As with the other pages in this section, what this one says is about freelances hired in for your production, not about the staff of the BBC who may be working on your production.

These are not areas that are governed by industry agreements except to the very limited extent mentioned in this brief guide. Each area of the BBC has its own policies and practices, and you should seek the advice of the Business Affairs team in the genre programme group or Nation/Region for which you are making your programme.

Nevertheless, the following general advice may be helpful. Always remember that your business relationship with

contributors of all kinds, however minimal their contribution may be, needs to be recorded in writing, and in a form that is legally enforceable.

You must also remember that presenters, reporters, voice-over artists and other such contributors to your programme — including, even, people you interview for the programme — may generate copyright in any words of their own that they say, and performers’ rights in their rendition of any scripted material (voice-over commentary, for example). For more detail about these rights, see the Managing the Idea section of these pages.