Who are we?
Forfatternes Forvaltningsselskab was founded in November 2014.
Almost all Danish copywriters stand behind the company, regardless of whether they write fiction, non-fiction, journalism, satire, manuscripts or translations thereof.
The company was founded by Danske Populærautorer (DPA), Danske Dramatikere, Danske Jazz, Beat og Folkautorer (today Autor), Danske Skønlitterære Forfattere, Oversætterforbundet, Udvalget til Beskyttelse af Videnskabeligt Arbejde (UBVA), Dansk Forfatterforening and Dansk Journalistforbund (DJ). Danske Dramatikere has left the company as of January 1st 2019, and the company is today owned by the other founding organisations.
In total, we represent more than 70,000 Danish text authors.
All organizations are represented on the company's board, which currently consists of:
Morten Rosenmeier (Chairman). Professor, Ph.D., and chairman of Udvalget til Beskyttelse af Videnskabeligt Arbejde (AC/Akademikerne)
Claus Ankersen (deputy chairman). Author and spokesperson for Danske Skønlitterære Forfattere (DSF)
Morten Visby (deputy chairman). Translator and chairman of Dansk Forfatterforening (DFF)
Christian Dølpher. Legal consultant in DJ
Nanna Lund (DFF) is an alternate on the board.
The company is managed by Stig Oluf von Hielmcrone.
Legal and financial information
In the remuneration received from license agreements, we deduct costs for the operation of FFS. Deductions are only made to cover costs, and we thus do not build up additional equity or pay out funds to the group of owners; all remuneration received either goes to the rights holders or to cover concrete costs. In certain areas, deductions are also made for cultural purposes, which follows from our distribution principles. Our cost level can be calculated as a percentage of our revenue which fluctuates from year to year, but is usually 17-20%.
On the documents page, you can read more about our accounts, distribution principles, articles of association etc.
Forfatternes Forvaltningsselskab is approved by the Ministry of Culture.
What do we do?
Forfatternes Forvaltningsselskab is a commercial company whose purpose is to improve the financial benefit of text authors when their works are used. At the same time, the company's activities are expected to result in more text works becoming available to users than before.
We do this by entering into new agreements on the use of literature and text as well as entering into negotiations on this in order to thereby create the best possible results for the members.
The company itself is non-profit. The profit is distributed to the members, and is payment for the work they have done in creating or editing text works.
On behalf of Dansk Forfatterforening (DFF), Danske Skønlitterære Forfattere (DSF) and AC/UBVA (Udvalget til Beskyttelse af Videnskabeligt Arbejde), we oversee extensive media monitoring of authors' and academic experts' appearances on TV. We do this in order to assist the organizations with the correct payment of funds from, among others, Copydan Verdens TV.
Media monitoring
Since the introduction of cable TV in Denmark, cable providers such as Stofa and YouSee have paid remuneration to Copydan Verdens TV. They pay for the copyrights that are transported via cables to the individual users/viewers. They are obliged to do so in accordance with an EU directive that has been implemented in Danish law.
DFF and DSF have for a period themselves been responsible for the management of the Copydan funds from the AV associations, but in 2018 they left it to FFS. You can read more about this here.
It is important to keep in mind that it is not money that, for example, DR pays in fees. It is for the cable retransmission itself, which is why it should not be seen as receiving a fee from the TV station; it is a remuneration which is linked to the copyright of what you say and the role you have, which triggers remuneration due to the special protection inherent in, for example, YouSee having to pay a remuneration for its use.
The basis for reporting is created by the fact that we at FFS watch TV and make records of which authors and academic experts who participate in the programmes. We have three registrants who watch TV approximately 200 hours each month. They watch selected channels DR1, DR2, TV2 and TV2 News, and it is for appearances on these channels that we pay remuneration. This means that, for example, we do not pay remuneration for an author who appears on Swedish TV.
Radio listening in Denmark is mostly not via cable, it is usually via FM, DAB or the internet, which is why there is no cable fee with participation in radio programmes. If you have appeared as an author on the radio, you will, however, be able to receive remuneration. This is because the distribution principles adopted by DSF and DFF for authors are different from those for academic experts. You can read more about authors' and academics' rights to remuneration here.
Previous collaboration with Copydan Tekst & Node
Up until the remuneration year 2018, we collaborated with Copydan Tekst & Node on the payments, but for the remuneration year 2019 and onwards, FFS is in charge of all this work itself. We have therefore sent out an e-mail to a large number of authors and academic experts and asked them to fill in a form to payment of remuneration. In the future, we will continuously send corresponding e-mails to authors and academic experts, if these appear on TV and are therefore entitled to remuneration via us and the organizations behind FFS.
If you think you are entitled to remuneration, but have not received the above email from us, read more here.
How much money will I receive?
During the year, we make recordings of authors' and academic experts' appearances on TV. When the year is over, we receive an amount from DFF and DSF for the authors and an amount from UBVA for the academic experts. These amounts are distributed to the persons we have registered. The amounts vary each year, and so does the number of people we register. This means that the amounts we pay out to individual people vary greatly from year to year.
For example, it can be mentioned that the remuneration for participation as an academic expert on TV in 2019 amounted to DKK 697.76, while the same remuneration for 2020 amounted to DKK 768.74.
For example, if you received remuneration of DKK 2,093.28 for 2019, you will be able to see in our system that there will be three registrations for you for 2019. Each of these registrations triggers a remuneration of DKK 697.76. The amounts are not shown by our system, but the total amount can be read in your bank. Since you, as the rights holder, can see all the information about which broadcasts you receive remuneration for, we do not send out supplementary invoices.
Payments typically take place in September for the previous year. In September 2024 we will, for example, pay remuneration for appearing on TV and radio in 2023.
You can find more information about the above as well as the specific policies for the distribution of remuneration at the individual organizations via these links:
https://danskforfarterforening.dk/radio-tv/
https://ubva.dk/udlodning-af-copydan-midler/generelt-om-ubvas-udlodning-af-copydan-penge/
Submitting personal information to FFS - how do you do it?
The first time you log on to our system, it is important that you use the link sent to you by email, as it is the link that connects you to our system. You cannot therefore access the system via this website the first time. At the same time, it is important that you use the e-mail address that you received the e-mail from us to log in with.
When you have clicked on the link in the email from us, you enter your email address in the first log-in field. In the next field, enter a code of your choice. Then press log-in. If you cannot log in now, it will usually help to ask for a new password (forgotten password) and try again.
When you have logged in via the link as described and created your profile, you can subsequently access the system via the person-icon in the right corner of this webpage or via this link: https://vederlag.forfatterselskabet.dk/login. You must use your e-mail address and the password you created yourself.
Here you can see all the information we have about you and you can edit your contact information. It is important, for example, that you update your account details if you change banks. You cannot edit the appearances we have registered on you, nor can you add appearances.
If you see that we are missing appearances for you, you can submit them to us manually via this form to rapportering@forfatterselskabet.dk. If your appearances are remunerative, you will receive an email with a link to log-in.
If you have any questions about the above, you can always contact Director Stig von Hielmcrone at svh@forfatterselskabet.dk or on phone 26 25 88 52.