LO 3 Understand Contractual, Legal and Ethical obligations

in the TV & Film Industry

Useful sites• file:///C:/Users/csecular/Downloads/low-pay-no-pay-2010-1-.pdf • http://tallismedia.weebly.com/level-3-unit-8.html

Try to define the following terms with the person next to you- 2 minutes to discuss!• Contractual

• Legal

• Ethical

Detailed but no waffle!

You must discuss contractual, legal and ethical issues in BOTH TV and Film

Give actual case studies from real Films and TV shows that have faced these issues

Assessment Criteria

Types of ContractsPre-production:

This is the time frame in which the project is in its developmental stages. This is when casting, script writing, getting rights, etc. all take place. Contracts here are usually about gaining rights to music, and having actors and actresses sign up for roles.

Casting:

This is getting a crew together for filming. Many actors and actresses sign contracts where they play a character for a certain period of time, like signing a contract for 15 episodes of a show, at which point when they leave the show, they can renew the contract, or the writers will write up they died off screen or something along those lines.

Locations:

Gaining the rights to film in certain locations. If the creators of the show/film what to film in a crowded train station, they will need rights to film there or they may suffer heavy fines.

Post-production:

When the editing process begins. This requires editors and such to add in the music, special effects and etc.…

Confidentiality Confidentiality is a agreement between parties to keep ideas for a new project under keep. This is too prevent others from

taking ideas, but in order for such an agreement to occur, the ideas produced must be proven to be worth keeping a secret in the first place. This is referred to as a non-disclosure agreement, and must be signed before writing scripts and filming begins as to guarantee the secrets will be safe during development.

Case study • http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/star-wars-force-awakens-stunt-5

860720 summarise the recent confidentiality contract for Star Wars

The filming for the new Star Wars film is under tight wraps as even the actors had escorts ensure they don’t discover secret rooms and if an alarm goes off, everyone dons hooded robes. You can only get in after signing a 20 page confidentially agreement, even the stunt double for Adam Driver, Toth Gyuala, has no idea what happens in the film despite the fact he's worked on it for half a year. The actors have code names and are constantly asked by security guards for confirmation of their identity and were not allowed to take scripts home with them.

Exclusivity ContractsSay you want to make a film based on a popular book series, you can purchase the rights to produce the movie in the future if you can successfully convince the other party you can make it work. This applies to films and TV shows, such as Game of Thrones, but actors have their own contracts based upon this.

Actors sign contracts and are bounded by them until they expire or under special circumstances. For example, an actor might sign up to play a character for 3 films, and as such they must play that character until the contract expires, then once it expires the actor can then decide if they’re done with the project or renew the contract.

Case Study• http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/30/bskyb-five-year-de

al-exclusive-rights-hbo-tv-catalogue

Employment legislation: Health and Safety

Health and safety is a right given to all employees that ensures their well being.

“The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (also referred to as HSWA, the HSW Act, the 1974 Act or HASAWA) is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. The Health and Safety Executive, with local authorities (and other enforcing authorities) is responsible for enforcing the Act and a number of other Acts and Statutory Instruments relevant to the working environment.”

Taken from http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm

If crew members do not feel that they are in a safe environment, they most likely will not sign a contract to work on the project, this is especially true for stunt doubles, as they won’t do the stunts unless theres very little risk of severe injury or death.

Equal OpportunitiesProtected characteristics is information such as age, gender, and others that requires you to not take these into major consideration when hiring, for example, you can’t turn down an 19 year old who wants a management job for the sole reason that everyone they’ll manage is older. This means you can’t use stuff such as gender and age as excuses for not giving them the job they applied for.

This means that no matter the age, race ,gender, or religion, everyone who applied for the jobs only have their skills to go off, giving everyone an equal opportunity.

Employment equality (age)regulations 2006• It is unlawful to discriminate, harass or victimise job applicants,

employees or trainees on the grounds of age (young or old).

• Direct discrimination occurs where the employer treats a job applicant / employee / trainee less favourably than he treats or would treat other persons unless he can objectively justify that treatment. It includes discrimination based on apparent age whether or not that is in fact the correct age.

http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/free-legal-articles/age-discrimination.html

Exemplar Quotes

Meryl Streep has spoken out against the ageism and sexism she has encountered in the film industry.The Oscar-winning actress was speaking at the London opening of her new film, Doubt.Asked whether she had come up against discrimination in her career, she said: 'Yes, of course there is ageism in the film industry. There's discrimination in every profession.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1120302/There-IS-ageism-film-industry-Veteran-star-Meryl-Streep-doubt-it.html

Employers LiabilityThis is somewhat like health and safety, but deals more with letting a young person (considered under 18) know more about the risks, and often lays out a risk assessment in case things do not go according to plan, such as there being heavy downpour at a filming location and it makes the location dangerous by flooding lakes or rivers, a backup plan would be filming a different scene at an alternate location, or holding out on filming until its declared safe.

Employee rightsEmployee rights deals with the previously aforementioned health and safety and employee liability.All members of the crew should get breaks and nourishment, if they fall ill and cannot make it to the set, you cannot dock their pay or fire them just for something out of their control. The general jist of it is that all employees are to be treated with respect and care, and if something bothers them, try your best to make a compromise.

Belonging to a trade unionA trade union is a group of employees who discuss many things such any concerns they may have about the employer, and keeping their interests at heart.

Intellectual Property• Go to

http://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/2014/ip_and_film.html and summarise the key facts about IP in film

• This should show a variety of types of intellectual property as it is mentioned twice in the brief!

Copyright• Give a definition • Case Study: Copyright on YouTube and Flickr

Use YouTube and Flickr as examples of copyright - how Flickr automatically gives you copyright to your images but how the “Instagram Act” may mean if someone shares your photo and doesn’t reference you as the ‘author’ you may lose your copyright protection. And how on YouTube members of the general public find themselves infringing copyright regularly:

EFF’s guide to YouTube removals due to (amongst other things) copyright infringement:

https://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property/guide-to-youtube-removals

YouTube’s advice on “How copyright claims may affect your video”:

http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2818443

More YouTube copyright:

http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/copyright-trademark-patent/55012-youtube-notification-email-video-removed-copyright-infringement.html

Video advising how to stop your video being removed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PBKs1ws2S8

Flickr and Copyright:

http://blog.flickr.net/en/2011/05/13/at-flickr-your-photos-are-always-yours/

The “Instagram Act”:

http://www.newstatesman.com/technology/2013/04/instagram-act-under-fire-treatment-copyrighted-works

Trademarks• Give a definition • Use YouTube’s trademark as an example - look at the “Guidelines to

using YouTube’s trademark” below to help you:

https://developers.google.com/youtube/branding

Passing Off

• “a misrepresentation made by one party which damages the goodwill of another party. In most cases this will be achieved by one party passing off the other party’s goods or services as those of their own.” http://www.inbrief.co.uk/intellectual-property/passing-off.htm

• http://www.simkins.com/news/jsbbrandissuesfilmandtv/ go to the link and summarise what passing off in TV and Film looks like

Ethical: codes of practice• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_code go here and make a

summary in your own words

• https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/350320/T25_CoP_workers_film__tv_01-2014.pdf read and summarise

policies and procedures• http://

www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/insidethebbc/howwework/policiesandguidelines have a look at BBC’s policies and write a report of your findings

emerging social concerns and expectations• http://

standards.creativeskillset.org/standards/animation/714_ensure_compliance_with_legal_regulatory_ethical_social_requirements read the required standards for managers of creative industries in terms of their emerging concerns and expectations

representation e.g. individuals, groups, religions, issues

• Ethnicity Case study: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/05/hollywood-fails-to-represent-ethnic-diversity-study-usc

• Regional case study:• http://

www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/publicpurposes/communities.html

Legal: race relations act 1976 (and later amendments)• http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/74/contents go to the

webpage and make a summary of your findings

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-511981/BBC-race-law-row-advert-zany-Asian.html case study opportunity

broadcast act 1990 (and later amendments), • http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1107541/ summarise your

findings

obscene publications act 1959 (and later amendments)• http://

www.channel4.com/producers-handbook/media-law/other-laws-affecting-broadcasting/obscene-publications-act-1959 summarise your findings

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)• http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-bbfc make a summary of what BBFC do

Ofcom • http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/ make a summary of the job of

Ofcom