Netflix and Verdi agree minimum fees for series productions
Anyone who plays in German Netflix productions should be paid appropriately: the streaming service has agreed on minimum fees with Verdi.
The Netflix streaming service and the Verdi union have agreed on minimum fees for those involved in series productions. The two parties announced on Thursday that they had expanded the “social partnership for fair production conditions in German fictional series productions”.
There have been regulations on performance-based additional remuneration since 2020. Since July 1, Netflix has been making both the existing “collective agreement for film and television workers employed for the duration of production” and the wage agreement between Verdi and the Alliance of German Producers – Film & Fernsehen a formal basis.
As was further communicated, Netflix exceeds the existing collective wage agreement when it comes to the fee amounts for filmmakers involved in the series productions with at least five years of professional experience. The minimum fees are increased by 5 percent for follow-up budgets of more than 1.2 million euros and by 7.5 percent for follow-up budgets of more than 2.5 million euros. Minimum fees for directors are also regulated. Netflix wants to invest 500 million euros in the production of German-language content by 2023.
“Fair and Reasonable”
“Netflix stands for extraordinary productions that can only be realized thanks to the many contributors,” said the responsible Netflix manager Rachel C. Schumacher. “We also want to remunerate their services fairly and appropriately.” They want to further develop the partnership with Verdi. “In order to jointly counter the shortage of skilled workers, we would also like to create training and further education opportunities with our production partners.”
Verdi representative Matthias von Fintel praised Netflix’s “serious interest in reliably attracting the best filmmakers for the planned series projects. Of course money plays a role, the increased minimum remuneration and copyright success fees represent an incentive. But a fair overall package of remuneration weighs more and working conditions, which we want to continue to develop with Netflix in the future.”
On Tuesday evening, Netflix also announced a partnership with Microsoft to implement an advertising-supported subscription level for the streaming offer. Among other things, Microsoft is to provide technical know-how and marketing expertise.
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