In the affidavit IPO National Chairperson, Marc Schwinges, states, "e-TV's conduct in the present matter is contrary to the ethical standards of the film and television production industry in South Africa. To undermine the role of independent producers by circumventing them and directly contracting with their staff following successful development of a production goes directly against prevailing industry norms and practices."
The IPO began to publicly rally in support of the court case lodged by Morula Pictures and Endemol South Africa against the broadcaster e-TV on Friday 15 March 2002, by providing the industry affidavit for their case.
On the same day Morula Pictures and Endemol South Africa served e-TV with a letter of demand regarding the conflict over the rights of the daily series Backstage. On Monday the 18th of March papers were served to e-TV's lawyers calling the broadcaster to high court action. These actions were taken after a lot of consultation and were seen as the last resort by the producers after it became clear that negotiations with e-TV had failed.
e-TV is attempting to relocate the series to Johannesburg where they intend for it to be produced by a different production company, in addition all new contracts with the Backstage Crew appear to have been initiated by e-TV directly.
The opinion of the IPO is that currently broadcasters are in a position to effectively dictate the terms and conditions of trade and to behave independently of competitors, customers or suppliers - in essence they have a monopoly. There is a need for greater fairness and equity in the commissioning and renewal of production agreements.
The IPO sees this as a fundamentally important case for all independent producers as it will impact the nature of independent production in South Africa, and will be detrimental to independent producers in all negotiations with broadcasters in the future.
While the case builds in a court case in Pretoria this month, the IPO continues to lobby for a change in the fundamental relationship between broadcasters and the independent production sector. A relationship that currently sees the broadcaster viewing the independent producer as almost an employee of their organisation.
The IPO is the largest, most active and most representative producers organisation in South Africa. It aims "To unite independent producers towards the common goals of transforming a historically divided industry and promoting the common interests of all producers, so building a vibrant and dynamic industry".
