The great calm before the return of the crowd? In the streets of Angoulême in early March, posters for the 2022 International Comics Festival (FIBD) flutter in the winter breeze above the little-frequented streets. The city usually holds a demonstration in January, but the Covid-19 forced the postponement to the light of spring. It is only on the covered market place, in the heights of the city, that the agitation is heard around a metallic rattle. The workers are setting up one of the marquees which is to receive the appointments of the 49th edition from March 17 to 20. Despite the noise, the declaration of an author can be heard without detour: “We are the equivalent of the cows at the agricultural show !”
The founder of the Association of Comic Strip Authors (AdABD), Nathalie Ferlut, like many of her sisters and brothers, has it bad. And it’s not from yesterday. In festivals, in Angoulême or elsewhere, comic book professionals meet the public and, above all, sign their productions with drawings sketched on the spot. A real chain work for the authors who come out exhausted. And especially without any remuneration. “You come to do commercial representation which will feed the whole chain up to the publisher“, deciphers Sébastien Cornuaud, general delegate of the association.
Angoulême is adorned with the colors of the festival, which traditionally takes place in January. (Credits: Maxime Giraudeau)
While the profession has been warning for several years about this gray area, it is in Angoulême that the negotiations should materialize. The Snac BD (National Union of Authors and Composers, Comics Branch) thus announced on February 28 in a statement to rejoice “of the announced signature of the protocol for the remuneration of the dedications of the authors of comic strips in the festivals.“The FIBD of Angoulême is then cited as the first event where this principle of remuneration will come into force.
Difficult to touch the copyright
The agreement negotiated between the State, the unions and the professional bodies opens the way to a remuneration in royalties of 226 euros gross over the duration of a festival. The sum is financed by Sofia (French society for the interests of authors of writing) and the National Book Center for 70%, and the rest is provided by the inviting structure, the publisher or the festival.
At the direction of the FIBD, we are not talking about the entry into force in Angoulême from 2022 but we confirm that a “solution has been found“. “This is a step forward that the authors were waiting for and that the Angoulême festival supported“, evokes Franck Bondoux, the general delegate of the festival, for La Tribune. For the representative bodies, this is only a first step in a profession little considered in the book chain and without real status.
“The status of the authors? It is between non-existent and appalling“, book Nathalie Ferlut.”It is mostly below the poverty line. Everyone else in the book chain benefits from the revenue generated, but not us.“The resources of comic book authors are often divided between the advance on production granted by the publisher and the royalties amounting to around 8% of the selling price of the book. However, these rights cannot be attributed to the author only when the publisher has reimbursed the advance paid, thanks to sales. In fact, the author of AdABD, like many others, has never received royalties since sales do not are, for them, only a few thousand books.The profession is therefore calling for a recomposition of this system.
Festival Hostage Taking
“It requires a distinction between the time of creation and the time of diffusion of the work”, points out Sébastien Cornuaud. A claim made for several years already, and even before President Macron when he came to the Angoulême festival in January 2020. The Root Report, reviewing the situation of artist-authors and proposing ways to improve their status, was submitted at the same time. Since then, no major progress. And nothing to write about.
Sébastien Cornuaud and Nathalie Ferlut have been part of the AdABD collective since the early 2000s. (Credits: Maxime Giraudeau / LT)
So Angoulême should once again crystallize the malaise of the illustrated world. A habit at the festival. But this year in particular, the organizers are caught in a vice. The jury for the brand new “eco-fauve Raja” prize, which is to reward an ecological comic strip, slammed the door at the beginning of February. The members refused to see the image of environmental sobriety associated with that of Raja, a partner of the festival for several years and who lent his name to this new distinction. The jury was renewed and the name of the packaging distributor maintained.
It was also the French publisher Glénat who canceled his visit, questioning the absence of his authors in the nominations. And thus shaking up the very principle of independence of the selection board. Without quoting the publishing house explicitly, the general delegate of the festival Franck Bondoux speaks of “ggroups of influence that hold the festival hostage to assert their point of view“.
Once again, the event will be a showcase and standard bearer for comics. “The reference event of an ecosystem that deals with all the issues of its ecosystem“, to put it another way, as Franck Bondoux does. But even among the collective who had called for a boycott of the 2021 edition that was finally canceled, it is argued that it is also for the best. “Things are moving forward: three women are nominated for the Grand Prize this year !,” supports Cédric Mayen, administrator of Autrices Auteurs in action. Pénélope Bagieu, Julie Doucet and Catherine Meurisse. So many talented illustrators whose productions shape the image of comics. And who are also exceptions in a profession that still looking for his status.
