In one of Germany’s most closely-watched media cases, a Berlin court on Wednesday ruled in favor of German screenwriter Anika Decker in her residuals suit against Warner Bros. and Barefoot Films, the production company of German star Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds).
Decker co-wrote the screenplays to Schweiger’s 2007 comedy hit Rabbit Without Ears and its successful 2009 sequel Rabbit Without Ears 2, both of which were distributed in Germany by Warner Bros. The first Rabbit Without Ears film, which Schweiger directed and co-starred in alongside Nora Tschirner, earned around $74 million at the German box office, blockbuster numbers for the territory. Rabbit Without Ears 2 was also a major success, grossing around $40 million at the German box office.
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Decker claimed, given the outsized success of the films, she was not adequately compensated for her work. She sued under the so-called “fairness clause” of the German copyright act, which was first added in 2002 and gives creatives the right to claim an “appropriate share” in the commercial success of a film if their contractual remuneration is “noticeably disproportionate” to the revenue a movie earns. In Germany, many screenwriters work under buy-out deals which usually do not allow them to receive residuals on the films they write.
After several delays — Decker first sued five years ago — the court on Wednesday agreed with her. But her payday fell short of most expectations. The court ruled Barefoot Films and Warner Bros. owed her just €184,000 ($194,000) in residuals for the two movies because the bulk of her claims fell outside the statute of limitations.
“She should have filed her lawsuit much earlier once she saw how successful the films were in the cinema,” noted presiding judge Rolf Danckwerts.
The German Screenwriters Association (DVV) has seized on Decker’s case as an example of what they say are unfair conditions for writers in the German film industry.
“We find it both absurd and shameful that Anika Decker was only able to obtain an appropriate share in the success for which she herself is largely responsible by taking legal action,” the association said in a statement following Wednesday’s ruling. “Absurd because the legal situation massively disadvantages the author of two highly profitable films and reduces her to a supplicant. Shameful because companies like Warner Bros. or Barefoot Films clearly seem to lack fairness and decency.”
Around 20 of Decker’s fellow screenwriters gathered in front of the Berlin regional court ahead of the ruling, wearing T-shirts with such slogans as “No script, no film” and “We invent film.”
“Anika Decker deserves the great thanks of all [her DVV] colleagues for her courage in wanting to enforce the rights of screenwriters even against financially strong and powerful opponents,” the association said.
Wednesday’s court ruling is not yet legally binding and Warner Bros. and Barefoot Films can still appeal.
