Can We Not Make a Stand?

Rep thoughts from an anonymous crew member

I am a full-time on-set crew member, and I have worked in New Zealand film and television since 1991. In this time, I have seen the position of crew rep and the attitudes regarding crew representation change noticeably. The first feature I worked on hit a snag regarding the quality of food provided to the crew and the amount of time between meal breaks. A hungry crew is, of course, an unhappy crew. Within two days of the problem arising, an unpaid lunchtime meeting was scheduled that the whole crew attended, and the various issues were discussed. It was promptly dealt with. In retrospect, the issues seem relatively simple, and the crew rep (a sound recordist and long-time member of the Guild) quickly and clearly brought the concerns of the crew forward, and the onus fell on production to act or risk a walk-off. This way of doing things, although not ideal, brought a resolution and allowed the production to continue the shoot and create another great New Zealand film. The position of crew rep was never in doubt, and even before principal photography began, all the crew knew who was representing them and who to bring concerns or questions to.

Now let’s move on to a big-budget World War II movie with big-name Hollywood actors that I recently worked on. My job requires me to be on set ‘in the thick of it’ at all times, and I witnessed or heard of infringements to The Blue Book on a daily basis from many different crew across most departments. Unfortunately, there was no one willing to step forward as crew rep on this job, so when any individual problems arose, there was no avenue of resolution for the crew. Even when problems were big enough to affect the whole crew (over seven hours between meals, dodgy contracts, etc.), nobody stood up to speak for a couple of simple reasons. Firstly, we all worked such long hours that everybody was exhausted, and there were already so many issues to tackle that being crew rep was a daunting and time-consuming position. Secondly, most crew felt that being crew rep would threaten future employment with producers that ‘brought in the big jobs.’ It was an unpleasant working environment, and thank goodness it was such a great crew, or it really could’ve gotten ugly!

Personally, I can’t see any way around the problem of crew representation when nobody wants to stand up, with the possible exception of a Guild representative who is paid by production (yeah right!) to keep an eye on things. Hopefully, bigger jobs won’t mean fewer rights for New Zealand crews in the future.

Also, for goodness' sake, when will we all unionise?

Yours truly,

Written by a proud Kiwi crew member remaining anonymous due to concerns about being shunned by the producers who ‘bring in the big jobs’!