Abbas Media Law’s Clare Hoban and Paul Schaefer offered useful advice on filming access documentaries at a workshop in Bristol organised jointly by Bristol Media and RTS West of England in late February.
The two media lawyers looked at the contractual, legal and regulatory issues that can crop up in access docs – films that that require access to institutions such as hospitals or communities – including data protection, defamation and advice on drafting access agreements.
They also tackled other thorny issues such as the police requesting rushes and contributors withdrawing consent.
“At Abbas Media Law we’ve advised on a wide range of high-quality content made by Bristol-based production teams, so we thoroughly enjoyed meeting the programme-makers,” said Hoban. “We left in no doubt that Bristol is a thriving television production hub.”
"Often programme-makers have to head to London for this kind of expertise, so it's great to be able to offer these workshops in Bristol,” said Alli Nicholas, membership manager at Bristol Media. She revealed that another workshop with Abbas Media Law is planned for May, this time looking at copyright.
