Related news and insights
Recent news articles and thought leadership
The second edition of our UK film and TV newsletter covers key industry updates including production trends, AI developments, and further updates to the Employment Rights Bill.
We attended SXSW London, their debut festival in London, and were proud to partner with them as their official legal services supplier. Our lawyers were there throughout the week, attending and chairing insightful panels and talks.
In May, Sarah Lazarides, Peter Armstrong, Abigail Payne, Clare McGarry and Emma Riggs attended Cannes Film Festival. We caught up with clients and other contacts from around the world, attending numerous events around the Croisette, including those generously hosted by Coutts, Sargent Disc, Fintage House and Saffery. Some reports mention the bars and restaurants being less packed than usual, and of there being a feeling of frugality reflective of the industry as a whole, but we found there to be a good buzz in the air and the festival felt “in action” after a few quiet years in the post-Covid wake.
On 3 June, Clare McGarry, Octavia Henderson-Cleland and Julika Schmidt ran a negotiation workshop for talented students from the National Film and Television School. It was a lively and engaging session, on key topics which producers at all stages of their careers need to know about.
On 24 June, Ed Lane hosted a further session for students with serial TV entrepreneur Paul Sandler covering investment readiness and how an investment process works. We ended with a mock negotiation of a term sheet which included some excellent role playing from all concerned.
We have been proud sponsors of the Indielab TV Accelerator for almost a decade, and the 2025 edition came to a close on 11 June.
The day began with Ed Lane, together with Tom Manwaring and Alex Reed-Brewer from Helion Partners, offering insights into the current investment landscape and how to attract investors. Ed was later joined by Harbottle & Lewis associates Katerina Capras and Minty Hamer, who covered investment readiness and the investment process.
In the afternoon, Abigail Payne and Octavia Henderson-Cleland shared their expertise on co-production and distribution agreements.
We then all attended the closing drinks at Barclays to celebrate this year’s cohort.
As part of our support for BAFTA’s Elevate programme, Ed Lane chaired a panel of indies and investors at BAFTA on 17 June.
On the panel were Nischal Randev (BBC Studios), Caroline Percy (Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund), Derren Lawford (DARE Pictures) and Ed Kellie (ScreenDog Productions).
It was a lively and insightful discussion on starting an indie and the investment journey, with some excellent questions from the floor.
In our last edition, we reported on the CMC’s report into the state of the industry, which included recommendations of a 5% levy for streamers, a new HETV tax credit for independent TV, terms of trade for streamers, and scrapping the government’s plans to include a “data mining exemption” for copyright infringement. The government has now responded. The response dovetails with the government’s new Creative Industries Sector Plan (see article below). In short, most of the headline grabbers from the CMC report have not been agreed. Some key takeaways:
In June, the government revealed its £75m “Screen Growth Package” for the film and TV industry, part of its Creative Industries Sector Plan.
As well as the Screen Growth Package, £150m will be given to Mayoral Strategic Authorities, to support the creation of regional screen agencies and production funds.
The true impact of the investment remains to be seen and will become clearer over time.
It’s been an especially turbulent quarter in the world of AI. In case you missed it:
1. Trade Unions call for an independent AI regulator. The Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represents Pact and Bectu, wants an independent regulator to be set up to manage how AI is integrated into society. The aim: a new creative industry AI taskforce to bring together creative workers, unions and technologists, transparency on AI training data, consent-based use of creative work, fair pay when creative content is used to train AI models and stronger protections against deepfakes.
The TUC has voiced strong opposition to the government’s plans to include an exemption in the law allowing AI developers to train their systems on copyrighted protected materials without permission, unless creators explicitly opt out.
2. The Data (Use and Access) Bill passes. This was passed on 11 June after much “ping ponging” between the House of Commons and House of Lords. The House of Lords tried to introduce a change forcing AI companies to declare their use of copyright protected materials for the training of AI models, including transparency regarding scraping. This was rejected by the House of Commons, who said this was not the appropriate place to deal with these issues, in particular because (a) they are running a separate consultation on AI and the creative industries (the results of which we are eagerly awaiting) and (b) a specific AI bill is in the works. Sceptics might say this shows the government siding with AI companies over creatives and displaying their fear of getting left behind if the UK stifles any technological advancements of AI.
3. Major players flex their litigation muscles.
Two major cases to be aware of:
Disney and Universal sue Midjourney:
Getty goes to court: Getty Images’ landmark case against Stability AI officially began in June. Getty accuses Stability AI of using its copyrighted images to train Stable Diffusion, Stability AI’s system which generates images from inputs. Getty says Stability AI illegally scraped millions of images from its website. However, Getty dropped its primary copyright claim on 26 June as a “pragmatic” move, leaving the trade mark, passing off and secondary copyright infringement claims still on the table.
Ofcom is considering revising its guidance for PSBs set out in the Commissioning Codes of Practice, commonly referred to as the “Terms of Trade”. Their plans include allowing PSBs to seek ‘matching rights’ as well as changes regarding negotiation practices with indie producers.
Pact believes that this change would impact the balance of power between producers and PSBs, particularly within the indies sector. The union has urged its members to write to their MP to highlight what they see as a move that would hinder the ability of producers to retain and exploit their IP.
The contract negotiations between Pact and Equity for both the Cinema Films Agreement (CFA) and the TV Agreement (TVA) are ongoing. Pact sent the TVA counterproposal to Equity on 4 April and the CFA counterproposal to Equity on 25 April. Here are some highlights:
Equity provided initial responses to Pact’s counterclaim on 23 May and Pact was due to meet with Equity w/c 9 June to discuss the CFA counterproposal. A further meeting will be arranged for Pact and Equity to discuss AI, Special Stipulations and exclusivity clauses.
On AI, Pact has sent to Equity questions relating to Equity’s open letter on AI training and GDPR. Pact hopes that the responses to these questions will enable it to understand the basis of Equity’s AI claim and build on this to aid negotiations.
For further details regarding Pact’s counterproposals under the CFA and/or the TVA, please get in touch directly.
Pact/Equity
Pact/Bectu
New rates under the Construction Crew Agreement between Pact and Bectu also came into effect from 1 April, which have been adjusted to reflect the rise in the Consumer Price Index from 2.5% to 2.6%. The Construction Crew Agreement only applies to major motion pictures (theatrical and SVOD) with production budgets in excess of £30 million.
Pact, Directors UK, BBC Studios and ITV Studios (the Directors and Producers Forum) have published Engagement Guidelines for Ways of Working Between Producers and Directors, which sets out how production companies should work with directors across all genres of production.
There are nine key principles providing a baseline of good practice for how directors and producers can work together, including “the director having a right to consultation” and “the director having a right to the appropriate credit”. The Directors and Producers Forum say that the guidelines can act as a reference point to ensure the director’s role is clear and respected.
Written by partner Ed Lane.
It’s chocks away for Channel 4! The news that Channel 4 plans to create a standalone in-house production business has been met with strong opinions from many quarters of the indie sector. But how significant is this shift really?
The reaction is not surprising given Channel 4’s founding mission to support the independent production sector, which it has done for over 40 years via a focus on commissioning shows from indies and allowing indies to retain all rights (i.e. it has not been interested in developing or acquiring IP).
Alongside that, Channel 4 has (to date) been prohibited from holding more than a minority equity stake in indies. Through its Indie Growth Fund (launched in 2014) it has funded and supported a host of indies, including Warp Films (Adolescence). In supporting these indies, Channel 4 was effectively acting as a venture capital fund, looking to fund at an early stage and then exit (ideally with a decent return). It has indeed exited a number of those investments, most recently Eagle Eye who were acquired by ITV Studios in late 2024.
The minority stake ‘venture capital’-style approach allowed indies to take on early stage investment and then look to sell to a wide range of potential buyers. This gave flexibility, and potentially, with enough competitive tension, a higher valuation for the business. On the flipside, often where a trade investor (like BBC Studios or Banijay) are making early stage investments, there will be a path to majority ownership built in to the deal. This deprives the indie of options later down the line.
With Channel 4’s shifting approach, the industry may have lost something pretty rare – an investor well-versed in the industry but comfortable with the founders retaining strategic control and focused on supporting indies to exit rather than looking to take full ownership or build an in-house production arm.
Only time will tell how this new, unbridled Channel 4 will operate. Will its new inhouse production arm truly be separate to commissioning, with no preferential arrangements (we hear that both teams will be in the same office space – commissions at the water cooler, anyone)? Or will its increased indie quota (up to 35% from 25%) soften the blow enough for a sector still reeling from the commissioning slowdown?
In April, the Supreme Court gave a judgment on the meaning of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010. Widely reported in the mainstream press, and generating considerable debate, we explain the judgment and how it relates to practices in the workplace.
The case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers concerned the meaning of the terms “man”, “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) in light of the Gender Recognition Act 2004. It decided that these terms refer to biological sex. This means that if someone identifies as trans, they do not change sex for the purposes of the EqA, even if they have a Gender Recognition Certificate.
The decision is an important development in the entrenched conflict between those on either side of the trans rights and gender critical debate. Unless future legislation changes the position, the judgment puts the meaning of sex in the EqA in unequivocal terms. Sex = biological sex.
So what does this mean for UK film and TV companies, who are employers or engage freelance cast and crew on productions? We’ve identified some key areas where this judgment will have an on the ground impact for clients.
Click here to read the full article by senior associate, Lucy Burrows.
The long-awaited Employment Rights Bill is now set for phased implementation, with consultations beginning in summer and autumn 2025. As part of the government’s “Plan to Make Work Pay,” the Bill’s landmark reforms will be rolled out gradually over the coming years. Whilst delays in parliamentary approval have slowed its progress, the Bill is now seemingly moving forward.
For the film and TV industry, the most significant changes are as follows:
Employers can be reassured that the changes will not take immediate effect, with many of the reforms now expected to come into force later than originally anticipated. Further details on these policies, along with the exact timeline for implementation, will be provided once the consultations have concluded.
You can read more on our coverage of the Bill and its impact on the film and TV industry on our website.
He has a particular interest and expertise in the creative industries, including film and TV, video games and music, and in the broader media, entertainment and technology sectors.
His practice spans mergers and acquisitions, fundraises from pre-seed to series A and beyond, startups, growth equity investments, public takeovers, joint ventures, management incentive arrangements, including EMI options, and SEIS/EIS investments. He is actively involved as a speaker and mentor for a number of different industry accelerators and trade bodies, including Indielab, BAFTA and UKIE.
Ed trained and qualified at Linklaters, where he spent five and a half years in the private equity M&A team acting for a variety of private equity houses and businesses on leveraged and non-leveraged buy-outs, growth equity investments, exits, management incentive arrangements and bolt-on acquisitions.
Ed is ranked as a key lawyer in The Legal 500 UK guide, and is noted for his “sector expertise”, “encyclopaedic memory” and his willingness to “go the extra mile to get the best deal.”
Clare advises on a broad range of commercial and IP matters across the film, TV and theatre industries, including the development, production, financing and distribution of film, TV and theatre projects and the acquisition, protection and exploitation of rights/IP and content.
Clare works with clients of all sizes and types within the film, TV and theatre sectors, from individual producers, talent and small independent production companies, to major SVODs, high profile production companies, studios, and content financiers. Clare also specialises in advising rightsholders who wish to protect and exploit their IP and rights. Clare works across all genres of film and television, including scripted, unscripted and animation, as well as newer areas such as digital exploitation, branded content and the convergence between traditional TV and content creators.
Clare is described in listed as a ‘Key Lawyer’ and described as ‘a key contact for independent producers and rights holders’ and ‘a pleasure to work with. Fantastic attention to detail and very responsive to client requests. Runs matters efficiently and inspires confidence in her clients’. Clare has also been ranked as a ‘Rising Star’.
Clare presents at numerous industry events, including BAFTA Elevate and Indielab and regularly runs legal sessions for Pact members.
Recent news articles and thought leadership