When discussing about authorship rights and exploitation of cinema photography, we could never forget an aspect which, although considered minor in itself, is also important: the still photography. Both concepts are related as they comprise, in one hand, a same subject, which is the photography of the film, and in another, the same contracting part we are confronted to, which is not receptive at all to such matter. The present meeting will try to get photographers and still photographers closer and even more united in their fair claim.

In the case of the still photography, the respect showed for and the exploitation of authors rights are complex as many elements take an active part in it, and its very wide broadcasting makes necessary an overview of the actual distribution of rights.

This makes sense if we compare an ideal situation (that is to say what should be done), with what is being happening nowadays in Spain. In an ideal situation, when the photographer is required by the production company to realise the still photography work he is bargained to do so during the film shooting. Both parts sign an agreement in which it is specified, besides the working conditions, a surrender contract about exploitation rights sheltered by the intellectual property law of the use of images for promotion and trading of the film. The production and/or distribution company commits itself, faithfully respecting what the law says, to sign any kind of work the photographer would make. When it comes to stipulate the stipends of the photographer, not only is the done work considered but also the surrender of rights.

Once the photographer delivers the work while doing it, perfectly edited and reviewed, and already accepted by cinematographer of the film (in the case of still photography), the production and/or distribution company works together with him, taking his points of view into account on design matters. This is the way to get film´s promotion and distribution of good quality .

However, the Spanish reality has nothing to do with that. As an example we can mention the fact that apart from small and recent exceptions, during the last 15 years the still photographer has not usually been chosen because of his quality, his credit, his professional ability or the good relation quality/price he could offer. Selection criteria is and has mainly been by price, by reasons of friendship or by comfort. No exclusive surrender contracts of exploitation rights are signed. Those rights are not extra paid, they are considered to be included in the salary of the worker. Photographies on posters, pressbooks, books and so on, are usually not signed. Such photographies are freely distributed to third persons, who may redistribute them or even sell them, as it happens sometimes. Let us proceed step by step.

The contract signed, working or commercial, mention generically intellectual property rights, if it includes any clause about such matter, but not the surrender of exploitation rights. And, unless it is expressively stipulated, it does not mention any limit of surrender; Spanish laws usually fix in five years the time for it after the premiere of the cinematographic work.

Besides, chains and the distribution of the images channel are not specified, as there is no reasonable and consistent politics about distribution and marketing. The lack of efficient professionals is astonishing. This allows the media to obtain photographies without criteria and with no signature. The result is usually chaotic: photographies with no signature, manipulated with no sense and out of context. At the end, market is full of images without control and the product offered devaluates little by little. Behind such lack of professionalism we find indolence and a great lack of knowledge about what the images world is like, as we are talking about producers of audiovisual products. All this is clear shaped in the works quality and therefore in the quality of the product, that is to say, the film.

In practice, the way photographies go is from the photographer to the production and/or distribution company, which offer them to the media in order to get published pages and pages dedicated to the film in return. Media do not send the photographies back as it is preceptive, and they publish them again any time they want, even in other contexts than the promotion of the film. Photographies may also end up on the hands of third persons who use them for their own purposes, as publishing companies, Web pages, TV channels, etc... There has even been case of companies or particulars who freely copy the material furnished by the distribution company and sell it afeterwards to publishing companies, agencies or press media. Knowing that the standard publishing price in Spain is approximately of 100€ and that it is quite hard to control that such price is not modified, if such photography was furnished by the distribution company or by a pirate agency, it becomes clear that accusing or claiming is very difficult. Not possible practically.

We, Spanish still photographers find ourselves totally forsaken as we are not specifically retrieved for exploitation rights and as Spanish distribution companies do not recognise our author rights.

In the new digital era this matter becomes even worse as it allows to make infinite identic copies infinitely and complicate like this to trace the origin of the photography. Besides, the lack of profesionalism in photographical questions of distribution companies makes it even more difficult, as they have no means nor capacity to attempt to protect their material. This is something that should be quite important for them in order to be better check up on their film information. In the United States, we see how by controlling the information and its diffusion they get a bigger entry into the market.

But in such an important meeting of cinematographers about author rights we must also state some considerations about the relationship between the author rights of cinamatographers (for us out of question) and our images and our author rights. It is clear that they are somehow related as we make photographies inside still photographies in the more classical sense of the word, as part of the work, part of the work done by the cinematographer. We do not reproduce it, but it is only part of our own work. As it we consider it as important as it is and we are clearly in favour of giving to the photographer´s job a greater recognition, specially when it comes to author rights. But we understand photography is also a concept and as it the image of a film is a whole. And cinema photography and still photography must not be separated, either in its creation as in its wish to get the recognition of the society and of audiovisual producers. At the same level as we are ready to clearly support such demand, we also invite cinematographers to get more involved in the still photography job. We work in a same team, for a same film and we look for the same image.