The makers of “Cao Hon Bau Troi” (Above the Sky), a 50-episode film on the Vietnamese air defense force, are currently faced with a conflict as its scriptwriter filed a complaint demanding that the CEO of Giai Phong Film Co., the film producer, pay him the remainder of his pay.

Pham Thuy Nhan, the film scriptwriter, and Nguyen Thai Hoa, CEO of Giai Phong Film Co., met on Dec 24 to discuss the issue at length, but both sides have yet to reach an agreement.

In late 2012, the filmmakers held a press meeting and screened six episodes of the series to high-rank air defense officers and journalists. The episodes drew mixed opinions from the army officers.

In March 2013, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism included the film in their 2013 film production project and assigned another scriptwriter for it. The film receives 70% of its funding from the State.

However, in reality, Giai Phong Film Co. signed a contract with Nhan in April 2012 to make revisions and give final touches to the film’s 50 episodes. According to the contract, Nhan would be paid VND350 million (US$16,509) in total.

In Nhan’s complaint filed last month with the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the National Cinema Department, he wrote that the company refused to pay him some VND195 million, the remainder of the sum.

After one year of working on the script, Hoa demanded that Nhan add one more character to his script in June 2013, but Nhan insisted that he be paid more for the addition. As Hoa refused to pay more, Nhan didn’t make the addition, which he thought was the reason for Hoa’s refusal to pay the rest of the money as agreed in the contract.

At the Dec 24 meeting, Hoa once more refused to give Nhan the rest of his pay. Hoa told Tuoi Tre that his company is delaying the payment as Nhan had failed to comply with the contract terms.

Hoa added that that his company has paid Nhan 50% of the total sum, while Nhan should actually have received only 20% so far, as stipulated by the contract.

Over the past two years, Hoa’s Giai Phong Film Co. has been involved in three conflicts, which were all related to Nhan. The scripts of two other films, “Cat Nong” (Hot Sand) and “Binh Tay Dai Nguyen Soai” (Binh Tay’s Marshal), were also written by Nhan.

Hoa said that his company has recently filed a complaint with the Copyright Department regarding the copyright infringement on its “Binh Tay Dai Nguyen Soai” film script by Cuu Long Film Co.

In recent years, conflicts have also arisen among the makers of films which are ordered and funded by the State. Many of the films don't have good quality, while some acclaimed state-funded films like 'Thai su Tran Thu Do' and 'Nhung nguoi viet huyen thoai' (The legend makers) struggled to get aired and hit cinemas due to lack of funding for film distribution.