Screenrights has announced that a record $46.5 million was distributed to members in the 2019/20 financial year.
“It’s been a challenging year for both screen content creators and educators,” said board chair Kim Dalton. “Easily accessible online video content and secondary royalty streams have perhaps never been more important. I thank the board and staff for all their hard work to make sure that members and licensees have not been disadvantaged by the pandemic when it comes to Screenrights’ services.”
The Australian Educational Licence received 3.5 million usage records, up 143% from 2018/19. “This extraordinary usage demonstrates the ongoing value of our licences to educational institutions. We’re pleased that our members’ content provides such support to educators, especially during COVID-19 remote learning requirements,” said Screenrights chief executive James Dickinson.
During the financial year Screenrights’ membership grew 6.1% to total 4,709 members from 69 countries around the world, and collections from Screenrights’ disbursements service came to $5.4 million, up 84% year on year.
At its AGM held remotely last night, Screenrights chair Kim Dalton also revealed the board election results.
Elected to the Screenrights board is writer/director Jub Clerc as Authorial Director, an Aboriginal woman from the Nyul Nyul/Yawuru nations of the Kimberley whose directing credits include The Heights as well as numerous short films and mini docs; Rachel Antony as NZ director, CEO of Greenstone TV and member of the facilitation group for Aotearoa’s 2030 Screen Sector Strategy; and Sandra Davey, whose career spans product management of more than 30 digital B2C and B2B products across telecommunications and Internet, cross-platform media, sport, and non-profit endeavours.
Returned to the Screenrights board are: Anne Chesher, who has over 20 years’ experience producing online education creative media for the television industry and who has been director since 2014; and Chris Gardoll, whose previous roles included CFO and company secretary with publicly listed company API, CFO with APRA|AMCOS, and COO with Screenrights, who has been filling a casual vacancy since July this year.