property rights related to movies are protected by law. No organization or individual may infringe on intellectual property rights related to movies." What are "film-related intellectual property rights"? Without specific rights identification, there is no real object to be protected. Moreover, the "draft" only emphasizes that "intellectual property rights related to films shall not be infringed" and does not stipulate that "films shall not be infringed on the intellectual property rights of others during production." Infringement of the intellectual property rights of others is common in film production. It is common to steal music without the authorization of the composer, copy the plot of the novel without the authorization of the writer, tamper with or plagiarize the content of the script without the authorization of the screenwriter, and shoot sculptures and art works without the authorization of the artist., and so on, all occur frequently in the actual film production in China. Therefore, Article 7 of the Draft only emphasizes that "intellectual property rights related to movies shall not be infringed" is too simple.

4. Should stipulate the rights and interests of original creators on film derivatives After the

American screenwriters went on strike, they won the right to share 2.5% of the profits when the film was broadcast on mobile phones and online. China screenwriters have hardly enjoyed any rights and interests in derivative products. The "draft" does not cover the source and derivative rights, blurring the legal relationship between original creators and production companies. Article 14, paragraph 2, of the Berne Convention stipulates: "Adaptation of a film work made from a literary or artistic work in any other art form must still be authorized by the original author without prejudice to the authorization of the author of the film work." That is to say, after the film is completed, it will be changed into other forms of literary and artistic works and derivative products, etc., and must also be authorized by the original author. The original author has permanent control and ultimate influence over his creative works.

"Harry Potter" created by British female writer Rowling has interests in books, films and derivative products, effectively protecting the rights and interests of the original creator. When she appeared at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, she showed to the world how much a country respects original creators.

5. It should be stipulated that the state and governments at all levels should establish funds to support original scripts and establish an

application and review system for original scripts, subsidize and encourage authors to go deep into life in accordance with the law, develop new plays, reward original creators, resist copying, and building cars behind closed doors, and improve original The quality and improving core competitiveness are effective ways to promote the development of China's film industry and overcome the need to make a meal without rice.

As a readable written work, the state should support and fund publications that publish screenplays, which is conducive to the publication rights of high-quality innovative screenplays, to improving the exchange and selection of creative film products from the literary original, and to studying the screenplays in film production. The effects that occur during filming and improve the quality exchange between original creations and secondary creations.

6. Film administrative review should prevent infringement of the rights and interests of the original creator

. Anyone who infringes on the authorship rights of the original author and screenwriter, and fails to pay the script remuneration is an infringement. According to Article 36 of the Administrative Licensing Law, if a film administrative review damages the rights and interests of an interested person (original author), it shall inform the interested person, listen to his statements and defenses, and shall not issue administrative licenses without informing the interested person. Any legal dispute with the producer must wait until the court's judgment takes effect before the license can be approved to prevent the film with evil traces of infringement from spreading to the market; if there is evidence or a court judgment, anyone who plagiarizes (including foreign writers) the plot and content of others 'creative scripts, even if the film is filmed, the person who plagiarizes and plagiarizes the plot and content of others must be held legally liable, and if the circumstances are serious, the film screening license will be revoked.

7. The state should support the establishment of film script creative registration centers to

protect citizens 'film story creations in accordance with the law. The state should support the establishment of script creative registration centers, which have both Register Protection and creative seed inventories. In addition, in filing and project approval, administrative departments at all levels have the obligation to protect copyright owners from plagiarism.

The quality of films comes from the quality of scripts. Without silk spinning silkworms, there will be no Silk Road. Without original scripts, there will be no film industry road. The first new China film regulations should place script creativity in the legal content of the primary norm, so that only by protecting the roots can they have fruit.

(The author is a member of the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice Chairman of China Film Association, and President of China Film Literature Society)

Editor: vian