1. By Richard Coackley
Legal issues
Clearances
Before you can distribute and screen your film in public you’ll need to ensure that everything is
‘cleared’. This means that you have written permission to use everything that appears in your film.
This includes things such as: logos, brand names, images and music. It is best to get clearances
before you shoot your film so that if they say no you can just change the ‘prop’ rather than re‐filming
after you have placed them in the film.
Legal
If you are filming on public land then you will need the full backing of the local authority or council,
as they are responsible for any public land. If you are using any pyrotechnics, public highway, public
roads, explosives or fire arms (including replicas). The police will close down the local area when
using these so that the public are kept out of harm’s way. You will need permission to portray
uniformed police officers or police vehicles.
ASA
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all
media. They apply the Advertising Codes, which are written by the Committees of Advertising
Practice. Their work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action
against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements.
BBFC
The BBFC are the British Board of Classification they set the age rating for all the films and live TV
that are shown in the UK. They also set the age rating for the any games that come in to the UK and
they have the power remove anything that breeches their guidelines and if they find anyone illegally
selling any media that is illegal they then have the power to convict them to a criminal prosecution.