A brand-new report: “Writers and directors of film and TV/SVOD fiction:  2015-2021 figures ” has just been published by the European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. This report provides an analysis of writers and directors of European theatrical films and TV/SVOD fiction produced in Europe between 2015-2021.

Download “Writers and directors of film and TV/SVOD fiction: 2015-2021 figures” here

Key findings include:

• Over 22 500 writers and over 15 000 directors were involved in the production of European theatrical and TV/SVOD fiction between 2015 and 2021. 
• Better resilience of TV/SVOD assignments: the COVID-19 crisis had a much greater impact on theatrical film assignments than TV/SVOD fiction assignments.
• Intense turnover: Theatrical film writers wrote on average 1.3 films between 2015 and 2021 and TV/SVOD fiction writers participated on average in 1.9 TV films or TV series; theatrical film directors directed on average 1.3 films between 2015 and 2021 and TV/SVOD fiction directors participated on average in 2.2 TV films or TV series.
• Moving from films to TV fiction: A significant share of 2015-2021 TV/SVOD fiction writers (33%) and directors (58%) have at some point also written or directed a theatrical film.
• The ‘film d’auteur’ model remains dominant in European film: close to half of writers active between 2015 and 2021 wrote only films they directed; close to 59% of directing credits were combined with a writer credit for the same film. The model is radically different for TV/SVOD fiction where most writers (92%) wrote for projects they did not direct.