Dear DFC Members, Allies and Supporters,
Read on for more info regarding:
1) Advance notice of the DFC’s first ever members’ meeting in December
2) The DFC’s submission to the parliamentary inquiry
3) An urgent call to address abuse in the documentary industry
4) A request for a pro bono Membership Officer
5) Newly published code of practice resources.
Save the date for our first members’ meeting
The first DFC members’ meeting will take place online from 7-8.30pm on Wednesday 13 December. More details and an agenda will be announced soon but the event will include an update from the DFC’s leadership team and board and will include plenty of time for the membership to meet one another and ask questions and suggest ideas as we prepare to begin the DFC’s first three-year term in January 2024. We look forward to seeing you soon!
DFC submission to inquiry on British Film and High-end TV
Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey and helped shape our submission to the DCMS inquiry. The DFC’s twelve-page submission is now available in the resources section on our website. This provided a major opportunity to represent the independent documentary sector to government and develop our argument regarding the sector’s needs. Please take the time to read our submission. We hope to be invited to give verbal evidence based on the submission and your feedback will be invaluable in helping us make the argument for more support for UK independent documentary.
We Must Address Abuse in the Documentary Industry
This week, our close friend and colleague at The Whickers, Jane Mote shared via the IDA and during an event organised by DAE at IDFA, stories of filmmakers abused, harassed and taken advantage of by the very people supposed to be supporting them, in an attempt to break the culture of silence around abuse within our industry.
Alongside other partner organisations, including those above, the DFC will be part of the next phase of solution planning. We implore you to join us and others in a debate about how we can safeguard those in our community. If you would like to share your own story in confidence or talk to us about your concerns or solutions, please write to Jane Mote (jane@beechtobeach.com) or Emily Copley (emily@documentaryfilmcouncil.co.uk).
Read the full IDA article here
Pro bono Membership Officer
As a new co-op, the DFC is receiving business advice from Co-ops UK, which recently recommended that we put out a call for a pro bono Memberships Officer who could be seconded to us from another more established organisation. That organisation need not necessarily be from our sector (but obviously the more familiarity with documentary and/or the screen industries the better) and the secondment could be for just a day a week for a few months. A pro bono secondment of this nature would be enormously helpful until we can raise the funds to hire someone on a more permanent basis. If you or someone you know could be interested in helping with this, please contact Emily at emily@documentaryfilmcouncil.co.uk.
Brand new code of practice on using copyright materials in documentary film
Last but not least, we want to draw your attention to a major publication (and two associated events) on documentary filmmakers’ use of copyright materials. The Code of Best Practices on Creative Reuse for Documentary Filmmakers is specifically tailored to UK (and Dutch) copyright law and is designed to raise filmmakers’ awareness of the opportunities to legally reuse content without having to secure permission. The creation of the Code was one of the recommendations in the Making it Real report (see 7.2) so we’re delighted to be able to share it here and want to congratulate its authors, Bartolomeo Meletti and Stef van Gompel, on what will prove to be an extremely valuable resource for our community (available now in the Resources section of the DFC website).
There are two forthcoming events associated with the Code:
- CREATe Public Lecture by Richard Misek: Getty Images: copyright hawk or corporate copyleftist? (Glasgow, 20 November at 5.30pm)
The lecture is based on Richard’s film A History of the World According to Getty Images and will address, among other things, one of the issues we discussed at the workshops: how commercial archives like Getty claim ownership on materials that are in the public domain. Register here.
- Can I really use this? Copyright exceptions for filmmakers (Christchurch, 21 November at 2pm)
This is a half day event with an amazing line up of speakers who will also discuss the Code of Best Practices we co-created. It will include the screening of Charlie Shackleton’s The Afterlight. Register here.
If you haven’t already done so, please help build the DFC: upgrade your membership to become a full voting member (it’s only £24 per year!) or invite your friends and colleagues to join.
You can also donate below to help us build the future of UK documentary together.
In co-operation,
DFC Leadership Team
