Talk:Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television

Pact is the trade association representing the commercial interests of UK independent television, film, digital, children’s and animation media companies^[1].

The company was formed in the UK in 1991 through a merger of the BFTPA (British Film and Television Producers Association) and the IPPA (Independent Programme Producers Association), which were separate trade associations for film and television production companies^[2].

Pact has five main areas of work: Policy, Legal and Business Affairs, International, Markets and Missions, and Diversity^[3].

The [Broadcasting Act] required the UK’s Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs), which had previously produced the vast majority of its television programming in-house to source at least 25% of their output from independent television production companies.

The aim of this was to remove the near monopoly that BBC and ITV had on programme-making.

Despite this, the industry failed to thrive. With only four broadcasters controlling 90% of the spending on commissioning TV shows , independent producers had little scope to negotiate on issues like their production fees or distribution rights. Furthermore, commissioners were opting to work with ‘tied’ producers like Granada, technically independent companies but wholly owned by broadcasters.

For this reason, the Producers’ Alliance for Cinema and Television (Pact) was formed in 1991. Its purpose was to provide the collective bargaining needed for independent production companies to negotiate with broadcasters. Pact accomplished this by working with the government to introduce Codes of Practice to the broadcast industry as part of the [Communications Act].

The Terms of Trade are the Codes of Practice that were introduced to the broadcast industry. They are a framework of principles which govern the way the public service broadcasters do business with independent production companies. Pact negotiates separate Terms of Trade agreements with each PSB, but the underlying principle is that the production companies continue to own the IP of any shows they sell to a channel and therefore can profit from its success by selling their shows to overseas channels, as well as DVD and merchandise sales.

Pact’s legal & business affairs team currently has representation on the AGICOA board, the Albert Project Board, CEPI, JIGS and various other committees to ensure Pact has a voice in negotiations. They are in constant communication with broadcasters to negotiate terms of trade on behalf of Pact members, and have agreements in place with the following:

Agreements

• BBC
• ITV
• Channel Four
• Channel Five
• Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU)
• Directors United Kingdom (DUK)
• Equity
• Film Artistes’ Association (FAA)
• Musicians’ Union (MU)
• Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB)

These agreements are available to Pact members and can be found on the Pact website.

The legal and business affairs team also provides support to Pact members. They provide information about changes in our agreements through website briefings and regular surgeries, and provide legal advice as needed. They are contactable by phone and email.

Pact is one of the main leads on diversity within the TV industry and Pact CEO John McVay became chair of the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) in January 2015. In this time, CDN created Diamond; the industry wide diversity monitoring system that aims to fully survey the industry and create numbers to demonstrate the diversity of people who both work in TV and the talent on TV. In December 2016, John McVay was asked to continue as chair of CDN for an extra 2 years, the first time this has happened^[1]. Over this time, John and Pact will oversee the rollout of Diamond across the television sector.

Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates Ltd carries out an annual census of the UK television production sector for Pact.

It shows that the sector has grown from being worth approximately £1.6 billion in 2004 to around £2.5 billion in 2017^[1], with international commissions and rights making up £1.3 billion of this income today.

It also shows that now over a third of activities in the UK television production sector comes from outside of London

Pact Council oversees the work of the Pact executive, approves its operational budgets and financial plans; debates and agrees Pact policy, campaigns, Terms of Trade and collective agreements.

The Council is made up of 12 elected seats (including a member from each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and co-opted members to ensure there is a sufficient balance of experience and representation from film, digital, the English regions, children’s, distribution. These members become the legal directors of Pact for their two year tenure on Council.