LEGAL OBLIGATIONS
Health & Safety
Health & Safety Law – http://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/theatre-tv/film.htm
Health and Safety laws could be important for my film franchise due to the amount of stunts in my film. Stunt-work is dangerous and needs to be taken care of and actors and crew need to be protected from any harm that could be blamed on the production company. An example of breach of the health and safety law in my film was the recent story of Harrison Ford being injured while filming ‘Star Wars The Force Awakens’.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35551372
Equal Opportunities
Equal Opportunities Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_(Equal_Opportunities)_Law,_1988
Equal Opportunities laws is important for film, this is because everyone deserves to be treated the same, for example a female and male having the same pay if they are in an equal job or a female having just as much chance as a male to get the lead role in a film. An example of Equal Opportunities is the fact that Star Wars, a massive Hollywood Blockbuster, having a female lead role in ‘Star Wars The Force Awakens’.
Employment Equality Regulations
Employment Equality Regulations Law – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Equality_Regulations
Employment Equality Regulations is important for all films because it means it doesn’t stick to the normal conventions of most Hollywood films where there is a male lead role and a female character that needs saving. In the new Star Wars, the cast is very equal because we have a lead female character and the lead under her is a black male character which is somewhat unusual for some films. This ties in with the boycott of the Oscars because all the films nominated for awards had no black characters in them.
http://theodysseyonline.com/stonehill/equality-in-the-force-awakens/264181
Employers Liability
Employers Liability – http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/production/insurance
Employers Liability is to provide indemnity in respect of your legal liability to pay compensation for death, disease or bodily injury to employees arising out of and during the course of their employment. This means if there was to be an accident on the set of Star Wars, then the insurance covers the production company if anything was to happen so they wouldn’t have to pay out huge amounts of money as long as the production company have abided by all the other laws such as health & safety.
http://www.quittance.co.uk/blog/hse-to-prosecute-after-harrison-fords-injury-on-star-wars-set
Employee Rights
Employee Rights – https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/basic-rights-and-contracts/basic-rights-at-work/
Employee Rights are just a set of rules that a company will have to abide by, these are things that every single employee is entitled too, including things such as at least a basic minimum wage, sick days, holidays etc. An example of this would be that everyone the worked for the production company on the Star Wars film set, will have all been a part of the employee rights and so they will all have earned the basic minimum wage etc. This is standard with any workplace.
Employees belonging to Trade Unions
Employees belonging to Trade Unions – https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/introduction-trade-unions
Employee Trade Unions are made if employee’s have a certain idea about a film and they think that it should be put into place, the trade union is just a group to help the idea get recognised and get the point across. An example of this is that for Star Wars, Luke Skywalker’s sexuality has not been specified and so there is a trade union for him to be gay.
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
Intellectual property is property that is owned by someone or a company, in this case we are talking about Star Wars. Star Wars will have a lot of copyright rules on their property for example soundtrack, logo, merchandise and lightsabers etc. If you were to see these being used in any other film it would show that they are using someone else’s intellectual property. This counts for copyright, trade marks and design rights.
Copyright
Copyright – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
Copyright is something that is ‘owned’ by a person or company. For Star Wars, this means if someone was to use something that is in the film, they would need to abide by the copyright laws in order to use it. This goes for the soundtrack too, for example if someone was to put a video on YouTube with the Star Wars theme tune on, it would get taken down and the owner of the video would get a copyright strike, there are rules with copyright that means you would be able to use it though. Some cases allow you to credit the music and then you are free to use it, others make you get in contact with the creator of the music or distribution company and others make you buy the rights to use the song.
Trademarks
Trademarks – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark
In basic terms, trade marks can be registered for specific goods and services to distinguish one business from another and can take various forms, such as words, logos, slogans, shapes, colours and sounds. Global trade mark databases indicate that Lucasfilm owns thousands of trade marks in relation to Star Wars which are applied to an enormous range of products. Lucasfilm is renowned for being litigious, so people will have to think twice before using any Star Wars related words or images without a licence.
‘Passing Off’ work as your own/companies own (when it was created by someone else)
Passing Off – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_off
Passing Off is where you are in the situation being that you are using someone else’s work but claiming it as your own. This can be to do with the film itself and making out footage to be your own or a certain prop such as a lightsaber, but it can also be to do with merchandise for a franchise which can be replicated and passed off as authentic.
http://brobible.com/life/article/star-wars-fake-toys/
ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS
Codes of Practice
Codes of Practice – http://www.ca.go.ke/index.php/industry-codes-of-practice
Codes of Practice is just a set of written rules which explains how people working in a certain profession should behave. Employees will have to behave accordingly due to these rules.
Policies and Procedures
Policies and Procedures – http://www.rcvda.org.uk/policies_and_procedures.html
TV and film companies will also have a number of policies and procedures in place to maintain and encourage ethical practice. These can relate to business conduct, recruitment, employment and records management. They are often informed by legislation such as health and safety and equal opportunities laws. There are policies and procedures for most things in the film industry for example the equal opportunities policy.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-bbfc/work-us/equal-opportunities
Emerging Social Concerns and expectations (e.g should your film ‘tread carefully’ when addressing particular topics that may be offensive/controversial?)
Emerging Social Concerns and expectations – http://standards.creativeskillset.org/standards/animation/714_ensure_compliance_with_legal_regulatory_ethical_social_requirements
A company’s ethical policies might extend to dealing with emerging social concerns such as the treatment of people with disabilities, the sexual exploitation of children and empowering youth.
https://prezi.com/_57pzksptw4j/copy-of-legal-and-ethical-obligations-in-the-tv-and-film-industry/
Representations (e.g what groups of people do you need to be careful that you don’t stereotype in their representations?)
http://www.slideshare.net/jphibbert/film-studies-representation
George Foy 