A blackout, the Culprit that actors in Novels like Pedro el flamoso do not receive Royalties for Retransmission

Actors denounce that they are not receiving royalties for the repetition of the novels, despite the fact that the law requires that they be compensated.

Anyone would think that the success of telenovelas such as Pedro el flamoso or Betty la ugly, in their retransmission, after more than 15 years, in this stage of confinement, could have helped the pockets of those who acted in those productions, some of them currently unemployed, due to the fact that new productions have been stagnant for months, as a result of the pandemic.

However, those who were part of the casts that were taken, and even today, the screens of the Colombians are taken, do not receive royalties; that is to say, they do not get even a peso for the retransmission of the successful series in which they participated.

In recent days, Fernando Solorzano, who played René in Pedro el flamoso, made known in the adversity that some of his colleagues are experiencing, unemployed for almost a year. Miguel Varoni, who gave life to Pedro, the protagonist, had also spoken of that situation: “What worries me and I think is important is that they record again in Colombia”he told El Espectador on October 7. Faced with the economic crisis, actors like the ‘skinny’ Solorzano have argued that the royalties for broadcasting would be almost a lifeline.

Why are they not paid? After the drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon, due to which the reservoirs decreased their level, the country had a blackout for several hours a day between March 1992 and February 1993. To weigh the consequences of this situation, the actors were asked on the channels to do their bit, so they temporarily waived their royalties. But they never returned, the actress Consuelo Luzardo explained to El Tiempo in 2014 and sustained it on January 18, when Fernando Solórzano and a group of actors referred to the issue. They even ran a social media campaign with the ‘hashtag’ #PagueElDerechoDelActor.

Since that blackout, the actors have not been paid their royalties again, to a large extent “Because labor rates were increased, but they went down”, explained the actor and director of the Colombian Association of Actors (ACA), Julio Correal.

The royalties, those with which some actors have been able to stay afloat during these ten months in which the country has had to learn to live with covid-19, and with which the also social communicator Fernando Solórzano paid his credit with Icetex in the 90sThey left never to return, despite the fact that the law requires it, according to the union.

The ACA explained that in the 70s and 80s the percentages for repetitions of the novels were established, through an agreement between the Colombian Circle of Artists (Cica) and Asomedios. In addition, he assured that the Ley Fanny Mikey (Law 1403 of 2010), in article 11, establishes that the rights of fixation and reproduction must be paid separately.

Despite the fact that a decade ago the actors received payments for both new productions and repetitions, within the framework of public reproduction rights, according to the ACA, these are not canceled by the “greats” of the audiovisual industry, although some public channels and private, as well as cable operators, do their duty.

Aggravating the lack of royalty payments, according to Correal, it is added that for a few years the productions have not been so long and the actors remain unemployed for a longer time.