Contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the television and film industry

To Flipside media,


I am writing to you regarding your job advertisement for an apprentice digital video production producer. I have noticed a few legal complications with this job advertisement.
A contract is either in a spoken or a written agreement, this is usually concerning employment or sales, this is also intended to be enforceable by law. Contracts of employment have a tendency to have 'small print' so the employee will need to scrutinise any clauses. They need to understand any implications of the job to fully understand what they are signing. A confidentiality clause is simply a clause in the contract which states that you must not give other people or any other companies private information about the employers activities. A exclusivity clause is an exclusive clause agreement in a contract that prevents a party to the contract from entering a similar contract with a third party. Your job vacancy is an exclusive contract, this is because in your job advertisement you stated that if successful, you must not apply for any other position of this nature.


The equality act legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in the wider society. In your job advertisement you have requested that the age of your required employer to be aged below 30 years old, you have also requested that the religious views of your required employer is to be of a Christian religion. Equal opportunities means to have the right to be treated without discrimination, especially on the grounds of one's sex, race or their age.
Employers liability means to ensure that you have at least a minimum level of insurance cover against any claims, employers liability insurance will enable you to meet the cost of compensation for your employees' injuries or illness whether they are caused on or off site.  Employees rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights in relation to labour and working hours and negotiating pay. Workers are entitled to certain employment rights, some of these include:

• Getting paid the national minimum wage.
• Protection against unlawful deductions from the wages.
• The minimum level of paid holiday.
• The minimum length of rest breaks.

The health and safety legislation is the law that protects the health, safety and welfare of the general public but there are certain defined sectors specifically designed for employees in the working environment. In your job advertisement you requested that they interview offenders and the victims of sexual assault  but the applicants who may be responding to your advertisement are not properly trained in the health and safety department regarding your company, so creating this production may cause a problem as they are not yet your contracted employees. In your job advertisement you do not mention anything about employers liability, the employees rights or any health and safety regulation, this should be very concerning for any potential applicants and future employees.
Trade unions are an association of workers in a trade, group of trades or a profession which is formed to protect and further their rights and interests. This association help union members with any problem they may face at work. The trade union BECTU has a freelance membership costing £120.


Codes of practice is a practical guide to achieve the standards of health and safety in the environment required under model Work Health and Safety. Codes of practice provide duty holders with guidance on effective ways to manage work health and safety risks. 
Policies and procedures define what your organisation does as well as how you do it, they also support effective decision making and commissioning because they provide guidelines on what people can and what they can't do.
Representation is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. In your proposed video for the No means No date rape campaign, you have requested to include interviews from teenagers and other people who might/have been effected by the topic. You have also requested interviews from female victims and male offenders. These potential interviewees (teenagers who might/have been offended) you are intending to interview, may and will be portrayed as weak and a sex object, it is unfortunate that things such as sexual assault happen in todays society, they will be portrayed as weak, they will receive sympathy by the audience. However the other group of interviewees (male offenders)  you are intending to interview will be portrayed as offenders, they will be viewed as criminals by the audience. The issue of sexual offences would be portrayed as an everyday issue in society, it would also be portrayed as if it is being sorted and as if it is being resolved. Just requiring male offenders and female victims is stereotyping, you seem to have not considered female offenders and male victims.
In the holy bible, it states that 'The man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days' From my own interpretation this is saying that sexual assault is acceptable as long as he is able to pay the women's father, however, as a Christian organisation, you are creating a production which is flaunting sexual offences as wrong and as a terrible offence. This seems contradicting to your bible.
Social concerns are also known as a social problem, social conflict, or a social illness. This means that if a problem arises, they that problem will influence a considerable number of individuals within society. This is also linked to representation because the way someone or something is portrayed through the media, influenced individuals or groups in the audience. In your job advertisement the 'offenders' they may want to involve in the production will be seen as a criminal, the audience will have thoughts running through their mind and they will make an instant decision abut the 'offenders' and that will be that 'they deserve to be in prison' However, the 'victims' will be seen as 'defenceless' some may even see them as 'brave' they will have thoughts running through their mind about the 'victims' too, they will be 'she's so brave, i'm so sorry for her and what she had to go through'.

 The Ofcom broadcasting code includes rules and regulations involving jobs and their descriptions. Ofcom exists because of the communications act in 2003, it also exists because of the broadcasting act in 1990. For example protecting under eighteens which is ensuring that people under the age of eighteen are protected. In the job advertisement, you have requested that the production is to include re-enactments of any sexual offences and dramatizations involving children in high school, however the Ofcom broadcasting code states that where statutory or other legal restrictions apply preventing personal identification, broadcasters should also be particularly careful not to provide clues which may lead to the identification of those who are not yet adult. The Ofcom broadcasting code also states that broadcasters should pay particular regard to the potentially vulnerable position of any person who is not yet adult who is involved as a witness or victim, before broadcasting their name, address, identity of school or other educational establishment, place of work, or any still or moving picture of them.
The Ofcom broadcasting code also has rules and regulations about Harm and offence. This means it is to ensure that generally accepted standards are applied to the content of the television and radio services. This is to provide any protection for members of the public from any harmful/offensive material.  In your job advertisement, you requested that you would like re-enactments in the broadcast, however in the Ofcom broadcasting code it says that the broadcasters must ensure that the material which may cause offense is justified by the context of the broadcast. 
The obscene publications act is the law that makes it an offence to publish which includes any content that includes images of extreme sexual activity such as bestiality, necrophilia, torture and sexual offences.
BBFC  (British Board of film classification) For this broadcasting video, I would personally give it a classification of an 18. This is because the context of this broadcast is to inform and it is to educate people, the BBFC website states that sexual scenes are used to educate and is used to inform the audience.
Intellectual property law deals with rules for securing and enforcing legal rights to inventions, designs and artists work, it protects any exclusive work. The exclusive rights allow the owners of the project to benefit from the product which they have created, providing a financial incentive, the pay is associated with the research and the development costs. The small print on the job advertisement, you are offering just £20 for the applicants efforts, which isn't enough money for the making of the broadcast. It is specifically not enough to purchase the  rights and permission to use a popular music soundtrack.
You have also asked the applicants to use a popular music soundtrack to use throughout the production. However, popular soundtracks are copyrighted so failing to seek permission to use a soundtrack will result in a legal dispute. This is because copyrighted material protects written, theatrical, and artistic work including films, book layouts, sound recordings and broadcasts. When you produce a media product you must comply to the copyright law.


Yours sincerely,


Olivia Banfill.

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Ownership and funding

Ownership and funding

Ownership concepts:

• Public service broadcasting - Public service broadcasting refers to programmes which are only broadcasted for the general public viewings benefit rather than for the commercial benefit to make more money. For example the BBC because they do not use any advertising throughout their broadcasting so it is only shown for the audience's benefit. The BBC is a good example of public service broadcasting because their services only broadcast their productions for the public, without using any advertisements.  

• Commercial broadcasting - Commercial broadcasting is the announcement of a television programme and radio programmes by covertly obtained corporate media rather than to state sponsorship. For example, channel 4, because between each of the programmes which are shown, they air advertisements to help to gain them more money and sponsors. Channel 4 is a good example for commercial broadcasting because between each programme, they show a stream advertisements. 

• Corporate and Private ownership -  Corporate and private ownership means that it is owned by one singular company, therefore no one else apart from that one company is allowed to use it or is allowed to tamper with it. The company is ran by it self with no other outside help. An example would be the guardian. The guardian is a good example for corporate and private ownership because there is no outside help within the company. The guardian is owned and ran by a small selected group of people.

• Global Companies - Global companies are companies around the world who can trade with each other internationally. They may have the same idea for a product but different versions of the same product, therefore they both fit in internationally with different markets. For example Disney is a global company because it is very well known all around the globe. Disney is a good example of a global company because there are Disney resorts which are located in different areas around the world. (Disneyland Paris; Disneyland Florida; Disneyland California etc)

• Vertical integration - Vertical integration is the process of multiple steps in the production or the distribution of a product or a service which are controlled by one singular company to increase the company's power in the marketplace. This integration takes place when one business integrate with another business at a different stage during the chain of production. Ford is a good example of vertical integration because when they sell out they can merge with their customers in a car show room, possible with Arnold Clark. Or they may merge with their suppliers, they may merge with automobile manufactures.

• Horizontal integration - Horizontal integration takes place when one business integrates with another business at the same stage during the chain of production. The Warner brother studios is a good example of horizontal integration because the Warner brothers studios has integrated with AOL time warner, the company in which they merged with owns the franchise, they promote the merchandise in their magazines etc.

Funding types:

• The licence fee - The license fee is the fee in which you pay to provide a range of television, radio as well as online content. Paying the fee for TV licensing also allows the BBC to keep running their channel without their advertisements allowing it to be public. This is a good example of the licence fee because this is an online service which allows you to pay your fee's online. The money you pay for your television licencing fee comes from you, then that money goes towards the BBC to broadcast without advertisements for it to be for public viewing.  

• Subscription - A subscription is an agreement in which you receive something by paying in advance. This could be a film subscription or a music subscription. This is usually something which is paid regularly, usually monthly.  A good example of this would be Netflix because you have to pay a monthly fee in order to keep your subscription to use this service to watch films and programmes. The subscription you pay goes towards Netflix and then goes towards more films and programmes to watch on your device as well as for you to keep your on-going paid subscription.

• One-off payment to own product - A one off payment to own product means that you pay for the product or service you want then after you have paid the entire payment then the product or service is officially yours and there is no more payments to make. An example would be iTunes because once you have paid and downloaded a film, then it is instantly yours to keep. This is a good example for a one off payment because the person buying the product or service only has to pay the full amount once then they own that product rather than paying a certain amount of money over a specific amount of time. The money you pay for a service or product just goes towards that, whilst in return you keep the product or service you paid the full amount for.

• Pay-per view  - Pay per view means that viewers are required to pay a certain fee to watch a specific programme. An example of this would be DirectTV, this is because you have to pay a certain fee to watch a sports match and/or programme. This is a good example because the audience pays towards DirectTV in order to watch a production.


• Sponsorship - Sponsorship means that there is money being provided to pay for a television programme, radio programme, website events or any other activity in exchange for advertising. This is a good example because Cadbury's sponsors Coronation street, this is usually shown before the programme is broadcasted.

 

• Advertising - Advertising is calling the public's attention to sell any commercial products or any services. this can be done across a range of media types; television, radio, billboards, magazines etc. An example of a television advertisement would be the Haribo advert because thy have made a mini series of adults with children's voices with the sweets, suggesting it is for all ages. This is a good example for advertising because it is part of an advertising series and it uses humour to engage the audience.  

• Product placement - Product placement is featuring a product or a service in a television show or in a film. This is used to gain exposure of the product. An example of this would be in a episode from The Big Bang theory, this is exposing the products XBOX ONE and the product PS4. This is a good example for product placement because the XBOX ONE and the PS4 is featured in the programme, exposing the product.

• Private capital - Private capital is a private person or a private company which is separate from the government. An example of this would be Snapchat.  Snapchat is a good example of private capital because snapchat raised $1.8 billion from private investors.

• Crowd-funding - Crowd funding means raising multiple small amounts of money from a large number of people, this is typically done and used online. Peoples used this money which has been gathered by people online to fund their product or project. An example of this would be KickStarter. Kickstarter is a good example because it is a popular service which is used to collect money which is given to them. It is an online service so it is easy to access.

• Development funds - Development funds are used to expand the quality, range and the aspirations of film projects which are being advanced in the UK. This is also used to form a talent-driven home for the writers, directors and the producers. An example of this would be creative England. This is a good example of development funds because this is a specific service which invests in film and television ideas.