Hoskins, McFadyen and Finn and Parc identify the drawbacks of international co-production: co-production agreements will come into play when the project is developed and in the financing and production phase. At this stage, it is very important that co-producers define in writing the terms of their agreement and cover issues such as production roles and responsibilities, budgets, finances and rights. If further work is carried out as part of the co-development process, the agreement should confirm who owns the rights to this work. If co-producers share the costs of commissioning other work, make sure that rights become when co-development/production ends. Co-producers often agree that the rights remain with the producer who initiated the project, but with the obligation for that producer to reimburse the costs of the other co-producer. To take advantage of these profits in England, film companies would create production companies using the necessary quantities of British technicians and actors to qualify as British Productions to use Eady Levy. Baltruschat introduces the concepts of „official“ and „unofficial“ co-productions that can be distinguished by the absence of a formal intergovernmental agreement. [10] In the United Kingdom, access to film tax relief (and tax credits) for co-productions implies a request to the UK Film Council `UKFC` certification body to authorise production as a qualified British film for co-production. This is done either as part of one of the UK`s specific co-production contracts with other countries (for example. B Canada, France and Australia), or as part of the European film co-production agreement, which covers a number of European countries. The main issues that UKFC will take into account are the respective financial and creative contributions of the parties and the local expenditure generated by production in their region of origin. It is also important to determine at an early stage the responsibilities and rewards that co-production will have for each co-producer. Even if the financial plan and budget are not yet ready, it is at least important to reach an agreement in principle: it is better to know earlier if your impression of what you are doing and that you are being paid corresponds to that of your co-production partner.
The agreement should also look at the use of these rights and indicate which of the co-producers has the final say on the ordering of distributors and salespeople. Co-producers should cooperate as part of the production distribution strategy, particularly in their own areas, where they are probably best placed to provide advice.