Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle
Understanding the contractual, Legal and Ethical Obligations
In the television and film industries
Types Of Contracts
There are many different types of contracts used in the television
and film industries; they are either exclusivity contracts or
confidentiality contracts.
Exclusivity
An exclusivity contract that secures the right of an idea to a studio
so they can use that idea for films and television shows. Good
examples of these would include comic book such as Spiderman
being sold t sony or x men being sold to Fox, or popular books like
harry potter being sold to warner bros.
Exclusivity means that the production company will dedicate their
whole time to this project instead of working on other projects along
with it, usually if the production company does work on other
projects at the time this will be seen as breach of contract, this rule
is for everyone working for the production company and not just the
director.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality contracts are contracts that are used to keep things
under wraps from the public, the earliest example of this would be
the new star wars movies, and confidentiality contracts are used so
that no big spoilers would be released about the movie. The new
star wars film has been filmed in a closed set, with all actors and
staff under the contract. Other examples would include television
sets in which video cameras arent allowed on set.
A confidentiality contract is whenever the author of a television or
film project will ask the reader to sign a non-disclosure agreement,
which asks the reader to acknowledge that:
The Author is the owner of the copyright and all there rights
of ownership to the work.
All confidential information relating to the work (including
scripts, concepts, trade secrets and know-how) disclosed by
the author and all notes on copies of the work made by the
reader is confidential information which belongs to the
author
The confidential information:
May be used solely for the purpose of assessing the scripts
and projects and advising the author thereon;
Must be kept confidential;
And may be disclosed by the reader only to employees and
consultants on a need to know basis and who are aware and

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle

agree that the confidential information must be kept

confidential
The obligations of confidentiality do not extend to information
that
Was rightly in procession of the reader before the date of this
agreement.
Is or becomes public knowledge (otherwise than as a result of
a breach of this agreement)
The reader:
Must return the confidential information to the author on
request.
Acknowledge that this agreement does not create or transfer
any interest in the confidential information or any right in any
intellectual property (other than the limited right to use the
confidential information given under the confidential
information paragraph)

Other Contracts
Full time
Part time
Permanent
Shift work
Freelance
Temporary
Voluntary
Full time
A full time contract is whenever you work a minimum number of
hours defined by the employer. A full time contract will usually
require the employee to work a minimum of 35-40 hours a week.
Part time
Part time contracts usually have half the amount of working hours
than a full time contract. The hours usually change each week as
the employee is called up when needed.
Permanent
A permanent contract s when you will be required to work a set
number of hours each week, the normal amount of hours work
under a permanent contract rages between 26-45 hours.
Shift work
These types of contracts usually apply to those who work in the
news industry, people who are under these contracts will work a set
number of hours a day, you can be called in during any time.

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle
Freelance
This is whenever you hire yourself out to different companies to
work on a project. This requires a lot of networking and the pay can
vary from project to project. Freelance employees have to look for
work themselves.
Temporary
This is whenever you ill work for a company for a short period of
time. There is no guarantee that the company will take you on full
time. You can either work full or part time.
Voluntary
This is usually work that you do for free and at your own will. This
can be good for young people looking for experience in the industry.
Employment Legislation
Employment legislation covers laws and standards that are put in
place for the safety of employees. There are many different parts to
employment legislation.
Health and safety
This legislation applies to all work activities within the UK; weather
conducted by UK nationals or foreigners, the health and safety law
applies even if the worker isnt being paid. Employers are required
to have management systems in place to control the possibility of
risk to employees from their work.
Risk assessment is a fundamental part of managing health and
safety, this helps people identify hazard and control risk they create,
then by doing that they can put measures in place to prevent a
accident taking place, such as protective gear and warning signs.
This is common in the media industry, especially during massive
film productions, which may have stunt work. All media studios are
required to have health and safety laws put in place.
Equal opportunities
This act was put in place to ensure that employers are committed to
treating all employees or job applicants in the same manner despite
gender, marital status, religious beliefs, age, race or sexual
orientation.
Employers are required to be committed to the promotion of the
equal opportunities act by:

Preventing any form of direct or indirect discrimination

and or victimization

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle

Promoting equal opportunities in the work place for both

men and women
Promoting equal opportunities in the work place for
people of all religion and or none.
Promoting equal opportunities for people with a
disability
Promoting equal opportunities for people regardless of
their age.
Promoting equal opportunities for people regardless of
their race, colour, nationality or ethnicity
Promoting equal opportunities for those with
membership or non-membership in the traveller
community
Promoting equal opportunities for people regardless of
their sexual orientation
Promoting a good and harmonious working environment,
where every member of staff is treated with respect and
dignity, in which no form of discrimination, bullying or
harassment will be tolerated under any circumstances
Fulfilling all legal obligations under the employment
legislation and associated code of practice.

Under the equal opportunities act 2010 all employers

must follow these guidelines.
Employment equality (age) regulation 2006
This was introduced on the 1st October 2006, but since then has
been replaced by the equality act of 2010. These were put in place
to prevent the following.

To outlaw all workplace benefits that are age-related

To remove the age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy
rights
To set a default retirement age of 65, allowing companies to
set the retirement age at 65 or above
To outlaw age-related harassment in the workplace along the
same lines as the current gender equality legislation
Retirement is kept under review after the official retirement
date. Employers must give 6 mounts notice of their intention

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle

to retire an employee and the employee has a continuing

right to request to continue working
Discriminatory procedures in the workplace on the grounds of
age- this includes workers of all ages
To give workers approaching the age of 65 the right to request
to continue working beyond this age

Employment liability
Employment liability covers the cast and crew for any bodily harm or
injury in the event of an accident on set during production. It is the
producers responsibility to provide cover for the employed.
Employment Liability insurance is required by law in the UK. The
legislation (employers liability 9compulsory insurance0 act 1969)
requires than an employer have a minimum level of cover of 5
million, however insures often provide a limit of 10 million as a
standard cover.
The insurance of a employer in a media production should cover

Footage
Equipment
Public liability
Employers liability

Producers of media productions should check with insurance

companies that they would cover all 4 of these things.
Employee rights
The employment rights act of 1996 sets out statutory rights of
employees, if the employment rights are breached the employment
rights act gives power to a tribunal in order to gather compensation
for employees.
The employment rights act covers the following rights

A right to not be unfairly dismissed from employment

Maternity rights
The right to receive a written statement of the terms
and conditions of your employment
Protection of your wages
Protection from suffering harm in the workplace
Time off work for public/family duties
Redundancy provisions which includes the right to
redundancy pay

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle

A minimum notice period for dismissal and reasons for

dismissal

Belonging to trade unions

This is a organized association of workers in a trade, formed to
protect the rights and interest of employees
A good example of a UK trade union dedicated to trade unions
would be BECTU,
The key aims of BECTU are to:
Win new recognition agreements
Increase membership with the union
Protect the jobs of individual members
Improve pay and conditions of services; including pensions for
all f their members.
Membership to BECTU is voluntary.
it provides a wide range of services for its 25000 members,
including the following:
Providing personal advice and representation for individual
members
Helping to negotiate pay, conditions and contracts with
employers
Providing training support and courses for individual members
Benefits and services for BECTU members
Providing advice and representation on matters of health and
safety
Networking events and career development opportunities
A union journal, stage screen and radio published six times
per annum
A website designed to improve access to the unions advice
and support centres.

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle

Intellectual Property
Copyright
The Copyright law protects the creators work and stops others from
using it without the creators permission.
Copyright laws immediately come into play whenever you create:
Film and Television recordings
Broadcasts
Original literacy
Music and artistic work
Sound and music recordings
Copyright laws prevent people from:
Distributing copies of your work
Renting out or lending copies of your work
Putting your work on the internet
Making adaptations of your work
Copying your work
Showing copies of your work in public
These laws are only in place unless the person has the permission of
the creator.
Trademarks
This is something, which allows people to distinguish goods or
services of a certain business from those of another. The law can

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle
protect trademarks when they are registered and even when they
are not registered and even when not by virtue of the law of passing
off.
Product placement is a source of funding in exchange of exposure;
good examples of this would be the transformer movies and Adam
Sandler comedies.
Other forms of intellectual property
Passing off
Registered and unregistered trademarks attract the protection of
their reputation under the common law to prevent copyright, if a
production company was to use a mark, costume, or design similar
to that of an existing product used elsewhere, the production
company may in fact be liable to a claim of passing off. this is likely
to cause damage to the rights holder.
Ethical obligations
Ethical obligations, while less likely to be required by law,
contractual and employment legislation, they are equally important
as if they are not followed there could be financial or legal
repercussions.
Emerging social concerns and expectations
A companys /production companys policies nay be extended to
dealing with emerging social concerns, such as empowering women,
disabilities, mental illness and exploitation of children. Certain
shows will make television series about these issues in order to
promote social progress and stamp out social stigmas.
Codes of Practise
This is for employees to let them know how they are suppose to act,
the main purpose is to stop employees from behaving unethically
towards co-workers.
Policies and Procedures
In order to maintain and encourage ethical practice,, production
companies will put a number of policies and procedures in place.
These policies can relate to business conduct, employment and
record management etc.
Representation
The media will always have different representations for different
social groups when it comes to their programming. These different
social groups would include religion, groups etc.

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle
Many broadcasters and film companies have come under scrutiny
for the content that they have broadcasted about certain groups
over the years., including:

George Lucas came under attack for his jar jar binks character
as they seen him as a black Caribbean stereotype.
The last samurai starring tom cruise had created controversy
as it was seen as a white saviour film.
The TV show 24 made by fox has always been heavily
criticised for its portrayal of muslins and the justifications for
torture.

Legal
The race relations act 1976 (and amendments)
This act made it unlawful to treat anyone unfairly than others on
racial grounds. The law outlawed discrimination and placed a
general duty on specified public authorities to promote race
equality. Aments were made to this act in the year 2000.
The broadcast act 1990/1996

The broadcast act 1990-this act had been suspended by the

governments white paper on communications, because
anything that s taken from paper will be turned into a new act
of parliament.
The Broadcast act 1996- This act helped established regiums
for the introduction of the digital terrestrial broadcasting and
media ownership guidelines, which were established in 1990.

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle
Part 1 of the act is applicable to television
Part 2 of the act is applicable to radio
Part 3 of the act makes changes to the 1990 act
Part 4 of the act sets out a clause ensuring the licensing pee
paying public have the right to see certain listed sporting
events at no extra cost
Part 5 of the act sets out a merger of the broadcasting
standards council and the broadcasting complaints
commission from the broadcasting standard commission
Part 6 of the act covers the transfer of property, rights and
liabilities relating to the BBC network and states that the BBC
have three task they have to follow:
- To produce codes of practise relating to the standards
and fairness
- To monitor, research and report on the standards and
fairness in broadcasting
Part 7 of the act deals with copyright law and related
matters
Part 8 of the act deals with lists of miscellaneous provisions
The Obscene publications act 1959 and 1964
This law makes it an offence to publish content which will deprave
and corrupt those likely to read, see or hear it.
-

The obscene publications act 1959- this is an act to

help ament the law relating to the publication or
obscene matter and to provide protection for
literature, and strengthen the law concerning
pornography.
The obscene publications act 1964- This act was
passed to help strengthen the law for preventing the
publication for gaining of obscene matter and the
publication of things intended for the production of
obscene matter.

British Board Of Film classification (BBFC)

The UKs communications regulator is Ofcom, they want to make
sure that competition is good in the British media sector while still
making sure that the UK get the best from their communication
services by protecting them from scams and shady practices.
Ofcom operates under a number of acts of parliament.

Creative Media Production

Student: Christopher ONeill
Tutor: Faustina Starrett/ James McGarrigle

Bibliography
WWW.BECTU.ORG
www.gov.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
www.wikipedia.com
www.ofcom.org.uk
www.iwf.nhs.uk
www.nxwg.org.nz
www.hse.gov.uk
www.utvmedia.com
www.bwglaw.co.uk