Navigating the rights minefield: business affairs and copyright... with Ben Green

As part of our 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. 

A practical session covering the essentials of ‘Rights’ and Business Affairs, offering TV and other content production professionals and trainees both awareness and guidance when navigating the complexity of rights and intellectual property.

Designed to give attendees a broad knowledge and respect for the various rights within any sound or audio-visual programme or recording, it includes tips and advice on ‘clearance’ of existing third-party copyright material (and when clearance may not be required), Risk Assessment, things to watch out for and finding alternative material.

Who it's for

Producers/assistant producers, production managers and co-ordinators, programme assistant staff and anyone needing to know more about rights and business affairs, and/or who has to negotiate rights on a regular basis.  

You may also be interested in Ben's other session Using social media posts in programmes – rights & legal considerations

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.

What it covers

• What are Rights? What does ‘Business Affairs’ cover
• Copyright – the basics, ‘Exceptions’
• Breakdown of Programme / Contributor Rights
• Contracting and ‘clearances’ of existing copyright (from early development through to production, and why clearance is necessary).
• Framework Agreements
• Fair Dealing & Risk Assessment
• Difficult areas, and advice on alternatives
• Investment, Co-Production Agreements & Collaborations.
• Distribution

How to apply

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

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.