Personal Managers Association
Just following up on Caitlin’s email earlier today regarding BBC3 offers.
I spoke to Cathy Sweet at Equity and between us we have come up with the following wording that hopefully clarifies the current deal.
As BBC 3 moves off the digital platform and once again becomes a broadcast channel. Equity/BBC have agreed on the following.
Initially The BBC wanted the engagement fee to buy out unlimited transmissions for 5 years on BBC 3 as a broadcast channel and 5 years of use on the iPlayer.
36 transmission is appropriate and standard for a secondary channel eg E4. (This structure has been in place for years.)
Sky and UKTV have a slightly different deal and can have up 48 Transmissions
The Writers Guild and PACT had already agreed unlimited transmissions in their collective bargaining agreement.
Equity rejected the BBC’s request for unlimited transmissions and insisted that the 36 transmissions over 5 years remained unchanged. It was important that the Agreement was maintained and could not have unlimited transmissions on any broadcast channel.
Regarding I-player, Equity/BBC have agreed a 3.5% pre purchase for I-Player for 5 years.
Equity believe that the 3.5% will be greater than the monies paid out via the current collective license deal. This is also in line with what Equity agreed for Children’s programming and also comparable to the percentages for SVOD platforms.
35% ROW payments is not compulsory on the collective bargaining agreement and a producer can decide not to pre-purchase. Of course should the programme be sold worldwide the 35% will be forthcoming or they could use the 17% royalty for any sale outside the UK as per the Agreement.
The current and soon to be defunct BBC 3 agreement made it compulsory to repeat the programme on BBC1/2 and a repeat fee payment of 30% was attached and a compulsory 35% ROW gave the actor a total of 65% on the engagement fee
That mechanism will cease in the new agreement and should a BBC 3 programme be repeated on BBC1/2, the current repeats fees of peak 55% or off-peak 13.75% will apply.
As we are in a cross over period between previous negotiated contracts and brand new commission where some productions were budgeted and registered before the change the producer may still pre-purchase 35% if they choose and allocate down the line. Ie it may not be used for ROW
If contracts have been agreed already and the 30% has been paid for the repeat on BBC1 or 2 – then they allocate this against any further uses for example any repeats in the future.
Just for info – Equity are going to be commencing negotiations with the BBC early next year on the whole BBC Agreement and will be looking at minimum fees, engagement of minors and other key concerns across the BBC. Equity will be liaising with the PMA and ensuring any concerns are addressed and the agents have a say in the negotiations.
Bill Petrie/Cathy Sweet