New deal for TV directors

Broadcasters have signed an agreement which recognises intellectual rights for directors.

Under the deal a seven-figure sum will be paid each year to the Directors and Producers Rights Society (DPRS) which will divide the money among directors according to the number of shows transmitted.

The agreement comes after a year of campaigning by DPRS, BECTU, and the Directors Guild of Great Britain (DGGB). At one stage hundreds of TV directors signed their rights away to the DPRS, and refused to accept engagements with major broadcasters unless their creative rights were acknowledged.

Details of the new agreement were released in an agreed press statement issued by the three organisations.

PRESS INFORMATION

Without embargo Wednesday 21 February 2001

Attention of broadcast, arts and entertainment correspondents plus labour and industry correspondents

TV directors and broadcasters announce new deal

Freelance television directors and their employers have devised a five-point plan to resolve their differences over a number of issues.

The tv directors and their employers - including the BBC, Carlton, Granada and independent producers - have struck a five-year comprehensive agreement covering terms and conditions of employment, status and rights.

The deal will also maintain the competitiveness of British programming in the international marketplace and recognises the reality of the multi-channel environment, both sides believe.

The agreement was reached after lengthy negotiations between the directors' organisations - the DPRS (the Directors' & Producers' Rights Society), BECTU (Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph & Theatre Union) and DGGB (Directors Guild of Great Britain) - and the UK's broadcasters and independent television production companies.

Directors had been concerned that they were not receiving due recognition of their rights as co-authors of tv programmes, and that there had been an erosion of their status and conditions of employment. Broadcasters and production companies, on the other hand, need to generate revenue from programme sales and re-broadcasts to re-invest in more original programming.

The new agreement makes five main provisions:

• A Joint Industry Forum will be established, meeting regularly and providing dialogue between directors and the broadcasting/production sector.
• A Code Of Practice will be drawn up to address the professional and artistic status of directors in the new broadcasting world.
• Guidelines Of Best Contractual Practice will be drawn up to address the concerns of directors in areas such as prompt payment, termination, suspension, moral rights and time off.
• There will be an ongoing examination of directors' fees, organised by the joint industry forum.
• A new system will be established to recognise directors' rights in the programmes on which they work. This will take the form of an annual Collective Payment by broadcasters to the DPRS, which will be responsible for the distribution of payments to individual directors.

The directors' organisations and broadcasters all believe the agreement marks the beginning of a new relationship between directors and those who employ them. This relationship will be based on mutual respect, fair remuneration and ongoing dialogue.

The agreement provides a stable framework in which it will be possible to address the inevitable changes that the rapidly evolving broadcasting world will force everyone involved in television production to confront.

ENDS

• Note to editors This press information is issued on behalf of the parties to the agreement and represents their agreed position.

  Further information from Nick Wright BECTU Press Office

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