The ways to search and receive rights are two: direct negotiations with the Agency, which holds the rights and the other is through an intermediary in this case is THEATREAUTOR. Working with THEATREAUTOR we save multiple calls, and further details contact the owners of rights. But through THEATREAUTOR rights gets more expensive because THEATREAUTOR by law charged 20 percent VAT on the actual amount. Rights to the show are 15 thousand euro – about 10 thousand dollars. In action by THEATREAUTOR I have to pay 18 thousand euro, and therefore decided that it is better to save those 3 thousand euro as I get in contact personally with the Agency’s media rights musical – MTI-Music Theatre International. You know how difficult is to find money for a production, so we should give more resources to the THEATREAUTOR. THEATREAUTOR is not guilty of these charges, this is the situation with people from the publishing business, which are also victims of VAT, it is not easy life for the cultural goods, because they are burdened with VAT. So that we preferred to work with the Agency, which holds the license on the setting, after we already had such a successful set of experience as „Oliver“ last season. Of course, when pay and settle their contracts in a direct manner, our theater is transformed into a fund that did hinder our work, because working with these relations THEATREAUTOR make payment easier, etc. While the state is not felt to introduce tax breaks for the products of culture, all of this area will try to circumvent, to find ways to save in personal organizing projects.
You produced the text of Laura Kanigam “Beautiful Bodies” in NDT „Tears and Laughter”, and there the issue of copyright of an author made her coming in our country because it wasn’t accounted for the change of her personal agent.
The issue is driven by actress Iskra Angelova-translator of the text and the management of NDT „Tears and Laughter. I know that Laura Kanigam the author rightly calls regularly and threatens to ground the direction of the theater, if it does not meet the rules will stop the performances. For months she did not receive the amounts. However I do not want to be but we are the same in the Youth Theatre and we mistimed payment rights to authors, with Ms. Maya Ilieva from THEATREAUTOR. We have made statistics that we move with 6 months delay of payment of the rights of the last quarter. Currently pay right at the end of 2007 I am a mere user of copyright and I know what if you incorrectly refer to my work, the problem is the allocation of budgetary resources. We regularly receive letters from THEATREAUTOR that if you do not pay rights will stop performances; I write them e-mails in which they promise that, although late – they will receive the amounts. If you automatically pay the required amounts, this means that they will not pay the power and steam to the theater. Theater physically is unable to accumulate funds with a contribution to solve the copyright to THEATREAUTOR. I count on collegiality of THEATREAUTOR that they will wait for me. If you pay the lower amount, that means using old texts, it sounds not so recent, incurious and in bad quality.
Owner Production Company are „VIP Media“ that make the series „Smart Village“. Describe your relationships, problems in this area as you have the copyright in the field of film?
„Smart Village“ is also quite confused problem – I pay rights as a producer of the National Film Center that use some seconds or minutes of old movies, NFC years ago was the winner of the rights of all movies that we used, when we described the creative career of the characters from the series. I was sending some lists to NFC in which I included seconds and minutes of relevant films, I enjoyed them and they returned my calculation of how to pay. There is another version of behavior, often fall back on this vehicle because my budget submitted my BNT from 1997 until now has not move, so if I have to pay all right, I need to pay to work … reason thus, this fund is a good memory and for which work still exists, so often know the man to do that film-as-I called Rangel Valchanovl in personal and pleased him to give me his permission to get some of the cadre. Later if BNT want my staff from the rolls for a person in the same way they call me and ask me how to pay my natural and I agree to pay me nothing, so a reservation. I will be rich with these 5 minutes of my movie; I prefer to lose one hundred, two hundred euro but to have such motion or film. I am aware that it should not make compromises in this respect, and the problems of this nature should be legally regulated. I wish to have enough budget that can pay for copyright, then I will not looking to find other ways to satisfy them.
The interview was taken by Elitsa Mateeva – correspondent of ipbulgaria.com
