Could Egypt introduce public performance rights?

A legislative push in the Senate to activate public performance rights — royalties for rebroadcasts — to compensate Egyptian actors and creators is in the limelight, triggering a fierce debate in the media and production industry.

The move could place the burden of disbursing royalties on platforms and television channels, but the implementation mechanism is still murky, and would make producers reluctant to commit to projects, television producer Tarek El Ganainy told El Sora’s Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 6:23). The move may also hinder the competitiveness of Egyptian media, if platforms based abroad — who are not always open to negotiating contract terms — do not have similar mandates, El Ganainy said.

But that doesn’t mean producers are off the hook. If networks and streaming platforms are forced to pay public performance royalties directly to actors and creators, they will likely lower the licensing fees they pay to producers to offset their new overhead, Adl Group Studios’ Gamal El Adl told El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 4:57). With less upfront revenue from these sales, producers will find it increasingly difficult to fund projects and fairly compensate the creators themselves.

Industry icon Yehia El Fakharany was unequivocal — artists deserve compensation, he said (watch, runtime: 5:33). El Fakharany pointed out — as other creatives in the industry have — that artists often wind up impoverished, even after a lifetime of creating important and popular works. Comedian and writer Hesham Mohamed — known as Chico — stressed that the fees have absolutely nothing to do with producers, and networks all over the world pay royalties, he told Amr Adeeb on El Hakaya (watch, runtime: 2:28). Egypt should be no exception, Chico said.

SOUND SMART- Actors are typically compensated in one of three ways — an upfront salary per project, residuals (ongoing payments as the project is re-aired or streamed), backend participation (a percentage of the project’s income), or a hybrid of these structures.

AND ON THE EDUCATION FRONT- A meeting between the education minister and international school owners got some airtime, with Ala Masouleety’s Ahmed Moussa speaking to ministry spokesperson Shadi Zalta to get the highlights. The Education Ministry’s directives aim to benefit the students, ensuring high-quality education and compliance on the part of schools, Zalta said (watch, runtime: 3:25).

And we can’t talk about international schools without talking about their often controversial tuition increases. During the meeting, the minister emphasized “the commitment of all schools to the regulations governing tuition fees and rates for any fee increases.”