Screenrights has announced that a record $40.3 million was distributed to Screenrights members through its licence schemes in FY2022/23, while use of the Australian Educational Licence jumped again with usage records up 23.2% on the previous year.
“Screenrights can report another strong year of collections and distributions, new licence agreements successfully negotiated in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and record levels of use of our Australian educational licence,” said Board Chair Kim Dalton. “We continue to advocate for updates to the Copyright Act that keep pace with the fast changing broadcast and streaming environments, to make sure that our members are fairly remunerated for the use of their programs.”
Usage of the Australian Educational Licence continued on its growth trajectory, in spite of an end to the pandemic lockdowns that necessitated much of the remote learning previously thought to be a key driver of content access. “Remarkably, usage records for the Screenrights Educational Licence in Australia increased by 23.2% on the previous year, reconfirming the ongoing value of our members’ content to teachers and students,” said Screenrights Chief Executive James Dickinson. “We also increased our NZ Educational Licence reach to 39% of schools, leading to a record year for collections in Aotearoa New Zealand. And we’re pleased to report that we distributed a record $40.3 million to members from our licence revenue.”
At its AGM held remotely on Thursday 26 October, Screenrights Chair Kim Dalton also revealed the Board election results.
Elected to the Screenrights Board are two new directors: Dot West and Sofya Gollan. Dot is a scriptwriter, story advisor and accredited trainer, a Noongar woman who was Head of Productions at Goolarri Media for ten years and now serves as a Board Director there as well as for Cinefest Oz Film Festival, and as Chairperson of the First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group to Minister Rowlands. Sofya is an award-winning film director and screenwriter, an advocate for diversity and disability inclusion and a Deaf individual who joins as Authorial (Director) Director and has served previously on the Board for the National Australian Theatre of the Deaf and as a member of the advisory panel for Film in Revolt.
Elected for this first time as a director is Anthony Travers, who has been filling a casual vacancy left by the late Chris Gardoll since 2023. He is a Chartered Accountant, Registered Company Auditor and Senior Audit Partner with WilliamBuck.
Returned to the Screenrights Board are: Sandra Davey, Director since 2020; and Rachel Anthony, NZ Director since 2020. We sincerely thank outgoing Directors Anne Chesher and Jub Clerc for their significant contributions to the Board.
Further highlights from Screenrights’ 2022/23 year in review are available here. A full copy of the Annual Report will be available here once it has been tabled in Parliament.
