Mint & Co

10/10/2024

It's World Mental Health day today and we hope everyone can take some time for themselves today, from the daily grind, to do something nourishing. As you may have spotted, we launched Mindful Mint and our wellbeing & personal development programme in 2023, for our team. We also recently extended this to several clients and partners as a trial for a/w 2024, to extend some of the goodness to our wider community. Today we have a Vagus Nerve Breathwork session with the lovely Yoga team!

The vagus nerve is so key to our mental health and becoming more widely recognised as an incredibly important focus in terms of nervous system and emotional regulation. This nerve is like a 'super nerve'! It runs from the brain through the face, thorax lungs, heart to the abdomen. It's part of our parasympathetic nervous system which regulates stress, and it also helps regulate taste, speech, blood pressure, digestion, mood and a myriad of other bodily functions. If we have poor vagal tone we will experience more stress and other physical symptoms. Stimulating the vagus nerve helps to bring the body back to a state of 'rest and digest', reduces inflammation, and also helps us to become more resilient to stress of all kinds.

Breathwork is one way to do this, and we love the total feeling of invigoration and relaxation after one of Yeh Yoga's breathwork sessions! Here are some other tips to take care of the vagus nerve:
https://www.charliehealth.com/post/vagus-nerve-exercises

25/07/2024

We're delighted see see our clients Audio Always, Jon Holmes, Novel and Rethink Audio all nominated in the British Podcast Awards - congratulations to everyone on their teams!

23/07/2024

"It's just a fantastic service."

We recently asked our clients to complete a questionnaire about how they find working with us, we do this every 6 months. It was great to see our values being reflected back to us, and that our clients appreciate the very things about our service that we work hard to provide! We also received some really good suggestions about new things we can bring into our offering, which we're working on behind the scenes.

Some of the comments we received from clients were;

"- Flexible, women-led.
- The flexibility of your approach to the services you offer, the expertise.
- Flexible, supportive.
- Bespoke, friendly approach to our business.
- Engagement, interest, promptness.
- Friendly, accessible, not too expensive!
- Friendly and supportive approach to working.
- The speed not just of response but of solution."

And congrats to Andy Glynn at Mosaic Films, who won the randomly selected prize for submitting the questionnaire (in the highly professionally shot video attached!) and chose to receive John Lewis vouchers :-)

04/07/2024

This week, Mint & Co teamed up with client , and partner law firm, Russells solicitors, to deliver a free seminar on AI Tools for Content Creators. The seminar focused on two areas; the tools themselves (showcasing several across the lifecycle of a project from development to post production) and the legal and practical risks and implications around the use of AI tools. It was a fantastic session and we've had some great feedback already (one attendee said "This was a fantastic presentation, by far the best I've joined!").

After a brief introduction by Mint & Co's CEO & Founder Nicola, The Connected Set gave us a whistle stop tour of Chat GPT, Claude and 4.0 showcasing creation of format ideas for a specific platform using clear prompts and references, how to coach yourself in pitching by using the character of an existing person you admire, a look at Midjourney in discord creating images of studios in different styles, the use of AI in post-production (including Adobe Firefly, Autopod and QuickTune), project planning and scheduling, and a look at video generation tool Sora - which has yet to be released to the public.

Then we heard from legal & business affairs specialists Laura Hammond (from Mint & Co) and Alex Cole and Henry Priestley (from Russells). Laura talked through the origin of AI tools and where material is sourced from, liability and rights positions (as between the AI tool platform and the producer and then producer and commissioning entity), advice from industry insurance brokers and Pact, and broadcasters’ positions in use of AI tools. She presented an example clause created by Mint & Co that results in practical risk reduction.
Alex and Henry presented on current and proposed laws and regulations around AI, case law, performers' rights, data protection, confidentiality and practical risk analysis of using these tools).

It was a fascinating seminar on a subject that is changing the production landscape for the entire industry and moving at lightening speed. If you have any questions in these areas, we’d love to chat. And if you are looking for training on these tools and others like them, do get in touch with @ The Connected Set.

We’ll be releasing another Industry Insight soon on the regulatory and risk landscape for AI. If you'd like to be added to the Mint & Co mailing list to receive notifications of our future seminars, industry news and Mint updates, please email [email protected]

25/06/2024

Lawyer wellbeing and freedom, work-life harmony, and a friendly, supportive and caring community for consultants has been Mint's big 'WHY' for existing, so it's been lovely to hear the following feedback from our team questionnaire recently, reflecting our ethos and values back to us!...

- “The respect, care and consideration that's given to the consultants."
- "The Flexible working and ability to have balance in life."
- "The work is interesting and varied."
- "The honesty, openness and kindness of all the members of the team."
- "Supportive and friendly."
- "Friendliness, the feedback from clients about Mint being positive.”

We really value having such a brilliant team!

12/06/2024

It was lovely to see so many industry professionals attend our two free seminars this week and last week.
Last Tuesday, Mint & Co Legal & Business Affairs Consultant Sarah Leach and Commercial Consultant Luci Sanan spoke about how to maximise your exploitation opportunities and create new revenue streams, including through digital, social and brand-funded content, as well as how to negotiate favourable rights positions from the outset of a project. Feedback from attendees has been wonderful!

We are running these seminars as part of our commitment to help the industry survive and thrive; our next free seminar will be on July 1st in partnership with The Connected Set and Russells, covering AI tools for content creators - if you'd like to attend please email [email protected]

16/05/2024

Sarah and I spent a lovely few hours at Buckingham Palace yesterday afternoon care of AudioUK's invite to the creative industries garden party!

We had a conversation with the Duke of Edinburgh, chatted to some lovely people in the audio industry, spotted a few celebs and enjoyed the baby ducklings in the palace gardens.

14/05/2024

It may be mental health awareness week, but for us, it’s so important that we’ve woven well-being and personal development into the fabric of Mint & Co. We’ve done this via our annual programme of coaching and well-being sessions, as well as mental health first aider training. A few notes from Nicola, our founder and CEO and Maisy, our Client & Talent Relationship Manager;

Nicola
I posted here at the start of 2023 to announce the start of Mindful Mint, which is now in its second year. It’s been an experimental journey, working out what the team are interested in and most need, offering probably more than people can attend and seeing where it leads! I don’t have all the answers yet, but I do know that well-being and personal development are at the heart of what helps us stay grounded and balanced in this crazy dance called life. I also know that not enough organisations in the legal sector are investing in it for their people. Mint & Co is a place to come for work, yes, but there are plenty of places and platforms to find work. It’s also a friendly and team-oriented community to join, somewhere to belong, to find work life balance, and to be nurtured and developed. And that feels crucially important to us.

Maisy
It's a privilege to be Mint & Co's Mental Health First Aider. I'm also an EMCC EIA Accredited Senior Practitioner Leadership and Life Coach and the skills from both enable me to support and provide a listening ear for the team whenever they might need it. This year and last I've run some fun and collaborative sessions: we had goal setting at the start of the year, learning more about how we self sabotage coming up soon, and creating positive interactions in the summer as well as organising mental health group check-in opportunities with the team.

09/05/2024

Mint Collective consultants Laura Hammond and Sarah Leach will be speaking at the Podcast Show two weeks today! They'll be on the Creator Stage at 12.30pm on Thursday 23rd May, ready to answer all your burning questions on legal & business affairs matters, so please come along if you have anything you'd like to ask!

https://ow.ly/VI3550RzsxS

08/05/2024

It was the ARIAs last night, and we are so proud of all our clients who won awards!

Reduced Listening won Bronze in Best News Coverage (for "Pod Save the UK"), Unusual won Silver in the Comedy Award ("The Skewer") AND Unusual's Jon Holmes was awarded Gold for Best Factual Single Programme (File on. 4"Generation Shame"), Almost Tangible won Bronze in Best Drama AND the Creative Innovation Award ("Hamlet Noir"), and Audio Always won Gold in the Best Commercial Partnerships ("A Place to Call Home") AND Bronze for the Impact Award (" Different: Nicky Campbell").

It is such an honour to work with all these talented, creative companies, and it is wonderful to see their hard work being so deservedly celebrated!

22/03/2024

RIGHTS AND EXPLOITATION OPPORTUNITIES - INDUSTRY SURVEY

We are inviting our TV community (scripted/unscripted/all genres) to take this short survey (opens in Google Forms). The aim is to assess whether you are making the most of your programming IP and exploitation opportunities, or whether there could be further scope to generate other income streams for your business.

By filling out the survey, you will gain access to an exploratory 15 minute call with one of our brilliant, specialist Rights consultants in the team!

Rights and Exploitation Opportunities Survey: https://forms.gle/zypJKJhzNvdD4pJMA

By completing the questionnaire and providing your email address you agree to be contacted by Mint & Co from time to time with Industry Insights (specialist industry know-how shared monthly) and occasional marketing communications. You may unsubscribe at any point by clicking the link in the first email.

We will collate the data we receive from the survey, and you will receive the results of our findings across the industry in terms of the questions raised in this study. If you prefer not to be contacted by us, please do not complete the survey. A copy of your responses will be emailed to the address that you provide.

08/03/2024

AI and potential applications for in-house legal teams

Talk about AI tools for improving efficiency in business is everywhere and legal teams of any significant size will be getting on that train too! It's been on the agenda of clients' planning/strategy meetings with two key initial practical applications that will be available for in-house teams notably;

- using AI to do the first steps of contract review. By teaching the AI what a client’s standard contractual requirements are and "feeding it" its templates, AI could be used to carry out a first review, flagging the points from a 3rd party issued contract or redline of an issued template, that don't align with a client’s standard expectations and getting the AI to flag and categorise issues for human review based on importance.

- using AI for preparing presentations, guidance notes etc. It's often difficult to get started on these ancillary tasks and carve out the necessary time, especially when the day to day is busy with contract reviews and urgent business matters. It's often less overwhelming and time consuming to review, edit & adapt a document rather than face a blank page, so AI could help by preparing a first version of a talk/presentation for a human to review. Once the content of the presentation is finalised, AI can help to jazz it up, make it simpler and more engaging. For example, AI could be used to turn a written presentation into an animated video of the presentation's key points.

Many are only at the early stages of looking into the options available in the market for AI targeted to legal teams and it will take a while for a client’s IT team to do all the relevant checks and approve the use of any selected AI - which reflects valid concerns around IT security, confidentiality, data & copyright protection issues - but change is on its way!

Bloomberg recently released a report on AI as it applies to the legal profession, if you're interested in the subject:

In-house counsel are at the forefront of companies’ efforts to address how to engage with emerging artificial intelligence technologies, how to benefit from them, and how to defend against the many legal pitfalls they can create. This interactive special report from Bloomberg Law provides practica...

08/03/2024

This year's International Women's Day is centred around "Inspiring Inclusion". Since Mint & Co's inception, this concept has been at the core of our DNA in terms of lawyers - including working mothers - having true flexibility, genuine work-life balance and autonomy to design their work lives around their commitments.

I started Mint & Co when my daughter was 2 years old, in a 4 day a week in-house role with fairly 'standard' hours for an in house legal team. I enjoyed my job and colleagues, but felt sad about missing 4 bedtimes a week and whole days with other people looking after my child so that I could support our family. Prior to that, my time in a law firm (albeit positive in many other ways) fell very short of what I'd hoped for in terms of a fair work/life balance, and I could not imagine myself being a partner there. I couldn't see a female role model I aspired to. Female partners that stayed the course were having to outsource all home support. Legal workplaces with traditional ways of working are still losing working-mother talent in big numbers, for obvious reasons. Even in a post-covid world there are still many barriers to a working mothers' ability to manage both a career and family.

Mint & Co are passionate about providing a work-life that's truly flexible, without hierarchy or politics or the need to be in an office - work can be suited to the consultants' diaries and lives. We feel lucky to be able to provide an inclusive environment not just for the benefit of women and working mothers but for all people who want the freedom to design a work-life that truly works for them. We also support the team with a full wellbeing and personal development programme. We really hope to keep growing Mint & Co over the years with people who share these same values and to see more change in the industry in this direction.

07/03/2024

Happy World Book Day!
We love this annual celebration of authors, illustrators, books and the joy of reading, helping children (and adults) focus on reading for pleasure and celebrating books. At Mint & Co we've had the honour of working with World Book Day over the last year, helping with participation agreements, IP queries, licensing, publisher agreements, royalty provisions and much more. It's a pleasure to be able to work on such a wonderful cause, and helping World Book Day to change lives through a love of books and reading!

08/02/2024

It's the 2024 Broadcast Awards tonight - best of luck to all the nominees, and it's wonderful to see our friends Gold Wala nominated in the Best Pre-School Programme category for "What In Your Bag?", which we loved working on!

See who made this year's Broadcast Awards Shortlist

25/01/2024

From June 2023 Mint & Co partnered with TRC Media to provide training covering all aspects of legal and business affairs for commissioning agreements, co-development and co-production agreements, production contracts, copyrights and clearances, compliance, and rights exploitation.

This wonderful feedback emphasises how useful and worthwhile it is for us to be able to share our teams' skills and knowledge.

If you'd like to learn more about training or find out how we can help any aspect of media & entertainment legal and business affairs, email our Client & Consultant Relationship Manager, Maisy, at [email protected]

20/12/2023

MINDFUL MINT

We've had a brilliant start to our brand new mindful mint wellbeing & personal development programme in 2023. We had a host of workshops from coaches, therapists, mindfulness experts, GP's & sound healers/yoga/breathwork leaders; all designed to help us improve the quality of our inner and outer worlds, deepening our connection and communication in relationship to others, clients, each other, and ourselves.

We'd love to share what some of our consultants have said about various sessions;
- "I appreciate being offered the opportunity to focus on myself & my development"
- "Really enjoying the sessions so far - a good variety and no pressure to attend if unable."
- "[I'm] more mindful of how I organise my calendar/more realistic expectations of what is achievable in a day."
- "I’ve found [the] sessions helpful, in particular the latest one which offers an interesting & practical approach to the sometimes nebulous concept of “self compassion”!"
- "We acquire lots of tools and skills to master with our work, but it’s all too easy to ignore the toolkit for yourself. [Course leader] introduces some easy & thoughtful ways to recharge & refocus, useful at any time."

We're really excited to look forward to 2024's programme, which, after our team's valuable feedback, will feature a few additional sessions, around parenting, nutrition, sleep health, relationships and peri/menopause. Helping our team improve the quality of their holistic '360 degree' lives as well as their working lives, feels so important to us at Mint.

If you are interested in discussing the mindful mint programme with us for your own team/s, we'd love to arrange a chat! We're on a mission in 2024 to spread positive change more widely & improve the wellbeing and personal development of even more individuals and teams throughout the industry. We can tailor our programme to your specific needs and budget. Email [email protected] to arrange an introductory exploration call with Nicola & Maisy.

15/12/2023

Wishing you a very happy festive season from Mint & Co!

We've had a wonderful year, working on some really exciting programming as well as launching our 'mindful mint' wellbeing and personal development initiative for the Mint Collective consultants. We've taken on some fantastic new clients as well as strengthened our relationships with existing ones and feel truly grateful to work with such a fantastic variety of creative minds. We're conscious this has not been the easiest of years for some in the production sector and we have all our fingers crossed for a return to more growth next year.

This year we made donations to the following charities, nominated by and voted for by the Mint Collective:

AgeUK: The leading charity for older people.

Alzheimer's Society: A care and research charity for people with dementia and their carers.

Bright Futures: Supporting children & young people back into education after long term illness.

MacMillan: Providing specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer.

May you enjoy a restful break with good food & company over the festive period.

Please note our operating hours over the Christmas and New Year period: we will be closed between the 22nd December 2023 and 3rd January 2024 inclusive.

Wishing you peace, joy & prosperity for 2024.

15/12/2023

We had a great time, and really enjoyed the opportunity to do these workshops for TRC's members!

28/11/2023

It was the Audio Production Awards last week, and our clients have once again pulled in a stellar haul of gongs of all colours! Massive congratulations to:

Best New Producer:
Audio Always (Gold) and Reduced Listening (Silver)

Best Factual Producer:
Overcoat Media (Silver)

Best Drama & Fiction Producer:
Afónica (Gold)

Best Music Producer:
Reduced Listening (Gold)

Best Comedy Producer:
Unusual (Bronze)

Best News & Current Affairs Producer:
Reduced Listening (Bronze)

Best Sports Producer:
Audio Always (Silver)

Production Company of the Year:
Overcoat Media (Gold)

16/11/2023

We've been doing some super interesting work the last few years on immersive projects at Mint & Co, focusing on AR/VR apps, exhibitions and experiences. We've been advising various clients on how to maximise commercial opportunities on existing projects, and crafting the commercial terms (including exclusivity, rights, revenue splits) for new projects; enabling our clients to retain maximum IP and rights in their projects. We've worked on a whole myriad of contracts too, from co-development and co-production agreements, funding agreements, talent and freelancer agreements to compliance advice and clearances.

In particular, we've been recently been working on a large project (over £5million) funded by DCMS, involving 6 other partners, including global media and technology brands. In other projects (involving large tech and entertainment brands (Meta, Apple, Disney), we've been advising on rights and receipts structures.

If you have an immersive project you'd like commercial affairs advice or legal and business affairs advice on, please email [email protected] and visit www.mintandco.co to find out more! We'd love to have a chat with you.

14/11/2023

Last week, our fantastic client, Novel, released their latest podcast, "ODB: A Son Unique"; it's the story of Old Dirty Bastard, magnetic secret weapon of the WuTang Clan and hip hop hall-of-famer.
https://ow.ly/OV6450Q7k19

This was a really rewarding, meaty project to get our teeth into, and our consultants Sarah, Clare, Henriette, Laura and Kirsty did over 30 hours of work helping Novel bring it from concept to completion. Our involvement included;
*negotiating talent, contributor and location agreements
* liaising between contributors, Novel and NBC
*advising on contributor consent queries
*checking and amending composer agreements to be fully compliant
*advising and negotiating the PSA; and
*licensing and rights advice around photography and other imagery usage.

We're delighted to have helped Novel bring this fantastic programme to fruition, it's a brilliant listen!

13/11/2023

Voting's nearly closed for the 2023 Televisual Bulldog Awards, and we're thrilled that once again some of our clients are in the running! Fingers crossed for ITV Studios, Blink Industries, Whisper, Red Bull Studios and Candour Productions, we can't wait for the results to be announced next month!

13/11/2023

The 2023 Grierson Awards for recognising and celebrating British and International documentaries took place last week, and we're delighted that Red Bull's The Real Mo Farah, on which we worked, took home the award for Best Sports Documentary - massive congratulations!

02/11/2023

Last week, our friends at AudioUK announced the shortlists for the Audio Production Awards 2023 - we are thrilled to see so many of our clients nominated, as well as AudioUK members to whom we've provided legal and business affairs advice. Big congratulations to Granny Eats Wolf, Audio Always, Whistledown Productions, Reduced Listening, Unusual Productions, Afonica, Overcoat Media, Novel, Rhubarb Rhubarb, Belle Media, Prison Radio and Loftus Media!

https://ow.ly/Pxzs50Q3q75