News / Events

New Zealand took part in an international meeting on new media rights that took place among producer organisations in Cannes. The media release summarizes the result of the meeting.

Producer associations were concerned to ensure that non-broadcast rights are kept distinct from traditional broadcast and film distribution rights and controlled by producers as content creators, unless freely negotiated otherwise. 

Representatives from the producers associations of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand met in Cannes to discuss the rights issues arising from the digital distribution of films, television and content produced for digital platforms such as mobisodes, podcasts and webisodes.

The round table, which was co-developed by the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA), the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and the United Kingdom Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (Pact) focused on talent and rights issues in non-broadcast uses such as streaming and digital downloading of film and television content. 

Of common concern was ensuring that non-broadcast rights are kept distinct from traditional broadcast and film distribution rights and that these rights are controlled by producers unless freely and separately negotiated otherwise.  There was a strong consensus that the market must determine the value of these exploitations independently from traditional broadcast rights in order for the business model to develop successfully. 

Meeting participants also agreed that until these valuations are determined and a business model has emerged that it is essential for labour contracts to be flexible with respect to compensation and payment structures.  This is a period of innovation and experimentation and producers are eager to embrace the new technologies and to work with new partners such as telecom operators and internet service providers under conditions that will allow for the market to establish appropriate compensation models.

Given the rapid evolution of these new uses, it is essential for producers to communicate as a global community to ensure that appropriate value chains and compensation structures are established.  To that end, the international producer associations will be meeting at the American Film Market in November to continue this important dialogue.