Contractual, Legal and 

Ethical Obligations 
In Film & Television 
Written By Rishika Singh

 
In the following report I will examine contractual, legal and ethical obligations that the film and 
television industry has to comply with before, after and throughout production. My discussion 
will focus mainly on the American (Hollywood) and British (UK) film industries and how they 
operate under the contractual, legal and ethical obligations set out for them.  

Contractual Obligations 
There are several different and very specific film contracts, agreements and releases that help 
filmmakers protect the rights to their films, it also helps avoid miscommunication, copyright 
infringements, theft, and other legal and ethical issues. Agreements between the production 
team, cast and crew are set in place throughout all stages of pre-production and even before 
principal photography begins. An NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) is a legal contract between 
two parties, the releasor and the recipient, in the film industry; This contract “creates a 
confidential relationship between the parties to protect any type of confidential relationship 
between the parties to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or secrets of 
production.” Hence, often projects that have been greenlit will be given a code-name to protect 
their confidentiality and contents including it plot, cast, crew, ie: Iron Man 3 was known as 
“Rasputin”, Spider-Man 3 was “Half Dead”, and Star Trek was code-named “Corporate 
Headquarters”. Some other elucidates examples of contractual agreements include film director 
agreements, actor contracts, model release forms and camera department team, all are 
essential to the contractual obligations of the project. 

Legal Obligations 
 
Filming People:​ According to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights 
Act of 1998 “everyone has the right to respect to respect for his/her private and family life, 
his/her home and his/her correspondence” “for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the 
protection of health and morals.” Hence, the “wrongful disclosure of private information” and 

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“misuse of private information” would breach a person’s right to respect for their private life. 
However, the threshold differs depending on the person and their expose to the public, ie: a 
politician. This threshold is even higher when concerning children and those under the age of 
18, and the publication of images/recordings/media of the minor individual without their or their 
parents' consent would be highly inappropriate and even illegal. ​The Data Protection Act (1998) 
was designed to protect “personal data” stored on computers or “in an organised paper filing 
system”. Hence, the easiest way in which to comply with the law is to obtain the person’s 
consent through a signed agreement. Filmmakers must also be careful in the way they depict 
those they are shooting, and they “must take care not to defame any individuals depicted.” If the 
statement/message being shown is true it will not be considered defamation, however the 
filmmakers make sure to back up their statements with evidence that has been consented to. 
The OfCom Code Of Conduct states that the rules and regulations that must be followed by 
television programs and films that are being broadcast on British television, and while it is 
possible that you are in compliance with the Code, but that does not mean that you are 
complying with privacy, data protection and defamation laws as well. 
 
Filming Buildings: ​requires consent from the landlord or owner of said building or land and said 
consent may include a number of contractual restrictions and requirements regarding the 
building. Although, “a building on public display is not infringed by making a film, photograph, 
broadcasting a visual image or making a graphic work representing it”, however the rule does 
not apply to buildings constructed before 1st December, 1990. Nonetheless, if the contract has 
expired (the owner has been dead for over 70 years), then there would be no infringement of 
copyright issues. Section 62 (the exception to the rule) may apply to a building or structures that 
are deemed “iconic”, hence filming them would most likely not be an infringement of copyright. 
It can also be argued that certain buildings in a film could be used to symbolize an individual, 
institution or entity, hence it may be used as a symbol associated with a certain part of the film, 
amounting to the building being “passed off”, an example of this is Buckingham Palace, which 
represents the British monarchy. Although filmmakers must be careful not to use the footage of 
such buildings in marketing or promotional material, and if they are, they must make sure they 
do not engage in defamation, which may result in undesirable consequences. Furthermore, if a 
national monument being filmed is publicly situated, the exception granted under section 62 of 
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988) will apply; and any and all light displays on 
buildings and works of public art, trademarks or logos used in the film usually require 
permission to be used, and the same goes for any located on the inside or outside of the 
building. A good example of this is King’s Cross Station (Harry Potter Franchise) which bears 
branding, and hence is a trademark that needed permission to film at. 

​Media Insurance: ​“All productions, international and domestic, need proof of Public Liability 
Insurance in order to receive permission to film or carry out commercial photography. This 
insurance covers the legal responsibilities of your production if your activities cause injury to a 

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third party or damage to property.” This is typically achieved during the pre-production stage 
and maintained the completion of all post-production activities. The insurance can also be 
extended to include “contingent motor liability for vehicles hired with drivers, and employees’ 
own vehicles”, and you must comply with Health and Safety regulations in order to keep your 
insurance policy validated. Typically you are required to have £2 million to cover street filming 
and photography, and sometimes even £5 million, depending on the size of your production, the 
location being used and what you are filming. Students are usually given coverage by their 
college or university, and in order to be covered by a UK insurance company, your production 
company must be situated in the UK itself, and if you're not sure about non-UK policies, you can 
check with your relevant Borough Film Service.  

Child Performing Licence:​ Child actors will require a Child Performance License (CPL) issued by 
the Education Welfare Department of the local authority or borough where the child resides, with 
the exception of boarding school. The Children Performance Regulations (1968) require a 
license applicant to give notice of 21 days, or 7 days before filming in the case of a short notice 
CPL, which is the minimum amount of notice time period. The application process consists of 2 
main parts: one completed by the production company or producer of production, and the 
second by the child’s parent, legal guardian or carer. Other legal documents may include an 
authorizing letter of absence from school and a doctor’s or medical certificate. The child must 
be chaperoned and supervised by their parent/ legal guardian/ carer/ licensed chaperone at all 
times, and the Education Welfare team must be informed about the child’s supervisor. 
Chaperones can only take responsibility of children up to the age of 12.  

Ethical Obligations 
Codes of Practice:​ ​A set of written rules which explains how people working in a particular 
profession should behave. Its purpose is to stop employees behaving in unethical ways. For 
example the BBC states that their Code ensures “relations between the BBC and independent 
producers are fair and transparent.” 

Policies and Procedures:​ Most TV and film companies will have several policies and 
procedures related to business conduct, recruitments, employment and records management, in 
order to help maintain and encourage ethical practice. Hence, these policies and procedures are 
often supported by legislation, such as health and safety and equal opportunities laws. A good 
example of this would be the BBC that avoid legal action and maintain and good reputation by 
laying out policies on the safeguarding of children by introducing a Watershed after 9pm to 
ensure that children are not exposed to graphic, violent or inappropriate content. 

Social Concerns:​ “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 

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and empowering youth. Channel 4 for example is committed to highlighting issues around those 
with disabilities. They broadcast the Paralympics and have commissioned a range of 
programmes dealing with disabled people and their lives. They also have documentaries under 
the Dispatches series that tackle and highlight a huge range of very serious issues including 
Britain’s sex gangs.” Essentially, the Channel 4 shows through its actions, its fulfillments of the 
ethical obligations that help the country improve. 

​Representation:​ The representation of several social groups is vital to society’s development 

and encourages equality (gender, disability, race, ethnicity, etc). However, sometimes TV shows 
and films may portray certain stereotypes of minority social groups in a racist or sexist or 
generally discriminatory light, or they might be praised for their positive portrayal of different 
cultures that are most often not represented on television. An example of this is the massive 
Disney Studios, which has produced classic hits such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, has 
been often criticised for its old and stereotypical portrayal of women as submissive, naive and 
in need of saving by a male character (damsel-in-distress archetype). However, Disney has since 
worked on changing its views on this through films such as Brave, Moana and Frozen, that 
feature “strong” female protagonists that frequently subvert the damsel-in-distress archetype. 

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