Sarmad Khoosat wishes there were royalties as his drama Humsafar gets Spanish release
Imagine for a second you created a work of art a decade and a half ago that became so popular people are still talking about it. Now imagine the people you made it for make some changes to it and start making more money off of it, but you get nothing.
If you find this relatable, you’re likely filmmaker Sarmad Khoosat, the artwork is popular TV drama Humsafar and you’ve been denied royalties from its release in Spanish.
In an Instagram story on Tuesday, the director shared a post from HUM TV saying the show was set to be dubbed and released in Spanish. Above the post, the filmmaker had written “If only there were royalties” with a blank-faced emoji.
Royalties, which are standard practice in foreign markets, are payments given to actors, directors, producers and other members of a TV show or film’s team every time it gets a re-run or is re-released. The payments are often diminishing, with each subsequent re-run bringing in less until a minimum is reached, after which all future re-runs earn the artist the minimum amount.
Pakistan used to have a system of royalties for television actors, but it was scrapped in the 1990s when leading actors of the time chose to trade them in for a pay raise from state broadcaster PTV.
Speaking to DAWN in 2021, many veterans of the era said they regretted letting go of the right to collect royalties from PTV, which set the precedent private channels continue to follow.
Mahira Khan, who starred in Humsafar, spoke about royalties in March during promotions for her film Aag Lagay Basti Main. She said that while big names like herself and costar Fahad Mustafa were able to survive without royalties, the same could not be said for many junior artists and other workers on set.
The issue of royalties gained national attention in 2021, when late actor Naila Jaffery brought the conversation into public view under deeply personal circumstances. While battling cancer, she spoke about her financial struggles, noting that consistent royalty payments could have eased the burden of her medical expenses.
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