Key Highlights ................................................................. 2
Message from the Screenrights Chair ............................. 3
Message from the Chief Executive ................................... 5
Collections and Distributions .......................................... 8
Membership .................................................................... 9
Licence Usage Data ....................................................... 10
Industry Services .......................................................... 11
Expenditure ................................................................... 12
Digital Transformation .................................................. 13
Screen Industry Support ............................................... 14
CONTENTS
Front cover image credits:
Windcatcher –Unless Pictures & Every Cloud Productions
The Rooster –Don’t Crow! & Thousand Mile Productions. Photo Sarah Enticknap
House of Gods –Matchbox Pictures
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
• Through our licence schemes, Screenrights distributed a record
$41.8 million to our members
• Usage of the Australian Educational Licence jumped once again,
with usage records up more than 30% on the previous year
• Growth in educational licences in both Australia and Aotearoa New
Zealand offset the ongoing decline of retransmission licence income,
resulting in a record year of $48.6 million in licence revenue
• Screenrights moved into a new office in Warrang [The Rocks],
which was officially opened by the Attorney-General of Australia,
Mark Dreyfus KC MP, enabling greater collaboration by our teams and
providing spaces for our members to work and create
• The 2023 Screenrights Cultural Fund awarded $266k to 6 initiatives
fostering the creation and appreciation of screen content in Australia
and Aotearoa New Zealand
Image Credit: Prosper – Lingo Pictures. Photo Lisa Tomasetti
SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024 | 2
3 | SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024
MESSAGE FROM THE SCREENRIGHTS CHAIR
Kim Dalton Chair
Last financial year Screenrights reached another record year in distributions, with $41.8 million
distributed to our members. This achievement underscores our ongoing commitment to ensuring that
our members receive fair and timely remuneration for the secondary uses of their work.
Alongside this milestone, we have again seen a substantial
increase in the usage of our Australian Educational Licence.
In FY24 usage records increased by over 30% compared
with the previous financial year. This growth demonstrates
the importance of our members’ programs to educational
institutions and the growing demand for accessible content in
learning environments across Australia. We remain dedicated to
ensuring that educators and students have access to the screen
resources they need in return for fair compensation
to the copyright owners.
In FY24 Screenrights celebrated a move to our new offices in
Warrang, The Rocks, and we thank Attorney-General Mark
Dreyfus KC MP for officially opening the space. This followed
a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony by Gomeroi
man and Warrang/Sydney local for almost 50 years, Raymond
Weatherall, which we were honoured to receive.
The new space reflects our aim of fostering a collaborative
environment that supports the work of our members and the
wider industry.
The evolving nature of broadcasting in the age of streaming
– in particular its impact on copyright and our members –
remained a key focus for Screenrights over FY24.
We are encouraged by the continued engagement of the
Attorney-General, who understands the necessity for
copyright policy to adapt and keep up with the modern world.
The Copyright Roundtables instigated by the Attorney-General
have provided a platform for various stakeholders to engage in
meaningful dialogue about potential reforms, and this approach
has fostered greater openness and cooperation.
While no final decisions have been made, we welcome the
Attorney-General’s interest and the ongoing reform process
he is overseeing. We believe that these discussions are essential
for paving the way for necessary reforms that will continue
to recognise the rights of the broader screen industry and
our members.
With the support of our members and stakeholders, we
will persist in navigating these changes and ensuring that
Screenrights remains a strong advocate over the coming years.
Kim Dalton, Screenrights Chair
14 October 2024
SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024 | 4
The evolving nature of
broadcasting in the age of
streaming – in particular its
impact on copyright and our
members – remained a key
focus for Screenrights over
FY24. We are encouraged
by the continued engagement
of the Attorney-General, who
understands the necessity
for copyright policy to adapt
and keep up with the
modern world.
5 | SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024
This year we made significant strides in our extensive digital
transformation, enhancing how we manage our systems
and interact with our members. With usage of the Australian
Educational Licence continuing to rise to over 30 million raw
usage records in FY24, we know this investment has come at
the right time. Advancements will not only streamline and improve
our internal operations but also empower our members with easier
and more secure interactions with Screenrights, and more control
over your payments. In time the transformation will enable deeper
insights into your work’s impact and reach.
Screenrights also continues to focus on access to screen content
for educators. We have analysed the four years to 2023/24
which demonstrate increased usage across all socio-economic
demographics. The biggest increases in relative terms were in
the less advantaged schools. Most notably, the divide between
affluent and under-resourced schools is closing: in FY24,
students in the lowest ICSEA (Index of Community Socio-
Educational Advantage) range are engaging with more content
per capita than their wealthiest counterparts did in FY20.
Over FY24 our membership grew to 5,309 members from
72 countries, showcasing the global reach and role of
Screenrights. One of the benefits of the digital transformation
that international members will shortly see is the ability to
choose to be paid in a local currency reducing transaction
costs and streamlining distributions.
As part of our commitment to advocacy, we joined the Steering
Committee of the Attorney-General’s Department’s Copyright
and AI Reference Group and continued our work around the
definition of ‘broadcast’ in the Copyright Act, ensuring our
stakeholders’ voices are heard in key conversations affecting
the industry.
We are excited to offer spaces in our new offices in Warrang,
The Rocks for members to hire free of charge for writers’ rooms,
creative meetings, or for hotdesking while in Sydney. We look
forward to welcoming you here and hope that this space
becomes a hub for creativity and inspiration.
And finally, we were proud to award $266K to six fantastic
initiatives through the Screenrights Cultural Fund, supporting
projects that enrich the creation and appreciation of screen
content in Australia and New Zealand. The Cultural Fund has now
awarded over $1.3 million to screen industry initiatives since it was
established in 2018.
Screenrights has once again remained fully compliant with the
voluntary Code of Conduct for Collecting Societies in Australia,
and has met its standards in the latest independent annual review.
More financial detail will be available soon in our Annual Report,
once it has been tabled in Parliament.
James Dickinson, Chief Executive
14 October 2024
MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
James Dickinson Chief Executive
Screenrights is pleased to announce another record year in licensing and distribution, with
collections reaching $48.6 million and distributions totaling $41.8 million in 2023/24.
This demonstrates our continued focus on maximising the value we deliver to our members.
2019/2020
2023/2024
Schools’ usage of the Australian Educational Licence by ICSEA
[Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage]
Average use per student
>1100
1050-
1100
951-
1049
801-
950
701-
800
601-
700
<601
7.066.186.225.686.583.723.56
3.512.832.292.402.381.760.86
ICSEA Range
6 | SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024
This year we made significant
strides in our extensive digital
transformation, enhancing
how we manage our systems
and interact with our
members. With usage of the
Australian Educational Licence
continuing to rise to over
30 million raw usage records
in FY24, we know this
investment has come at
the right time.
Image Credit: Outback Truckers – Prospero Productions | Aussie Gold Hunters - Electric Pictures
Who The Bloody Hell Are We – Chemical Media
SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024 | 7
Image Credits:
The Rooster –Don’t Crow! & Thousand Mile Productions. Photo Sarah Enticknap
Outback Opal Hunters – Prospero Productions
Erotic Stories – Lingo Pictures. Photo Renata Dominik
8 | SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024
COLLECTIONS AND DISTRIBUTIONS
Growth in our education licences in both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand resulted in a record year for licence revenue and distribution under our combined licence
schemes in 2023/24. While income under the retransmission licence continues to decline, the rate of decline slowed. The amount Screenrights distributed to our members
reached a record high of $41.8 million.
FIGURE 1 Licence revenue 2021/22 to 2023/24
Australian Educational Service [AES]
Australian Retransmission Service [ARS]
Australian Government Service [AGS]
NZ Educational Service [NZES]
$48.6m
$47.1m
$46.4m
A record year for licensing and distribution
FIGURE 2 Amount distributed to members each year 2021/22 to 2023/24, and breakdown by
licence scheme type
2022/23 2023/242021/22
35.0m
8.3m
1.2m
2.6m
36.8m
5.7m
1.2m
2.7m
39.2m
5.2m
1.3m
2.9m
2021/22 2022/23
2023/24
$40.3m$39.4m
$41.8m
29.6m
6.8m
1.0m
2.0m
Australian Educational Service [AES]
Australian Retransmission Service [ARS]
Australian Government Service [AGS]
NZ Educational Service [NZES]
30.3m
7.0m
0.9m
2.1m
32.7m
5.2m
1.2m
2.7m
SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024 | 9
2023/24 saw our membership grow 3.8%, to a total of 5309 members from 72 countries as of June 2024. Our database now holds over 1.61 million active registrations of members’ rights
in programs.
Image Credit: Windcatcher – Unless Pictures & Every Cloud Productions | Erotic Stories – Lingo Pictures. Photo Renata Dominik | The Messenger – Lingo Pictures. Photo Lisa Tomasetti
MEMBERSHIP
More members, more program registrations
FIGURE 4 Membership numbers 2021/22 to 2023/24, and breakdown by member type
2022/232021/22
5,1504,996 5,309
Australian members
New Zealand members
International members
2023/24
FIGURE 3 Active registrations of members’ rights in programs, 2021/22 to 2023/24
2022/23
2021/22
2023/24
1.52m
1.45m
1.61m
2,793
443
2,073
2,725
425
2,000
2,632
414
1,950
10 | SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024
Continued strong demand for access under our educational licences
LICENCE USAGE DATA
FIGURE 6 Share of copies made for different types of content at Australian
Educational Institutions
Usage under Screenrights’ educational licences continues to see strong growth, resulting in the collection of over 30 million records in 2023/24, an increase of over 30% on the prior year.
FIGURE 5 Total number of raw usage records for the Australian Educational Licence,
2019/20 to 2023/24
2023/24
2021/22 2022/23
30,354,48718,861,371 23,244,864
12, 0 21, 3 39 17,74 4,202
2019/20 2020/21
Feature Film 26%
Documentary 19%
Factual 17%
Children’s Series 11%
News & Current Affairs 7%
Dedicated Educational 5%
Drama Series 3%
Light Entertainment 3%
Comedy Series 3%
Short 2%
Mini-Series/Telemovie 2%
Reality Television 1%
Other 1%
11 | SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024
While total collections through our Collection Account Management and Disbursements services were down in 2023/24, mainly due to the variable nature of the performance of titles in
the industry, collections from our Royalties [World] service hit a record high of $2.3 million.
INDUSTRY SERVICES
A record year for worldwide collections
FIGURE 7 Total collections through our CAM, Disbursements and Residuals services
$5,485,000
$6,943,000
$7,012,000
FIGURE 8 Screenrights Royalties [World] 2023/24 collections breakdown by territory
2022/23
*†
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
**†
2023/24
$2,940,000
$5,800,000
$5,401,000
Netherlands
Germany
Denmark
Finland
Canada
Switzerland
France
Sweden
Belgium
Other Countries
$2.3
million
*
CAM service commenced in 2022/23
**
RES service commenced in 2021/22
†
Figures updated to include RES collections, please note correction from previous report
Image Credits: Erotic Stories – Lingo Pictures. Photo Renata Dominik | The Messenger – Lingo Pictures. Photo Lisa Tomasetti | Windcatcher – Unless Pictures & Every Cloud Productions | Outback Truckers – Prospero Productions
SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024 | 12
Optimising our technological capabilities while closely watching our costs
FIGURE 10 Overall expenditure to collections ratio, 2021/22 to 2023/24FIGURE 9 Breakdown of Expenditure for 2023/24
EXPENDITURE
15.0%
2021/22
16.9%
2022/23
In 2023/24 we continued to invest in our digital transformation as we manage the increasing amounts of data processed by our systems. This includes an investment in our people, with
14 of 39 staff members dedicated to this project. As we keep an eye on the cost of these crucial upgrades, our Expenses to Collections ratio has decreased slightly from 2022/23.
16.7%
2023/24
Employee Related
$5,463,000
Operating Expenses
$1,574,000
Information Technology
$ 954,000
Licensing
$ 531,000
Legal
$ 280,000
Travel
$ 60,000
Promotions/ Marketing
$ 31,000
Other
$ 319,000
$9.21
million
Image Credit: The Messenger – Lingo Pictures. Photo Lisa Tomasetti
SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024 | 13
Screenrights’ ongoing digital transformation continues to improve our internal systems as well as the new web application launched in 2022/23 for all Screenrights members
and clients.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
New features and continued optimisation for members and stakeholders
FIGURE 11 New and upcoming features on the Screenrights platform
Payout Release Engine
[live]
Optimisation of our
automated payment system,
reducing administration costs
and avoiding manual error.
Digital Transformation Team
Fully Onboarded
[talent hired]
Our internal capabilities will
enable faster rollout of new
features from FY25 onwards.
Updated Banking Control
[live]
Users can select their preferred
currency for Screenrights
payments, reduce bank fees
and avoid bouncebacks.
Collection Accounts Statements
and Reports [live]
Users can access their payment
and activity statements,
marketing agreements and
sales reports seamlessly.
Multiple Bank Accounts
[coming soon]
We’re laying the groundwork for
users to direct payments
for specific titles, clients or
services into different bank
accounts enabling more
flexibility over cash flow.
Data Processing Engine
[coming soon]
We’re rebuilding this “behind-
the-scenes” capability from
the ground up to handle the
escalating data scales. This
future proofing project is 1/3
complete and already delivering
operating efficiencies.
14 | SCREENRIGHTS YEAR IN REVIEW 2023–2024
SCREEN INDUSTRY SUPPORT
Screenrights joined the Steering Committee of the Copyright and AI Reference
Group introduced by the Attorney-General, and continued to actively participate
in the Ministerial Roundtables on Copyright, with a particular focus on
advocating for updates to the Copyright Act that will preserve the remit of
the Australian Educational Licence as transmission moves from traditional
broadcasting to online.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC MP officially opened our new offices in
Warrang, The Rocks, and we welcome members and screen industry
practitioners to book our Member Hub spaces for writers’ rooms and creative
workshops or hotdesking while visiting from out of town.
The 2023 Screenrights Cultural Fund awarded $265,763 to 6 initiatives meeting
the annual focus of New Visions:
→
Black Apple Productions to develop and deliver a bespoke national screen
directing workshop for six First Nations women with ‘THE LAB: First Nations
Women Screen Directors Lab’;
→
Pink Lake Creative for their 'Pathways and Connections Workshop
Program', with 40 children from three isolated communities in western
Victoria participating in screen industry workshops focused on
augmented technology;
→
Sound recordist Alicia Butterworth and sound designer Tfer Newsome’s
‘Developing Diverse Screen Sound Practitioner Futures’ for a series
of training workshops for under-represented emerging female and
non-binary screen-sound professionals;
→
NZ's Proud Voices on Screen for 'The Queer Screen Development Toolkit',
which aims to provide support, guidance and resources for teams
developing screen projects that feature queer themes, storylines,
characters and actors;
→
Touch Compass’ 'Screen Production Programme for Deaf and Disabled
Students' to engage and teach Deaf and Disabled aspiring filmmakers the
skills required to tell their own stories and build careers; and
→
The Unquiet Collective for their 'Distribution and Impact Lab', an intensive
social impact and non-theatrical planning lab for three films in the lead-up
to their release.
Image Credit: Windcatcher – Unless Pictures & Every Cloud Productions
