About The Institute - Why Join SASWU?

Benefits of being a member of the South African Scriptwriters' Union:

A lot of senior writers will have been members of SASWA at one time or another. Many of you might even have been on the committee, slogging away on a volunteer basis for the collective good of writers. You might feel like you have already ‘done your time’ in the organisation. So why join SASWU now?

SASWU is SASWA in a new form – with the same commitment to working for all scriptwriters for the improvement of working conditions, rates and opportunities. But SASWU now has a viable business model, employees to do the hard stuff and infrastructure to concentrate on the really important issues at hand. It is registering as a Trade Union with the Department of Labour so that we can engage officially in the Bargaining Council with the Broadcaster and Producer bodies.

SASWU is met with Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan in Feb 2007 (the first time ever that we officially met with a sitting Minister!) the meeting with the Minister provided a direct platform to lobby government to support our initiatives. We also sit on the Broadcasting Subcommittee of SASFED which is in on-going talks with the SABC to negotiate around Intellectual Property Rights and how residuals etc should be paid to writers. This is the big battle!

Under our legislation, residuals should be paid for your IP – It is our job to make that a reality. Obviously the more working writers we have as members, the more negotiation clout we take in with us. Knowing that, if negotiations don’t go well, we have the strength to call for industrial action that can seriously impact the industry is a sure-fire way to get concession on our points. Just look at the recent Writer’s Guild strike in the USA. We need you to sign up. Time for writers to actually make a living writing!

The work of the Union includes on lobbying the big issues that affect the working life of a writer and driving the organisation forward with stakeholders like producers and broadcasters as well as taking SASWU into all 9 provinces.

The training wing of SASWU, The South African Scriptwriting Institute, is in full swing. The aim is to see the Fundamentals of Scriptwriting (level 5) course in all 9 provinces, “Script Camp’ taking 36 writers away to write the first drafts of their Feature Film scripts and over 140 entry-level aspirant writers learning computer skills in our Labs. Master

We are working with Producers constantly and as a member of SASWU, your profile will go onto the website and be accessed by Producers looking for writers. You will also receive ‘work alerts’ to let you know what is out there. We will be doing a ‘Speed dating with Producers’ around the SABC Commissioning Briefs – we know you are in a stronger position when you submit with a Producer you know and trust. We get you the ‘face time’ to make those connections.

We have kept subscription fees the same for 2008 – only R400 for all the usual benefits – free legal advice, monthly meetings and all the above. You qualify for membership if you currently work as a scriptwriter (even part-time) or if you have ever had work produced. If you aren’t yet working writer – join the Institute instead.

[Please note that the details for the Union bank account are new ones – deposit ONLY to the new account and use your name as a reference please. No deposits to any other account will be accepted as subs]

There is much to be done! We are looking for the participation of passionate working scriptwriters who can guide us through this tough year and reap the benefits of an organisation that takes on the issues of us all. Join SASWU now. [DOWNLOAD FORM HERE]

For more information regarding full membership benefits, please contact SASWU General on saswa@global.co.za 011 838-4280/1/2/3