1. Under UK law, the copyright of a finished audiovisual work is jointly owned by the director and the producer (usually the production company or broadcaster). In the absence of any other agreement (see #2 below), any act of exploitation (such as a broadcast, repeat or sale to other territories etc) requires permission from both joint owners. 

2. The audiovisual sector operates on the basis that the production company will acquire all the copyright interest in the film/TV programme. As a consequence, the director of an audiovisual work usually assigns their copyright to the production company as part of their contract of engagement. This enables exploitation of the film/TV programme anywhere in the world without needing the permission of the director. The producer (production company) may also assign all its rights to a commissioner (depending on the funding model).

3. The fact that the director is joint owner of the copyright in a TV programme has enabled Directors UK to enter into arrangements with certain UK broadcasters under which they pay Directors UK royalties for the exploitation of certain television programmes which we then distribute to our members (see the Distribution section for more details). This is called the UK Rights Deal.

4. Certain other countries around the world (mostly in Europe and Latin America) also have laws recognising directors of audiovisual works as copyright owners.  In some of these countries collective management organisations (CMOs) are automatically entitled to collect payments for directors for the exploitation of their audiovisual works, even if the director has assigned their copyright to the producer.  This money is then distributed to the individual directors. These schemes can cover audiovisual works made in the UK but shown/ sold abroad in the relevant country. Directors UK collects these payments for UK works directed by our members (see the Distribution section for more details). These are called "statutory" or "equitable remuneration" payments.

5. Finally, as copyright owners, UK directors also have so-called moral rights. These are rights which are intended to safeguard the reputation, integrity and personal connection that an author or creator has with their work. These rights include a right to be identified as the director (the so-called right of attribution) and a right to object to derogatory treatment of a work. The treatment of a work is derogatory if it amounts to distortion or mutilation of the work or is otherwise prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the director. Unfortunately, under UK law although moral rights cannot be assigned or transferred, they can be waived (ie never enforced) and production companies invariably require directors to waive their moral rights in their engagement contracts.  

6. Since moral rights are usually waived, it is important that both the right to a credit and any other other creative rights are dealt with in the contract of engagement.