Personal Managers Association
Hello everyone,
We’ve been in touch with ITV Business Affairs (Jane Harris) after we were made aware of their policy, on both âEmmerdale’ and âCoronation Street’, for scripts that have been caught up in the lockdown and are now being re-written: they are distinguishing between rewrites that require a story change (which are being paid) and rewrites that are necessary to take account of social distancing, actor replacement etc. (which are unpaid).
ITV are adamant that the shows cannot afford to pay for all changes out of the ordinary and see the above approach as fair, consistent, and in line with normal practice re. rewrites; they also argue that these scripts couldn’t be accepted otherwise.
We’ve been told that in the vast majority of cases, any additional (unpaid) rewriting will not involve a great deal more work than is usually asked of writers. They have though accepted that there may be cases where the additional rewriting is more extensive and, in those instances, they have now said they’re open to discussing the situation with agents on a case by case basis.
We’ve been told that, from next week, following a story conference, new commissions should be unaffected, though time will tell if that’s the case.
Gary
Long-Running Series Group