Services / Documentary
Documentary
We advise documentary producers from development through financing, production, delivery and distribution, on feature documentaries, documentary series and factual programs for broadcasters and streamers.
Documentaries carry their own legal risks: real people, real events, archival material and sensitive stories. We help you manage them from the start, so the project can be financed, insured and delivered.
Talk to us
Tell us about your project, and we’ll talk you through how we can help.
How we help
- Life story rights, access and participant agreements
- Interviewee, appearance and location releases
- Defamation review and comprehensive defamation clearance for documentary, reality and fact-based projects
- Footage, archival and music licence agreements
- Chain of title documents and opinion letters for financiers and broadcasters
- Financing, packaging and Producer Offset applications
- Co-production and co-development agreements
- Broadcaster, streamer and screen agency agreements
- Production legal for documentary series
- Distribution and sales agency agreements
- Advice on using AI in documentaries
When to call us
- You are securing access to a person, organisation or story
- You are filming interviews, or using archival footage or music
- Your documentary names or depicts real people and needs a defamation review before broadcast
- You are raising finance or applying for the Producer Offset
- You are delivering to a broadcaster, streamer or distributor
Selected work
- Matildas: The World at Our FeetWaltzing Productions & Barking Mad Productions · Disney+ · legal & business affairs
- Inside the Sydney Opera HouseFremantle & Barking Mad Productions · ABC
- Shipwreck Hunters AustraliaBarking Mad Productions · National Geographic
- First Nations UnitedBarking Mad Productions · NITV
- Save This RhinoThis Film Studio · National Geographic
- The Madness of MaxKennedy Miller Mitchell
- Birth Time: The DocumentaryExecutive producer
- Facing MonstersVeerhuis Pictures
Common questions
What does a pre-broadcast defamation review involve?
We review the cut, script or treatment for statements that identify a person and could damage their reputation, assess the available defences such as truth, honest opinion and public interest, and suggest changes so the program can go to air with the risk managed. Broadcasters and E&O insurers usually expect this before delivery.
Do I need releases from everyone who appears?
Generally you need signed releases from interviewees and identifiable participants, and location releases where you film on private property. Broadcasters and E&O insurers will ask to see them. We prepare releases to suit the project and advise where a release isn’t practical.
Can a documentary claim the Producer Offset?
Yes. Documentaries that pass the significant Australian content test can claim the Producer Offset at 30% of qualifying Australian production expenditure, subject to minimum spend thresholds. We help assess eligibility and structure the project for a claim.
Can we use generative AI in a documentary?
It depends on the project and on what your financiers and broadcaster require. Documentaries about real people, projects using archival material or First Nations stories, and productions on sensitive subjects may be better served by keeping generative AI out of the creative process. We can help you set a policy before production starts.