Content legal workshop with Sophie Argent

As part of the Mind your business strand, we're offering training in a range of areas related to business management & development, production finance, legal & business affairs, rights, and compliance, giving individuals the tools needed to thrive in their chosen field in unscripted TV. 

This is a brief guide to legal and compliance issues (e.g. obtaining informed consent, filming with children, defamation and privacy) that are often encountered when making and editing programmes. 

Who it's for

It is primarily aimed at those in unscripted TV production but it is applicable to all genres and mediums. It is a great introduction for those new to the industry and for anyone wanting a refresher to enable confidence when pitching and producing innovative and compelling content. 

The majority of the USF online short course offering is for those at early career stage and above. As a result, we generally require applicants to have at least 3 credits (unless working in a traditionally uncredited role). If you strongly feel you would still benefit from the training, please email USF@screenskills.com so we can assess if an exception should be made.

We are committed to ensuring all our courses are accessible to everyone. This course is designed to be as interactive as possible. Please email the above address if you have any access requirements and we will be delighted to help, be that clarifying the form such interaction is likely to take or discussing reasonable adjustments.

Speaker

Sophie Argent is a highly experienced media content lawyer and advises on issues such as compliance with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, Defamation, Contempt of Court, Copyright and ethical issues that often arise in programme making.

Sophie’s advice and experience spans both factual and scripted programming and she has worked for Ofcom, Channel 4, and ITN where she advised on Channel 4 news and investigations. Sophie now works as an independent consultant and advises various production companies, broadcasters and anyone involved in making or disseminating content.

Sophie is known to provide clear and practical advice to difficult issues that occur when making hard-hitting, cutting edge programmes. 

How to apply

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘apply for ticket’ and follow the instructions to apply for your place: you must login or register before you are able to complete your application.

Places on these free online courses are limited and applications are often highly competitive. To stand the best chance of securing a place, please be sure to consider the following:

• When asked to list your three most recent credits, please include the programme title and your job role.
• When asked what you hope to gain from the course, please be concise but ensure you cover the specific elements of the topic you would like to gain knowledge of and what gaps in your skillset you believe the course may address. A rewording of the course title or a general comment on career progression does not tell us much about how this course would benefit you.

If you are no longer able to attend, we ask you to please use the “decline ticket” function on the right hand side of the page so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.

This session is supported by the ScreenSkills Unscripted TV Skills Fund which invests in training for the unscripted workforce thanks to contributions from broadcasters, SVoDs and production companies.

This course would normally cost participants to attend, but thanks to this support, we are able to offer it to you for free. If you fail to attend, we reserve the right to request reimbursement of costs, unless your place can be taken by someone else.