Understanding contracts for production managers

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 practical session covers the essentials of different contracts production teams might deal with or negotiate. It will cover the purpose of contracting and general terms in all contracts before addressing the following in more detail: access agreements; specialist contributor releases (eg, for reality shows or competition formats); graphics/VFX agreements; talent agreements; archive contracts and broadcaster/streamer client agreements.

Designed to give attendees an understanding of standard terms; clauses to look out for; information/clauses to add to a contract and when its appropriate to refer to legal teams/lawyers.

A Q&A session at the end will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions about release forms and/or staff & freelancer contracts.

Who it's for

Production managers, junior production managers and co-ordinators in unscripted TV, and anyone needing to know more about contracts or individuals dealing with them on a regular basis.  

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 three 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.

Trainer:

Viki Carter has over 20 years experience in unscripted production management, currently as a freelance production consultant. Her extensive background spans multiple genres ranging from feature documentaries to live studio to entertainment to archive to competition formats. Viki is also an experienced trainer across all aspects of production management as well as negotiation and leadership.  

How to apply

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

If you need additional support to complete your application or require the application form in an alternative format please contact USF@screenskills.com

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.