The times the world is going through have placed REDES – Colombian Network of Audiovisual Writers – facing a challenge before which it continues to work day after day: to prove a Collective Management Society is so much more than just collecting fees – above every other consideration, it works to guarantee the wellbeing of audiovisual authors.
Immediately after the sanitary emergency was established, the Council of Directors stipulated the creation of a Covid-19 subsidy, which consisted of a sum of money of free destination, which all partners could access upon request via email. The only requisite, to be a partner of REDES.
This first subsidy was received, beyond its moneywise significance, as our affiliates have expressed, as a clear demonstration that partners of REDES are not alone.
Both the pandemic and the closure have lengthened, and the Directive Council ,conscious of the serious situation many of its partners have found themselves in, created a second Covid-19 subsidy of equal characteristics as the first, which is being handed out as from this past June 14th.
Additionally, the Welfare Sector was structured and put into operation – it designed 12 benefits programs for our partners, which include an unemployment subsidy, health, psychosocial attention, studies support and attention of unfortunate events.
All these plans have been put into action thanks to the management developed in order to collect fees from open television, to destine 10% of such collection to social investment, and the REDES policy to work with the commitment of being #MásQueRecaudo (more than what is collected).
Thanks to the agreements with the two major open TV channels in Colombia, Caracol Television and RCN Television, we were able to maintain REDES functioning properly, as well as elaborating on different manners of immediate support to our partners. Had it not been so, our authors would have been completely unprotected during the crisis, given the majority of them have not benefited from the aid provided by the National Government.
In spite of all alterations brought on by the pandemic, REDES has been able to comply with its first payments to sister collective management societies, and has foreseen to carry out the first distribution of national collections during the first week of august. This being thanks to the important assistance not only on the technological tool of the delivery system FESAAL SYS, but for the constant political and technical support which FESAAL – Federation of Societies of Latin American Audiovisual Authors – has towards its members as well.
The current crisis has generated a state of uncertainty regarding next year´s collections, so one of the main challenges will be to search for other means of collection with the purpose of avoiding a steep fall in the society´s income, which could affect its operation. In order to reduce the negative impact, REDES has designed a strategy which increases the mode of international collections inside the total income calculation. This, considering that sister societies should have income from pieces protected by REDES, from these last years.