Director and founder of Telly Monsters Limited. A business affairs consultancy offering flexible, creative and collaborative solutions and advice to help producers make great telly.

This role involved advising television production teams from development through to broadcast and onward distribution. This included negotiating development and commissioning agreements with broadcasters, contributor agreements, talent and presenter agreements, commercial deals, and access and location agreements. I additionally advised productions on rights, clearance, and libel matters (including advising on compliance with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and broadcaster policies and viewing cuts of programmes for compliance).

Reporting to the General Counsel I had primary responsibility for all content related legal issues across EMEA, including providing legal advice to television, digital and commercial productions and providing editorial pre-publication and post-publication advice. I was an escalation point for complex compliance decisions (including dealing with Ofcom complaints and investigations) and for the rights and clearances team (which involved undertaking risk assessments, assisting junior members of the legal team with drafting, and formulating responses to contributor complaints). I was responsible for negotiating and drafting presenter and talent agreements, development and commissioning agreements and co-production agreements. In addition, I had overall responsibility for implementing best practice amongst the production and editorial teams and as such I drafted template releases and policies and ran training sessions on the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, as well as on general legal issues relating to television productions.

In this role I undertook the full range of legal and business affairs activities for the Renegade Pictures UK business, including drafting and advising on agreements for the development of programmes, format agreements, contributor agreements, presenter agreements, access agreements, location agreements, as well as production and co-production agreements. Additionally I negotiated distribution agreements for the exploitation of ancillary rights, advised productions on rights issues, advised on broadcaster's terms of trade and the availability of rights, negotiated and advised on production financing arrangements, and on clearance issues and compliance and libel matters (including advising on compliance with the OFCOM Broadcasting Code and broadcaster policies and viewing cuts of programmes to advise on OFCOM compliance).

In this role I provided legal advice including drafting and negotiating agreements for the CEMA team in relation to linear and / or non-linear television programme sales, channel licensing, format licensing, corporate and operational matters (including managing risk and ensuring first class corporate governance), national and international regulatory matters, broadcast technology matters, ad sales, rights management, programme acquisitions, commissions, co-productions, productions, live events, marketing, PR, and creative matters.

BBC Rights, Legal and Business Affairs - Comedy and Entertainment ProductionI advised on legal and business affairs matters relating to the production of programmes including copyright, editorial policy compliance and insurance. I also drafted and negotiated production contracts including contracts relating to talent, locations, clips, commissioning, development, and live events. I worked closely with the production teams for Strictly Come Dancing, Tumble and the Invictus Games.BBC Rights Legal and Business Affairs - Central LegalI drafted template agreements for use by the genre teams, provided general legal advice regarding rights issues, worked across litigious matters (in particular relating to Doctor Who), and created and delivered a contract law training course for RLBA staff in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow. Olswang Employment Law - SecondeeI reviewed ET1 forms and prepared ET3 forms, amended employee handbooks, drafted articles for the UKSC blog, completed legal research, produced bundles, drafted service contracts, assisted with preparing client seminars, reviewed DSAR files, and drafted dismissal letters and compromise agreements.BBC Worldwide - Digital Media and TechnologyI advised on legal matters relating to apps, games, social media, competitions, and websites for brands such as Doctor Who, Cbeebies, BBC Earth and Walking with Dinosaurs. Additionally, I drafted digital development and publishing agreements, trade mark licenses, and commissioning agreements.

I provided strategic legal advice to the BBC Worldwide Channels business including; drafting and negotiating international commercial agreements such as; programme acquisitions, channel licenses, travel distribution (prime responsibility), marketing and PR, production, commissioning and broadcast operations. Additional responsibilities included dealing with regulatory and policy issues for television content and channel broadcasting (including acting as the principal Ofcom contact and assisting with ATVOD appeals).

I supported two Associates and one Assistant in the trade marks department by; proofreading trade mark class specifications, running online trade mark registration and company registration checks, basic drafting, bundling documents, checking exhibits, and liaising with the UKIPO and OHIM. I expanded my position to undertake various duties previously reserved for trainees, such as legal research, and reporting opt-in notifications and basic UKIPO and OHIM correspondence to clients.

I managed the “legal delivery” of all film titles by liaising directly with film producers, assessing legal documents (such as chain of title to ensure the valid grant of rights), and reviewing music cue sheets and music licenses. I also had responsibility for the contract management of the film catalogue, liaised with production companies, sales agents, distributors and various licensees regarding exploitation of rights, liaised with the court over contentious matters, and assisted with company commercial matters such as drafting and circulating board resolutions and company mandates, setting up corporate bank accounts, facilitating stock transfers, dealing with Companies House and assisting with human resources.