Production house plans to air Joseph Calleja concert recording

A production house said yesterday it intended to broadcast an edited recording of the Mdina concert by tenor Joseph Calleja and his wife soprano Tatiana Lisnic in line with the terms of a contract.

In a counter protest, Renaissance Productions Ltd (RPL) categorically denied allegations by Mr Calleja and Ms Lisnic in a protest they filed on Monday against RPL and Public Broadcasting Services (PBS).

Mr Calleja and his wife claimed that on December 19, 2006, they signed a contract with RPL agreeing to perform during a concert in Mdina on July 7 called Joseph Calleja 10th Anniversary Concert.

It was also agreed in the contract that RPL would have the right to film the concert and broadcast an edited and approved version of it in Malta on two occasions. Some time after the concert, RPL gave PBS a DVD of the recorded concert "in raw form", that is, unedited.

In the following days, PBS aired an advert inviting the public to book a copy of the DVD of the Mdina concert. Mr Calleja and Ms Lisnic said they also learnt that PBS would distribute the DVDs under a profit-sharing agreement with RPL.

The couple argued that this was in breach of the December contract.

RPL is insisting it had always observed the December contract, which also governed the question of fees. It said that in an e-mail sent on April 10, Mr Calleja and Ms Lisnic demanded a 30 per cent fee increase adding that, if RPL did not cooperate, they would not work with the production house again in future.

RPL said such behaviour was unacceptable and, in a reply e-mail sent that same day, it informed Mr Calleja and Ms Lisnic it would not want to work with them in future as their demand was both illegal and unprofessional.

RPL added that, as laid down in the December contract, it had a right to broadcast the recording of the concert on PBS on two occasions and intended to do so.

The aired version would be edited by the professional staff at PBS.

Lawyer Edward DeBono signed the counter protest.