When a producer receives funding for production expenses, the funding is contingent upon the producer completing the production in its entirety. The reasoning behind this requirement is threefold: (i) during the production phase, the producer will secure all of the elements (e.g., footage, releases, etc.) necessary to complete the production (put it “in the can”); (ii) the producer has secured or is in the process of securing any funding necessary to complete the production; and (iii) Vision Maker Media is funding the production at a key stage and must protect its investment by requiring completion and delivery of the production as a condition of full funding. This is a non-negotiable term. The producer may use Vision Maker Media funds to cover both production and post-production activities, so long as such expenses are included in the budget. The producer is not precluded from seeking additional completion funding from Vision Maker Media.

As a funder of public television productions, producers must provide Vision Maker Media with exclusive public television rights to secure its interest in/rights to the program – this right guarantees that the program will be available exclusively for public television broadcast. CPB also requires that Vision Maker Media secure the exclusive public television rights to protect its (and CPB’s) financial investment. Vision Maker Media’s funding of a program, presentation rights, and exclusive public television rights will not preclude funding from ITVS, CPB, PBS or other public television sources generally, the agreements of subsequent funders will reflect that Vision Maker Media holds the exclusive public television rights. Furthermore, if a producer has already contractually assigned the exclusive public television rights to another entity like ITVS prior to seeking Vision Maker Media funding (and provides a copy of the signed contract), Vision Maker Media will amend its agreement to reflect the rights held by ITVS or the other public telecommunications entity.

E&O insurance should be secured after completion of the production but before distribution of the production. The E&O policy should cover intended distributions of the production (e.g., to the home video market), and it must cover the broadcast of the production over public television (with Vision Maker Media and CPB being additional named insureds). A copy of the E&O insurance binder is now required as a final deliverable prior to the making of the final payment under any funding agreement or acquisition. If the producer intends to distribute the production in other markets (e.g., film festivals, DVD), or the Vision Maker Media member also acquires additional distribution rights (e.g., podcasting), the methods must be covered by the E&O policy.

Whether or not a fiscal agent is required is at Vision Maker Media’s discretion. It is advisable to require a reputable fiscal agent for a “first time” producer, multiple producers co-producing a project without an umbrella corporation or for a producer who has a history of producing for TV, but has difficulty keeping accurate financial books and records. Fiscal agents generally take a percentage “off the top” to administer a production. Vision Maker Media recommends a cap of no more than 10% be allowed for a fiscal agent of a public television production.

As a funder and distributor, Vision Maker Media is uniquely positioned to distribute its funded productions into markets beyond public television. Vision Maker Media has developed contacts and distribution channels that are difficult for any one producer to duplicate. Whether or not Vision Maker Media secures such rights is negotiable, particularly in instances where the producer has already “pre-sold” ancillary rights to pay for production costs or where the producer’s ability to secure such rights (e.g., paying step-ups, residuals or additional licensing fees) for ancillary markets is cost-prohibitive.

Vision Maker Media is not only a funder, presenter and distributor of public television programs, but it oversees the use of funds allocated to it by CPB. As such, an automatic reversion of rights might not be in its best interests, those of CPB or the public broadcasting community. In certain states, the automatic reversion might also run afoul of state laws or impose tax or other financial obligations on the Vision Maker Media member and/or the producer. Vision Maker Media is open to discussing and negotiating a reversion of rights on a case-by-case basis, subject to CPB’s approval. This is a CPB required term and is not negotiable.

In order to facilitate financial reporting and audit requirements, to limit any co-mingling of funds with general business/other production funds, and to comply with industry and accounting standards, Vision Maker Media requires that producers establish a separate bank account/production.

For non-commercial public television broadcasts, most music is covered for use under a compulsory license and voluntary licenses negotiated by PBS for publishing and sync rights. Producers must submit music cue sheets to Vision Maker Media/PBS, which then makes payments to the music publishers, Harry Fox, etc. for use of the music in a public television broadcast. It is important to note that not all music is covered for broadcast (e.g., dramatic rights) and producers must directly secure music rights for other distributions of their production (e.g., home video). The distribution of programming over the Internet poses a new set of challenges and requirements for music rights. In certain instances (e.g., streaming), music rights may be covered under the existing PBS agreements, but no legal opinion has been issued to confirm this. Additionally, other distributions of a Program (e.g., home videos) are not covered under the compulsory or voluntary licenses and producers must clear music rights for the Program to be distributed in such markets.