Film and TV Briefing: Friday 18 March 2022
Welcome to this week’s round-up of news, commentary and industry announcements that you may have missed from the past week.
If you are looking for advice in relation to any of the issues mentioned, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
In the news
Winners of the 2022 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)
Stream of resignations from Russia's state-run TV following Marina Ovsyannikova protest (BBC)
HBO Max and Discovery Plus to become single streaming platform after merger (ScreenDaily)
Winners of the 27th Critics Choice Awards (Critics Choice Association)
Amazon closes $8.45bn acquisition of MGM (Financial Times)
Marvel condemns Florida’s ‘Don’t’ Say Gay’ bill following Disney apology (The Guardian)
Latest Diamond Diversity Report reveals ‘lack of progress’, particularly in senior-level TV roles (Bectu)
Netflix launches new test in a bid to address password-sharing behaviour (Variety)
Arnold Schwarzenegger urges Russian people to reject Kremlin misinformation (Deadline)
NHS worker to debut first film, made for under £5,000, at the Glasgow Film Festival (BBC)
Study finds that male roles in film outweigh female roles by almost 2 to 1 (Variety)
Features and commentary
Jane Campion and other Oscars hopefuls: Can poorly chosen words cost prizes? (The Guardian)
Variety’s view of the Amazon-MGM deal and what might be in store for the film studio (Variety)
A look-back at the programmes that got the UK through the pandemic (The Guardian)
Industry announcements
Pact to introduce changes to their Levy fees from 1 April 2022 (Pact)
'Five Films for Freedom’, the digital showcase of LGBTQIA+ films, returns for its 8th year (BFI)
The WGGB announces ‘New Play Commission Scheme’ to support writers post-Covid (WGGB)
Resources
Bectu releases new guidance on fertility issues at work in unscripted TV (Bectu)
The Film and TV Charity launches toolkit offering mental health guidance (Film and TV Charity)
Legal updates
Pact guidance on bullying and harassment in the workplace (Pact)
Simkins’ Nick Eziefula examines key principles in recent high-profile music copyright claims (Simkins)
