Unit 8 Assingments: Understand contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the television and film industries

Michael Tabansi

Btec Level 3 Diploma Creative Media Production

Unit 8: Understanding the TV and Film Industries

Assignment 3/LO3: Understanding the contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the television and film industries.

I am a trainee researcher who is writing a report for Baby Cow Productions. My role is to talk about Contracts, Employment Legislations, Ethical Considerations and Legal Considerations. At the end of the assignment, I am to have a clear understanding of the contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the TV and film industries.

‘Employment legislation refers to a body of laws that regulate the relationships between employers and employees’ (wisegeek, 5/11/13). The laws given were made to defend workers but there also regulations that are forced upon workers. There are different issues that have been talked about by the employment legislation. These issues include; discrimination, legal working ages and safe working conditions. If these issues get violated, they get taken care of in civil courts or through administrative procedures. Employers have to follow certain things such as; health and safety, equal opportunities, copyright, trademarks, employee rights and belonging to a union.

When it comes to Health and Safety in the film and TV industry, the employers have to have knowledge and understanding on how to keep their employees safe at the workplace so no one gets hurt. The employer has a responsibility to make sure that the employees carry out their work in a way where everyone is safe. The employers must tell the employees about the restrictions in the workplace and the employers must also make a health and safety policy. The health and safety policy gives the employees all the details about the health and safety arrangements for the workplace. Health and safety in the film and TV is vital because it stops workers from sustaining injuries. On set, health and safety advisors will tell workers in the production to take health and safety responsibility for themselves. The producer has to make sure that everyone is safe in the workplace because they have to take precautions to protect the workers. Also on set, if someone has been injured or in a problem, they have to tell Production Manager or the Assistant Director if the Production Manager is not there. They have to tell these people because these roles are all connected to the Producer.

Unit nurses are people provide first aid cover to the cast and crew on a film production. The unit nurses make sure that the cast and crew look after their own health and first aid incidents and healthcare is deal with immediately. Another role that unit nurses do is that they are asked for advice on health related scenes in a film to see if the scenes are accurate and realistic. Unit nurses have to be confident and have good communication skills because they have to be able to talk to the cast and crew about health issues if they were to occur.

When it comes to Equal Opportunities in the film and TV industry, everyone has to be treated the same and everyone must have the right to work. Equal opportunities mean that people of different types of race, sex, religion, etc, should not be judged and should have the same opportunity as everyone else. This act is good because it supports the employees so that they can work like anyone else even if they have something different to them. There is an act called The Employment Equality (Age) Regulation Act 2006. This act was announced on the 1^st October 2006. This act had an aim to remove any type of discrimination so that all workers had an equal opportunity to work and show their true potential. Every employer must follow this act because they are not allowed to discriminate anyone because of their age. For example, they are not allowed to not hire someone because they may be a bit old because everyone has a right to work. In this act, you are not allowed to do something called direct discrimination. This is when an employer treats someone badly because of their age. This is wrong because they are only there to do work so it is unfair for them to be treated unfairly.

‘Copyright gives the creators of some types of media, rights to control how they're used and distributed’ (bbc, 11/11/13). Copyright in the film and TV industry ensures no one copies or uses the person who created what they made without their permission. In the film and TV industry, if a film or television programme is copyrighted by others for no cost that company will sue them as it is not theirs. If copyright did not exist, a lot of companies will lose a lot of money because other people can use their products. When it comes to copyright in film, the copyright no longer exists when 70 years from the end of the year in which the writer dies. Usually, people will put the © symbol to show that they have used copyright in their work.

‘Trademark is a recognizable sign, design or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others’(Wikipedia, 11/11/13). These signs and designs are used so that the company can win over their target audience. This then allows other audiences to notice their design andhopefully buy it. In films, a lot of trademark can be used such as; the movie’s studios logo appearing in the film and props that have brand names on it. If a film becomes successful, the film can become a trademark as the film would have been identified by a lot of people. An example of this is the film Harry Potter. The film made many sequels which made more viewers watch the film. This then allowed the film to produce video games, clothes, books and more. Once a trademark has been registered, then it can be later on distinguished as ‘TM’ or ®. These two symbols cannot be used until the trademark has been registered. Once a trademark has been registered, it means that they cannot be used by anyone else as it has been done legally.

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Text Box: Image 1: Google, Accessed (21/11/13). DreamWorks is a trademarked Film Company. This is shown through the ‘TM’.

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Text Box: Image 2: Google, Accessed (21/11/13). Paramount is a film company that has been registered. You know it has been registered as it has the symbol ‘®’.

In the film and TV industry, every employee has Employee Rights. The rights given to the employee keeps them safe and protects them whilst working in a company. The employee must receive a statement of their rights within two months of starting work. This statement must have things such as; how much they get paid, the holidays they get and the right for time off and what goes on in the workplace. Every employee has the right not to be discriminated at any time whether they have anything wrong with them or not.

It is an employee’s right to belong to a union. Employees join unions for many different reasons and I am going to explain this. An employee could join a union because the place they are working could be dirty and not looked after so through that union’s health and safety department, it can improve the conditions that the employee is working in. Another reason why an employee might join a union is because there manager is not there at the workplace all the time. If this is the case, it means that the employee won’t be able to learn anything from their job and pick up skills as they work. There is something called The Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematography and Theatre Union (BECTU). ‘BECTU is a trade union which represents a community of workers, in a wide variety of roles across the media and entertainment industries’ (bectu, 12/11/13). BECTU are members of staff and learning organisers who have a role to support and protect employees in the film industry. They also have a role to protect the employee’s jobs, increase their membership, win new recognition agreements and also improve the employees pay. An employee is usually recommended to sign up for a membership with BECTU because it will allow them to protect their job if there was a problem at their workplace.

Another union that works for the film and TV industry is Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT). ‘Pact is the UK trade association representing and promoting the commercial interests of independent feature film, television, digital, children's and animation media companies’ (pact, 14/11/13). The PACT have meetings with the government and public agencies about issues that affect members in the film and TV industry. Anyone who becomes a member of PACT will have to pay for a membership, just like BECTU. People who buy a membership will benefit them because it means that if they have any problems at their workplace, PACT will be able to help them overcome it.

Contracts are written agreements between the employer and the employee. A contract will state how much the employee gets paid, what requirements the job has, the duties and responsibilities and finally the signature. The employer and the employee have to stick to the contract until the contract ends. Once a job offer has been accepted by the employee that is when the contract starts. Once you start work that is proof that you have accepted what has been written down in the contract. There are different types of contracts in the film and TV industry such as; full time/permanent and part time/temporary. A full time/permanent contract is a contract that allows you to work for a full amount of hours in a week. This also means that you can work on the job until you decide to leave or you get let go. Having a full time/permanent contract is an advantage because it allows you to not have to spend a lot of time searching for different jobs. Another type of contract in the film and TV industry is a part time/temporary. This is when you only work for a few hours in the day and the job does not last long as it is temporary. Because the hours are not as long as a full time worker, the employee will get paid less. Contracts should always be confidential and kept in private. This is so that other employees cannot see and get jealous as maybe their pay is higher than theirs. It is good to keep the contracts confidential because it protects the employee’s information that has been stated in the contract. In the film and television industry, some companies may make an exclusivity agreement. ‘An exclusivity agreement is a contract between two or more entities to deal only with each other regarding a specific area of business’ (ehow, 14/11/13). If a company fails to meet the terms of the agreement, this can result to legal action by the other company/companies. In an exclusivity agreement, the length of the agreement is important. This is because when the agreement has expired, both of the companies are now allowed to continue to carry on conducting business with the competitors of the other companies.

Legal Obligations are laws that employers need to follow in their companies. In film and TV, the government set legal obligations that have to be followed so that the film and TV companies are on the right side of the law. There are different types of legal obligations that the employers have to be aware of. These consist of; Race Relation Act 1976 and amendments and Broadcasting Act 1990 and amendments.

Race Relation Act 1976 and amendments is an act that was made by the parliament of the United Kingdom. This was act was made to prevent discrimination of different races in the film and TV industry. This act allows people in the film and TV industry to work properly without feeling comfortable. In 2011, this act was breached as someone made a racist joke on a TV show. ‘On June 14th 2011 a New Zealand Broadcaster was given a fine of 2444 dollars for airing a racist joke on Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit during the TV Show’(ucmsianyy27, 19/11/3). This act was then later amended to The Race Relations Act 2000. This act was made to remove all types of discrimination in film and TV companies and promote race equality. The public authorities have a job to address this act when it happens but they also have a job to be active in making sure that it doesn’t happen at all. This is good because it will now allow all races to feel safe whilst working in their workplace. This is also good because it will tackle discrimination coming into the workplaces forever. An example of this is if the a film or TV company were to advertise a job but they only accepted forms from a certain race, this would be discrimination against all races.

Another type of legal obligation is the Broadcasting Act 1990 and amendments. This act is laws that tell you what is legal and illegal to broadcast in TV and radio. A TV programme will not be allowed to show a film that has sexual content or violence before the time of 9pm as people from younger ages will be viewing. Because of this act, it bought up things such as pay per views and TV license. This is so people had to pay to watch these shows that have sexual content and violence. This is also so that no one under 18 was allowed to view the content. The broadcasting act 1990 was then amended to the Broadcasting Act 1996. This act introduced digital terrestrial broadcasting and media ownership guidelines. In this act, it ensures the people who pay licence fee will be able to see sporting events that have been listed.

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent body that classify films and video games. These classifications are age limits in which only that age or above can view it. They rate the films and shows before they are released to an audience. So if a film was to be rated 15, only 15 year olds and above can view it whilst anyone younger than 15 cannot. The ratings that the BBFC give are; U, PG, 12, 15, 18, and R18. U means that anyone of any age can watch it, PG means that the parent should consider if the content might upset the child and 12, 15, 18 all mean that the films can only be watched by those ages or above. The rating R18 means that 18 and above can only view it because the scenes in it might contain heavy pornography and gory scenes. The BBFC give these ratings out so children cannot view the bad content and not try to copy it when they are out in the public. The BBFC also watches these films and make sure that the certificate given is the correct one. The film Cars 2(2011) is rated U. This is because it has no content where a child will be scared. Its content is something where people of all ages will enjoy it and be safe whilst watching. An example of the BBFC regulating a film was the film Juno (2008). The film Juno was rated a PG film but had two uses of strong language and a sex scene. Although these things happened, the BBFC rated a PG film because the strong language was not used in an aggressive way and it was not directed at anyone. Also, the sex scene was brief and they did not show the whole thing. The only thing that was shown was a pair of knickers on the floor indicating that it was a sex scene. Because all of this had happened and later shown to the BBFC, it was later on passed as 12A. ‘The BBFCinsight for Juno was Contains strong language and moderate sex references (bbfc, 26/11/13). The BBFCinsight is a short description of the issues that have been seen in the film. It also tells you what certificate the film is and what audience is suitable for the film.

OFCOM ‘has certain powers to regulate the BBC's licence fee funded television and radio services aimed at audiences in the UK’ (bbc, 19/11/13). The OFCOM is regulatory body which controls what gets shown on television. OFCOM can regulate the BBC and they are there to make sure harm and offence and crime and disorder are avoided and religious content has to be approached in a mature way. The OFCOM have a role to make sure that the people in the UK get the best communication services and also make sure that they are protected from any scams. OFCOM have to ensure that the television programmes shown is high quality and appeal to different people. Their role also includes making sure people are treated fairly in television programmes. OFCOM was imposed a fine to the BBC because they deceived viewers by doing fake competitions on Watchdog. ‘The BBC has been fined £400,000 by the broadcasting watchdog for faking competition winners and deceiving viewers on a string of radio and flagship television programmes’ (bbc, 19/11/13). OFCOM said that this was very serious as the people who were part of the production crew made up fake names of the winners.

Ethical Obligations in the film and TV industry are morals that people have to follow when working. The morals made have to be followed or they could risk losing their job. These morals simply include what they can do and what they cannot do. So for example, if a reporter was on a television show, they are not allowed to be bias about story. They have to make sure the story is fair sided by talking about both sides of the argument. Codes of practice are ‘written guidelines issued by an official body or a professional association to its members to help them comply with its ethical standards’(businessdictionary, 21/11/13). When it comes to codes of practice in the film and TV industry, these are procedures that employees have to follow so that company can be allowed to run fluently. In the codes of practice, it has to mention how the company is run and have any issues that could happen in the industry and how it could be dealt with. Policies and procedures are simply what your company does and how they do it. In film and TV, companies will have policies and procedures so that their ethical practice can be maintained. In the BBC, they have different policies and procedures that they must follow. BBC are not allowed to show advertisement and this is because it will keep their channel free from commercial pressure. This is good because it means that they serve the people viewing without making any profit. They also have another policy that they are not allowed to show anything to do with serious matters and issues before 9pm. This is because before 9pm, little children could be viewing the BBC and it is against the law for them to be watching something that is not their age. The BBC have these ethical policies and procedures so that their name has a good reputation in the country and the name BBC is not being put into disrepute.

In the BBC, the workers have to follow a code of practice. These codes of practice are set out so that the BBC are applied to them when on public television.

Codes of Practice for BBC

Editorial Control – This says that BBC will have final editorial control over the BBC versions of programmes

Rights - BBC primary rights and commercial exploitation – This is to secure the rights it needs for its licence fee funded service

Programme Prices – BBC is prepared to pay for a programme depending on the expected budget of the programme.

Payment for Programmes – If a programme is appropriate, the BBC will finance its contribution to a programme

Terms of Trade – The BBC will give out Terms of Trade for productions that are independent. This terms of trade will now set out the standard terms of business that gets offered to the independent producers.

Equal Opportunities/Ethical Standards – The independent workers have to have the highest professional and ethical standards when working for the BBC

Annual Review

When it comes to Channel 4, they also have a code of practice that they have to keep too. This code of practice is there to support the diversity and vibrancy of Channel 4. In this code of practice, Channel 4 has to allow the different categories of rights shown in a programme. The code of practice also says that these different categories of rights have to be paid for.

Media Representation ‘are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective’ (tc.umn.edu, 19/11/13).

Issues – In the BBC, they release shows that concern issues that goes on in people’s day to day lives. One show that could be mentioned is Waterloo Road. Waterloo road was first broadcasted in 2006 and it is a television drama that is set in a school in Scotland. Different issues can occur in Waterloo Road such as; knife crime, drugs, pregnancy, abortions, drinking/smoking and more. Because the show is based on teenagers, these things occur in teenager’s life so these issues are included to see how it can be overcome. In 2012, Waterloo Road based an episode about knife crime which later on received a lot of complaints. The corporation had to defend Waterloo Road as they showed an episode about gangs forcing their way through the school to recruit more gang members. People on twitter had their say ad someone said that ‘Waterloo Road only promotes knife crime and drugs’ (digitalspy, 26/11/13). A parent even said that this should have never been shown because this will lead to more young people carrying knifes just to protect themselves from danger. Again, the BBC hit back and said that they ensure that justice is served when this sort of crime occurs.

Religions – On the 27^th August 2012, BBC released a British sitcom named as Citizen Khan. Citizen Khan is a sitcom that follows the ‘trials and tribulations of larger-than-life self-appointed Muslim community leader Mr Khan and his long suffering family’ (bbc, 26/11/13). Although Citizen Khan received 3.41 million viewers, it still seemed to get negative feedback. Arifa Akbar who works for the Independent Newspaper, said that the sitcom had too much ‘clichéd jokes’ and ‘character +-traits’ (Wikipedia, 3/12/13). The BBC did actually receive over 700 complaints after the first episode as well as Ofcom receiving more than 20 complaints. Some of the Muslims that live in Britain said that the sitcom showed too many insults towards the Islam culture. The News International, which is a Pakistani paper, brought up the fact the BBC allowed the Pakistan flag to be used in the scenes as well has having one of the female characters putting on a Hijab in a fast way and pretending to read the Qur’an. The BBC did hit back and said that they were happy that they received good feedback from the Muslim community and were aware that they had complaints from other Muslims as they found it offensive. The BBC also stated that they did not put show this sitcom to offend anyone or any community.

When it comes to media representation, the producers have to make judgements on how media should be portrayed to the people viewing. Producers have to make sure their judgements are wise. This is so that no one is affected when watching and might feel interrogated. For example, when the media showed the 2011 riots on the news, even though it had stopped, people were still scared to go to those areas as they probably would have felt scared after the recent scenes. Negative representation can occur at these situations because the media is showing us what happens which makes us believe bad things. Another example of media representation is about ethnicity and race. Ex Eastenders actor Marc Elliot decided to quit Eastenders as he did not want to be known for playing the character of a gay Muslim (the sun, 19/11/13). Muslims do not allow their males to be gay as it is against the law in their religion. A lot of people sent in complaints because they were not happy with what they seen. So this is when the producer consulted with Marc and let him go. A Muslim man named Yusuf Wehebi said that “it is entirely possible to be Muslim and gay and there's many of us in Britain today’ (news.bbc, 19/11/13). So this quote shows that even he feels it is okay to show that type of scene because there a lot of people living in the UK who might already relate to the topic showing. It is very important that the BBC cannot discriminate when it comes to religion and other issues because the BBC is Public Service Broadcaster which means everyone will watch it as it gives them news about what goes in the world. It means BBC cannot be biased or take sides as people have the right to complain about what they are watching. If the BBC were to show programmes about strong issues or something to do with religion, they will show it after 9 as it may contain strong pictures which are not suited for children.

In conclusion, I have managed to explain the types of contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the film and TV industry. Whilst researching, I have found out about how rules and morals need to be kept in these companies and how contracts need to be kept confident as people could know and start blackmailing others. I have also learnt about the different acts that were amended to stop people from making racist jokes or slanders on live television. I have also managed to get a clear understanding on how employers must protect their employees in the film and TV industry. It says ‘We expect independent producers to apply the highest professional and ethical standards in their dealings with BBC staff. In return, BBC staff will apply the same ethical standards of objectivity, integrity, confidentiality, fairness and honesty in dealing with independent producers’ (bbc, 21/11/13). This shows that the staff working for the BBC have to be fair and honest when dealing with ethical issues as people may take offence to if something was wrongly said. In 2006, a problem occurred when a BBC staff was accused of forwarding a racist joke via email about Muslims being suicide bombers. The staff later on apologised about any offence. This was one of the complaints from an unknown person. ‘I am a British Muslim and find this kind of ignorance sickening. In the run up to the first anniversary of 7/7 this kind of so called humour is just not funny for British Muslims’ (broadcastnow, 21/11/13). This shows that a lot of Muslims in Britain were not happy about this because it made them feel uncomfortable and felt discriminated as someone living in the same country as them made a serious joke about their religion.