Pact’s policy team has put together a briefing document for members which explains the Government’s guidance on working safely during COVID-19 and includes a link to the broadcaster television production guidance.

Read the briefing document here.

The Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Irish Executive have each published their own COVID-19 recovery strategies. Pact members in the Nations should take these into account when planning for a return to work.

Pact’s policy team has put together a briefing document relating to each Nation, which explains the relevant guidance on working safely. The briefing for Scottish indies can be found here.

The Northern Irish Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Government have each published their own COVID-19 recovery strategies. Pact members in the Nations should take these into account when planning for a return to work.

Pact’s policy team has put together a briefing document relating to each Nation, which explains the relevant guidance on working safely. The briefing for Northern Irish indies can be found here.

The Welsh Government, Scottish Government and Northern Irish Executive have each published their own COVID-19 recovery strategies. Pact members in the Nations should take these into account when planning for a return to work.

Pact’s policy team has put together a briefing document relating to each Nation, which explains the relevant guidance on working safely. The briefing for Welsh indies can be found here.

Earlier this year, Ofcom ordered the BBC to launch a consultation on their proposal to extend the iPlayer availability window from 30 days to 12 months. Pact is concerned that this increase will have a detrimental impact on producers’ secondary rights revenues and lead to a further increase in deficit financing. Ofcom has allowed the BBC to seek a 12 months iPlayer window for content but this is not a grant of rights. Member production companies are under no obligation to agree to the 12-month window at the commissioning stage.

We are concerned that the Programme Release Policy will limit independent producers to selling exclusively to BritBox within the six-month timeframe from 12 – 18 months. Due to the criteria in the release policy, BritBox will be able to set a below the market price for content, as there will be no other competitors for the content in that window. This will in turn impact the secondary rights market, in addition to the impact of the iPlayer extension.

The new BBC Charter came into effect on 1^st January 2017 and mandates the creation of BBC Studios, a commercial arm of BBC into which the majority of BBC productions will be subsumed.

Pact has concerns relating to fair trading and Studios’ relationship with Worldwide, and is working with Ofcom and the National Audit Office to ensure that the BBC continues to be carefully monitored under the new Charter. We look forward submitting a response to Ofcom’s BBC Studios Review later in 2019.

Launched in April 2019 the £57 million Young Audiences Content Fund forms part of the Contestable Fund, and aims to combat the decline in first run UK originated children’s programming. This pilot scheme, administered by the BFI, will run for three years and will be evaluated by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. After the three years, a decision will be made on whether to close, maintain or expand the scheme into other areas of public service content.

Applications to the Fund will be assessed on a rolling basis by a dedicated team within the BFI. The awards will support up to 50% of the production costs and will be available for both production and development. Pact has campaigned for years, alongside our members and other industry organisations, for increased funding and commitments for children’s content, following a dramatic reduction in spend and investment by the commercial PSBs, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 over the last fifteen years.

Full guidelines and application information can be found on the BFI website here

Drawn up by the Producers’ Roundtable in consultation with Pact, BFI, BBC Films, and Film4, these guidelines were published and shared with the industry in February 2020:

1) In order for production companies and producers to be able to sustain themselves, and the writers and directors they work with, we recommend the production fee on any film under $3.9m (£3m) should be no less than 8% of the direct costs of production, to be divided between the producer(s) and production company(ies) as the lead producer sees fit.

2) Deferral of producer fees for development or production should not be encouraged, endorsed or suggested by any financier or their representatives, and the Producers’ Roundtable strongly encourages producers not to defer any of their fees, instead finding alternative solutions and savings within the budget. Most producers have already deferred their fees during the development of the project, and even successful features which find an audience are unlikely to see a return at the back end for the producer themselves, making fees pivotal.

3) Given the importance of talent relationships and transparency across the board, as well as a need to not undermine the fundamental role of the producer, especially at an early stage of their career, the producer must be involved in all meetings and correspondence with the writer or director, pertaining to the shared project. Financiers must not meet with the writer or director, specifically about the shared project, except as organised and attended by the producer(s). This should be the case during the consideration of the project, during development and production, and during the project’s initial exploitation.

4) No production financier may participate in net profits from the producer pool of net profits, even in the event of receiving a producer credit; this must be reserved only for the filmmakers.

5) Given the importance of film festivals in promoting and selling a film, and in career progression for all filmmakers involved, it is vital that the producer of a film is supported in attending its premiere, equal to the director, especially as salaried executive producers are often paid to attend themselves. We therefore encourage sales agents to make sure the producer is always tied to the director in attendance of any international and UK premiere of the film, including their travel, accommodation and accreditation expenses. We hope financiers will also encourage and financially support this move.