As the business aspects of an audio-visual production company are dealt with in contracts, the business and legal sides are intertwined. Business and legal affairs can appear quite daunting, especially in the earlier stages of a career in film and TV. This programme has been designed to address this and will cover the legal framework that is required to handle all relevant aspects of a film or TV series. The course starts with the early stage development, to financing, to finally reaching your audience or, as the case may be, your customers like distributors, broadcasters or streaming services.

The course will also cover the key areas of the legal knowledge needed to create confidence in the individual when negotiating the terms and conditions of various contracts.

Venue Location:

Impact Hub Vienna
Lindengasse 56
1070
Vienna

Application Deadline:

30 April 2024

Course Outline

Participants will come away with practical knowledge, confidence and understanding of the various business and legal aspects of film & TV contracts and their negotiation.

It is designed to follow the lifecycle of a Film/TV project. The following areas are covered:

The Development Phase

Comprising agreements with scriptwriters, head writers and showrunners, acquisition of rights in underlying material like novels through Option and Literary Purchase Agreements as well as the clearance of life story rights for bio-pics or documentaries;

The Production Phase

Comprising cast and crew agreements, especially with directors, the dos and don’ts when negotiating with domestic and foreign agents, pay or play mechanisms, dealing with members of US guilds like SAG, DGA or WGA, as well as the aspects of right clearance, title reports and script clearance;

The Financing and Exploitation Phase

Covering the basic structures of film financing comprising single source financing for commissioned productions and production services agreements for streaming services, as well as the multi-source financing through a combination of sales and distribution agreements, pre-sales, public funding like subsidies, private equity and co-financing, until the dos and don’ts of international co-production and the relevant regulatory framework like the European Convention on Co-Production, bilateral treaties and the possibilities of supranational funding by Eurimages and the EU Media Programme. This segment covers also topics like cash flow management through discounting and loan agreements with banks, the necessities of completion bonds and collection account management structures.

Fees

Early Bird Rate:

€1,350.00

VAT excluded.

Until March 15th, 2024

Regular Course Fee:

€1,500.00

VAT excluded.

The fee will cover the 5-day training programme, full seminar catering (lunch + coffee breaks) and networking dinners. Fees do not cover travel or accommodation. A list of recommended hotels and guesthouses will be shared with successful participants within walking distance of our venue.

If you have any questions about this course, content or fees, please email office@screeninstitute.eu

Who’s it for?

We would be selecting approximately 15-20 participants, all of whom should have 2+ years experience and is aimed at those working in:

  • Producers of film and TV. It will be most beneficial to producers who are on their third or fourth feature;
  • Junior executives at a national or worldwide streamer or network broadcaster;
  • Acquisitions executives in a sales or distribution company;
  • Entry-level finance and legal executives in a private or public funding outfit.

The Institute is aiming for gender parity, so strongly encourages female teams. We are keen to promote equality across all its training programmes with a focus on inclusivity across gender, abilities, ethnicity and socio-economic status.

Course Directors

Kai May

Kai May

Course Director - Business & Legal Affairs | 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 Lawyer and Partner | Unverzagt Rechtsanwaltwälte

Kai May’s expertise stems from 15 years of experience in the film industry as a managing director/CEO of film production companies. His area of practice, therefore, covers not only the legal but also the business aspects of film and tv productions and other media and entertainment products. He advices national and international clients on the full life cycle of audio-visual content (film, TV, OTT) from rights acquisition, through the stages of development, financing, structuring and (co-) production, until exploitation and distribution, including the evaluation of film libraries and the improvement of revenue streams. He is also a lecturer at Film University Babelsberg. Kai is Lawyer and Partner at Unverzagt Rechtsanwaltwälte.

Maria-Christine Rieder

Maria-Christine Rieder

Honorary Member of the International Screen Institute / Course Director - Business & Legal Affairs | 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 Lawyer | Terra Mater Studios

Maria-Christine has been managing all legal and business aspects of audio-visual content (film, TV, format), ranging from development (including rights acquisition) to financial structuring, (co-)production, to distribution of over 400 hours of media content. She has been the interface to talent, producers, broadcasters, major studios, streamers etc.

In her previous role as the Head of Legal and Business Affairs Content Sales International at ORF Enterprise she was responsible for ORF and third-party content distribution contracts, applying her acquired knowledge from working at copyright law firms in Munich and Vienna and her postgraduate studies. Maria-Christine is currently Head of Legal at Terra Mater Studios.

SPEAKERS

2025 speakers to be announced soon!

Past speakers include:

Stéphanie Berland

Stéphanie Berland

Speaker - Business and Legal Affairs | 2023, 2024 Lawyer and Partner | Steering Legal

Stéphanie Berland is a French qualified lawyer with 20 years’ experience in entertainment, media and communication law, intellectual property and technology law and data protection both in counselling and litigation. Stéphanie heads the IP-IT / Data & Media Department of STEERING LEGAL, a multidisciplinary French law firm with offices in France and abroad (UAE, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Niger). She graduated from HEC Paris Grande Ecole Program (2000) and holds a Master’s degree in Business Law & Tax from Pantheon-Sorbonne University (Paris 1).

Willemijn de Best

Willemijn de Best

Speaker - Business and Legal Affairs | 2023, 2024 Director of Commercial and Legal Affairs | Fintage House

Graduated with a Master Degree in Contract Law at Leiden University and studied IP Law, Competition Law, Copyright Law and Media Law in Berlin.
She did a stint with RTL – Europe’s second-largest TV, radio, and production company. Within her current role at Fintage she has over 15 years’ experience in negotiating Collection Account Management agreements for film and television projects, dealing with a variety of legal issues, from KYC related topics to the specifics of dealing with the US guilds. Furthermore, she is maintaining relationships with clients including Film funds such Eurimages and the BFI and the US guilds.

Stephan Mallmann

Stephan Mallmann

Speaker - Business and Legal Affairs | 2023, 2024 Freelance Consultant

Stephan Mallmann entered the film industry in 1989. Key roles included Financial Controller at Constantin Film in Munich, before joining Jeremy Thomas’ Recorded Picture Company in London in 1994 and becoming a founding shareholder of its sister company, Hanway Films, in 1998. He served as C.O.O. of both companies until 2012. Since then, he has been acting as an independent consultant/associate producer, working with filmmakers such as Wim Wenders (e.g. “PINA”, “Anselm”) or Rupert Everett (“The Happy Prince”), as well as on a number of high-end animation features.

Mark Byrne

Mark Byrne

Speaker - Business and Legal Affairs, Market Ready: Fiction | 2023, 2024 Group Head of Business Affairs | Element Pictures Ltd

Mark Byrne has been Group Head of Business Affairs at Element Pictures since 2012. Current films include the Academy Award winning Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures/ Film4), written by Tony McNamara and starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, which won the Golden Lion in Venice and Best Picture Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes and four Academy Awards including Best Actress. Prior to joining Element Pictures, Mark spent 6 years with the Irish Film Board as Head of Legal Affairs. Mark is also a member of BAFTA and the European Film Academy.

Christos Michaels

Christos Michaels

Speaker - Business and Legal Affairs | 2023, 2024 Head of Film and Partner | Lee & Thompson Film and Television Group

Christos specialises in all aspects of production, financing and distribution of film and TV, with a particular focus on complex multi-party structured arrangements and studio/streamer deals. His diverse list of clients includes award-winning producers, innovative financiers and industry leading sales agents. The legal directories Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 rank Christos as a leader in his field. Clients describe him as “an excellent lawyer” who is “very well connected in the industry”.

Andrea Schütte

Andrea Schütte

Speaker - Business and Legal Affairs | 2024 Founder and Producer | Tamtam Film

Andrea Schütte has several academic degrees, including one in film production. She worked as a producer at X Filme in Berlin for seven years before founding Tamtam Film in Hamburg 12 years ago. The company produces award-winning fiction and documentary content and is committed to sustainability, equality, diversity and fairness. Andrea is a jury member for the German Federal Cultural Fund (BKM), a former board member of the German Producers’ Association and a lecturer. She was recently appointed Head of Production Studies at the Hamburg Media School.

Charlotte Lund Thomsen

Charlotte Lund Thomsen

Speaker - Business and Legal Affairs | 2023, 2024 IP Legal and Policy Council | Charlotte Lund Thomsen IP Legal & Policy Advice

Charlotte advises clients in the film and audiovisual sector on international, EU and national copyright and regulatory matters. Following her law degree from the University of Copenhagen, she interned with the European Commission, practiced EU competition law in Brussels, and headed the International Video Federation. She maintains a strong personal interest in and passion for filmmaking, including as a member of the European Film Academy.

Our Alumnis

Scholarships

Thanks to Creative Europe Funding, ISI has partial scholarship support available for participants who wish to attend this course from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

If you are not from a Low Capacity Country and can give us a good reason that you are in need of financial assistance and your national screen agency does not fund training in principle, please contact us before submitting your application to discuss whether you can apply for financial support. We have very limited funds available for a limited number of participants in genuine need.

For working parents who have childcare responsibilities, we have a childcare bursary available and a bursary for participants who need extra assistance due to disability or impairment available.

Financial Support

We actively encourage participants to research and apply for financial support with your national/regional funding bodies first who may have bursaries and grants to cover training and professional development.

Please ask the MEDIA Desk in your country if there are any funding opportunities available. Kindly inform us if you apply to a national or regional fund.

We are currently reviewing all the national funds available in Europe. Below are a few examples:

Financial Support

Booking terms and conditions for participants

If you are unable to attend the International Screen Institute course due to (certified) health reasons (e.g. Covid infection), please contact our office. We will consider alternative possibilities for your participation and if no option is suitable, we will allow you to use the payment you have made against the next edition of the course. If you are unable to attend the International Screen Institute course due to any other reasons, please contact our office as soon as you become aware of your impossibility to attend. Depending on the time of your notice, and on the costs we have incurred in connection with your booking, we may not be able to refund part or all of your participation fee. Your case will be dealt with on an individual basis. We reserve the right to cancel or postpone a course if circumstances require it. In this case, your participation fee will be transferred to the rescheduled dates. If you are unable to attend rescheduled courses, you will be entitled to a full refund. If you have any questions about the programme, the application form or financial support needed to attend this course, please email office@screeninstitute.eu

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