Authors Rights Collections

I recently saw a distriribution contract that demanded a film producer sign over the foreign levies collections for authors rights into the distribution gross revenue to be divided between the distributor and the producer, with the distributor getting the exclusive right to register with collecting societies. These are payments from Europe and other countries to creators based on tax levies on blank dvds, cds and vieo tapes paid to authors who have a credit on a released film. Normally those payments are supposed to go directly to the authors, writer, director etc. But a new wrinkle seems to have distributors trying to roll up those payments to themselves. Watch out for this writers and creators! Distributors have been thieving from film-makers forever, but don’t let them get their hands in that pocket, too!