In the beginning it was the job, that of a screenwriter, in series like Loving in troubled times either Mrs and in movies like So you do not forget me and Wild kids, which won the Biznaga de Oro at the Malaga Festival in 2012. But while Virginia Yagüe (Madrid, 50 years old) developed her professional career, she began to look further afield. “I stopped thinking about myself to think about the collective, about the common,” she says. An associative commitment that led her to be president of CIMA (Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media). And in the middle of all this, feminism. “I arrived very late, but solidly,” she says. Since June 2022 she has been president of DAMA, the management entity specialized in audiovisual content. She appears at the institution's headquarters slightly complaining about her heels, because she is coming from lunch with the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun.
Ask. How was the meal with the minister?
Answer. Well, I wanted to try and address film law very specifically and know where we stand.
Q. And which one is it?
R. We already had an intervention in the previous draft that has to do with article five and the express definition of nationality of productions. Because it is the formula we found to avoid buy out.
Q. What are…
R. An abusive formula in contracting that consists of transferring rights beyond what is assignable, appealing to external jurisdictions. There are European jurisdictions that avoid this by law and for cultural protection, but certain platforms appeal to a foreign jurisdiction in contracts; that of California, for example. If we recognize nationality, that preserves the rights of the authors. We are cultural workers, we claim what is ours, like those in the automobile sector. We have a peculiarity, yes, because there is a lot of intermittency in our jobs, we are mostly self-employed, and that implies copyright as a cultural heritage that we have generated and need to recover to continue in the profession. It is the recognition of what our works contribute.
Q. Do you think people recognize that contribution?
R. For a long time, cultural assets have been deprived of their true dimension, that which can be quantified and that which is more intangible. That is something that the Anglo-Saxon world has always had in mind. In the United States, it was the second industry after arms and now it is directly the first. In Europe, in addition to this economic reading, it was valued as an asset to be protected and promoted, but in Spain it has been relativized for a long time.
Q. What have the platforms contributed to the author?
R. They have created spaces for us that we had not had before. If we do not focus on those legal aspects that I mentioned, they allow us diversity in the proposals, which until now were limited. Until then it consisted of plots aimed at everyone. I have proposals that may or may not arrive, but I need to have an area to display them. That we have to find a balance between that and a guaranteed right for authorship would be ideal, and I think we are working along those lines.
“Many of those you see on the red carpet don't make ends meet.”
Q. How are we going about denying that you are privileged people who live off subsidies?
We have to do a lot of didactics because if I tell you what I charge for a weekly series episode script, it may seem like a lot to you, but you have to take into account how long it takes me to do it, how many I do, and in how many years I charge it. It is very difficult to count, and radically different from having 14 payments a year. Even taxes are different, and many of those you see on the red carpet can't make ends meet. You can do very well for two years and not work again. That is why the work of the entities is important because we not only cover the management of rights, there are funds destined to cover the needs of our members, the purchase of a computer, glasses, a dental implant… because they do not arrive!
Q. To care so little about culture, Vox asked you to govern it in many city councils…
R. If they want to occupy those spaces it is because they detect their importance, they are giving them dimension. We should have an armored cultural reserve so that we have a capacity for diversity that corresponds to society itself. That a government exercises from one extreme does not mean denying a part of society. Culture has to be something plural, diverse and democratic. It is a pact that we must reach. This, in essence, reveals that we are still in a democratic adolescence.
“We cannot violate the essence of the stories”
Q. You say that defending the rights of authors includes the gender perspective and diversity…
R. There I appeal a lot to my screenwriter instinct to say that what matters is coherence in the story. Entering a quota of whatever makes someone immediately say: “Ugh, he added this because he has to.” What you need to have is many plural and different stories, but with meaning. I have done so many historical series that I already know that it was a predominantly male world.
Q. Six female apostles at the Last Supper make no sense.
R. Exact. What am I going to tell you, at the time of Prim's murder, to many ladies running the government? They didn't exist, it's not real! We cannot violate the essence of the stories.
Q. In addition to working conditions and the recognition of rights, you are also concerned about harassment in the workplace…
R. We have been silent for a long time. Only 8% of attacks are reported, but in the cinema it is 0%, and we all know cases that occur in private settings where there is no burden of proof. That membrane has to be broken because I can't stand any more stories about it, it is a clear reality that we live with. That is why I do not believe that we should appeal only to the complaint, because it places the burden on the victims. How are you going to do it in a situation where there is abuse of power? It's suicidal, because they know they could be out of a job for life. Therefore, if an entity expresses its express support, no matter what happens with the complaint, it sends a very powerful message. And from that moment on, the victim is likely to report it, or at least consider it. It's not empowerment, it's security.
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