Offering a full range of business affairs and compliance advice to independent production companies throughout the entire production process.
Offering a full range of business affairs and compliance advice to independent production companies throughout the entire production process.
We understand that every production is unique with its own set of potential issues and requirements. We offer a full range of services to support your production at any stage during its life cycle, through from pre to post production or any point in-between. Services can be offered on an ad-hoc basis, for stand-alone programmes or support for an entire series.
Advice relating to Production/Commissioning Agreements, Co-Production Agreements, Development Agreements, Co-Development Agreements, Distribution Agreements, chain of title advice, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Option Agreements, Crew Contracts, Licenses of Underlying Rights & Agency (Talent Representation) Agreements.
Initial advice on compliance considerations at the development stage, ad hoc advice on compliance matters as they arise, viewings to ensure compliance with regulatory & broadcaster guidelines, fact check log reviews.
Drafting of bBespoke protocols drafted and policies to meet your specific production requirements or for company wide use eg; Working with Children, vulnerable adults,Filming with Animals, Working with Forces, & Public Bodies, Data Protection Guidelines, Privacy & Cookies, etc.
Bespoke agreements where access to a particular company/ group/ service is required for an extended filming period.
Contributor Agreements, Child Contributor Agreements, Materials Releases, Location Agreements & Supply of Services Agreements - tailored to your production specific requirements or in a template format for you to reuse on future productions.
Presenter Contracts, Talent Agreements, Voice Over Agreements, Key Contributor Agreements, Expert/Consultant Agreements & Script Writer Agreements.
Laura spent 5 years working in-house for the Twofour Group providing business affairs support and compliance advice on a vast range of programming. Working in-house has provided Laura with not only a thorough understanding of the production process but also the unique ability to offer sensible day-to-day solutions without compromising the editorial integrity of a programme.
Laura’s friendly, common-sense attitude to business affairs and compliance made her a joy to work with. I found her expertise and counsel excellent but most importantly valued her willingness to explore solutions and ways around any challenges that came our way.
Neil Edwards, Head of Specialist Factual
Twofour Broadcast
I worked with Laura on an extremely complex documentary for Channel 4 in which a member of the public gifted a property to a complete stranger. The obstacles were huge: from the property and tax law implications, to the duty of care on the part of the production company towards both the donor and donee, to the OFCOM rules and filming protocols that were required...
Matt Pritchard, Managing Director
Boomerang
Laura has an impressive breadth of business affairs knowledge and is an incredibly helpful and experienced resource when it comes to guiding clients through a whole host of legal and compliance issues. She’s responsive and effective and deals with our business affairs requirements with complete professionalism at all times. She’s an absolute pleasure to work with, her expertise is second to none, and I wouldn’t hesitate to highly recommend her.
Nia Thomas, Managing Director
Boom Cymru
Hopefully, now that the new data protection regulations are in full swing, you will have seen a noticeable reduction in identikit begging emails from companies asking you to “stay with us”. Whilst the reduction to our junk mail is one huge benefit to the introduction of the new GDPR, we mustn’t trivialise the importance of ensuring that we ourselves are complying with the new provisions. Unless you’ve been in hiding you will know that things are getting serious - fines are getting bigger and the power is returning to the people (or the ‘data subjects’ as they are referred to in the regulations). GDPR represents the biggest change to UK and European privacy law in 20 years. When the Data Protection Act was passed back in 1998 the world of electronic data was, quite literally, another world. It was a world without Google, iPhones, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Amazon and eBay were relatively new start-ups, and the ‘cloud’ was something that left us wondering where our umbrellas were. When taking all of this into account it’s surprising that it has taken so long for this overhaul to come into effect. So, what does this mean for production companies? As you will have seen, Pact have issued a very comprehensive and useful ‘Guidance on the General Data Protection Regulations’ document which is available via its website. In addition, it has updated the template Contributor Release Forms to ensure compliance with the new regulations. These documents, along with keeping up-to-date with other industry GDPR updates via the Pact website, are an excellent starting point for any indie on its journey to ensure compliance. You will see from the Pact Guidance that some of the particular considerations to ensure compliance (and this is not meant as an exhaustive list) are: Reviewing your data processing activities and ensuring that you have a lawful basis for each processing activity;Updating your internal Date Protection Policy;Updating your external Privacy Policy;Reviewing and updating your template release forms packages along with other contracts such as Presenter Agreements, Writer Agreements, Access Agreements, Supplier Agreements etc.;Reviewing your security measures in relation to the processing of personal data and putting additional and appropriate security measures in place;Training staff to ensure they are aware of the new regulations, the impact this is having on your company, and the measures your company is taking to ensure compliance. An important final point to remember is that data protection compliance is not a one-off procedure; it is an ongoing and evolving process – a journey. Ensure that you are aware of the GDPR and the DPA 2018 provisions and review their processes and policies on an ongoing basis to mitigate the risks of falling foul of data protection legislation. The Cow Shed Media Services are available to review your template release forms and any other production related agreements. In addition, we can work with you to update your internal data protection policies and external Privacy Policies to ensure compliance with the new regulations. Please contact Laura via laura@thecowshedmedia.co.uk
