Danish unions involved in streaming dispute claim mea culpa, as industry is bleeding

“We recognise the responsibility that we have in this. We have [at Create Denmark] - together with the Danish Producers’ Association, underestimated the market or overestimated our own importance, but we need to solve the situation now!”

Speaking Wednesday (October 12th) to nordicfilmandtvnews.com Benjamin Boe Rasmussen, spokesperson to Create Denmark (umbrella reuniting 11 unions of Danish audiovisual workers including directors, writers and actors) acknowledged the acute crisis going on in the Danish film and TV series business, and promised to try to close agreements with the three key streamers involved - Netflix, TV2 Denmark, Viaplay, within the next couple of weeks.

“Today and tomorrow we are meeting with Netflix. With TV2 Denmark, we hope to have an agreement by the end of the month, and the same goes with Viaplay. We need to have those negotiations completed so that streamers can start developing and producing again in Denmark,” he said.

His reassuring stance was echoed by Jørgen Ramskov, head of the Danish Producers Association, involved with Create Denmark, in the conflict with streamers over rights remuneration of scripted works on digital platforms, initiated nine months ago.

“We are still negotiating but it has taken too long, and the situation is very difficult both for the film workers and the production companies. But we hope we will see some results soon, hopefully this month,” Ramskov said.

Ramskov and Boe Rasmussen’s reactions came as a new petition was launched this week, signed by more than 2,000 people from across all sectors of the industry, urging them to reach a compromise with the streamers. “The situation is dire. Our means of existence is threatened and the responsibility is yours,” said the joint-statement from the signatories. The petition comes three weeks after six Danish production powerhouses launched a similar plea (see our separate story CLICK HERE).

Among the petition signatories Michael Kormand, freelancer in equipment rental and union representative at FAF (Film and TV workers union) said his income for 2022 has been seriously trimmed compared to 2021 and even 2020, during the pandemic. “Business is very slow, actually - nothing is happening!" he admitted. “But everyone I speak to is in the same situation. I have colleagues who have worked in movies for 30-35 years now applying for jobs outside the industry - some are working as carpenters, others as school kids’ photographers. Everyone is trying to survive through other means than film & TV work.”

Criticising the Danish unions involved in the dispute, Kormand said their plea for bigger remuneration from their rights on streamers was not well thought-out. “Why would the likes of Netflix or Viaplay pay a premium cost to Danish actors or writers, when they don’t do this in other countries? And if they start in Denmark, everyone else will want it, so of course they won’t agree to this,” Kormand observed.

Sophie Wanting Hassing, CEO/Executive Producer at True Content Entertainment and another signatory concurs with Kormand, and slams in particular the unions’ demand of remuneration on a success-based model. “Create Denmark’s demands are unheard of in the industry, also when compared to other countries,” she argues. “Their idea of a success-bonus may make sense in an excel-sheet, but it doesn’t take into consideration that the streamers need foreseeability in how much the content - at the most -can cost them, and it also needs to be manageable. The streamers’ money is also limited and linked to local allocated budgets. And what is a success? Only if the viewer sees the full TV series? Or just two episodes?” she asks before adding:

“People are losing jobs and money. We all are, and we are about to lose everything. We must remember that Denmark is a small country with a limited language, not needed in the bigger streamer-picture. We are nice to have, but not at any price. On top of that, Denmark has little funds to go to and no tax-incentives/rebates, so we are already an unattractive market in that sense. So, this does not help,” she insists.

Until the dispute is resolved, her distribution and production group True Content Entertainment is shifting some production activity to its Norwegian outpost. Similarly, another petition signatory - Dorthe Riis Lauridsen from Apple Tree Productions says her company is "looking into other markets like Sweden". “Doing that might save Apple Tree, but not the Danish film and TV industry,” she underscores.

Perfect Storm
Keld Reinicke, a well-known media guru in Denmark and former head of programmes at TV2, gives his take on the conflict. For him, Create Denmark and the Danish Producers Association didn’t properly grasp the new streaming world and asked for a deal “that wasn’t towards the future of how we consume dramas today”. “If you go and try to get the same rights that you could ask for in linear television 10 or 20 years ago, no streamer will agree to that,” he said.

For him, the Danish film and TV union reps missed the warning signs, when the stately-funded TV2 Denmark -on behalf of its streamer TV2 Play- first refused to sign their framework rights agreement for 2022-23, earlier this year. “When a public broadcaster which has to produce local content-still said no to the deal, it was obvious they were asking for something that wouldn’t work,” he observed.

Reinicke points out that the Danish creatives and producers’ unions were basically “caught in a perfect storm” as streamers’ hunger for Danish scripted content was also cooled off by the recently introduced 6% streaming levy, and declining subscriptions due to the overall financial insecurity. “Ultimately streamers will produce less Danish shows as they won’t have the same money available, and if you put the 6% levy on top, those who will end up paying aren’t Netflix or Amazon but Danish consumers,” he underlined.

Asked if the situation is unique to the Danish market, compared to the rest of the Nordics, Reinicke said: “Each Nordic country has different agreements with streamers, but I believe they are waiting to see how the Danish dispute will end. I would be surprised if Sweden or Norway went in and did the same, when they can see the dire consequences in Denmark.”

For the Danish media specialist, the current crisis is simply “very sad” for the Danish people who work on scripted films and shows. “It will take years to get back to where we were, and we might never get there,” he stated.
Ramskov as well acknowledged the damage already caused to the local industry. “The conflict has been devastating to the industry and it will take years to recover because it will take months to get production up and rolling again,” he told nordicfilmandtvnews.com. “We must start development first and in the meantime a lot of people will have to look for jobs outside the industry and might not come back. The conflict has shown that the streaming services don’t need Danish content, if the price is too high, and we must adjust to that “new normal” he admitted.

As a reminder, since January the streaming services in Denmark have not greenlit new development or production of series of scripted content. TV2 Denmark was the first one to refuse to sign the Unions's framework agreement for payment of rights on streamers earlier this year. Viaplay and Netflix officially followed suit in June. Viaplay then entered an interim agreement July 22, 2022 due to expire later this month.

The Danish Film Institute declined to comment on the conflict and TV2 Denmark wasn't available at press time.