Guild Advocacy and Updates
Kia Ora All,
And welcome to 2018, well the third month of 2018. I hope everyone had a well-deserved break and if you stayed in NZ enjoyed time basking in some of that glorious weather and avoided the other weather extremes. If like me you love the heat, you would have been in heaven. It is times like these that remind us that we live in such a glorious country, Godzone.
Over the break I snuck into the office and took the quiet time to catch up on some much overdue office housekeeping. With all the changes last year, time left to do this was in short supply. There is still some tweaking to do and this will continue for some time, website improvements, dealing with various domain upgrades, and ensuring the new name and logo is put in place with the many organisations we have dealt with over the years. If you see something on our websites that refers to NZFVTG or see our old logo pop up where the new name and logo should be, do let me know and I will get onto it. As much as we have tried to do this, we are talking about 30 years of backtracking, so it may take many sharp eyes to spot.
First up this year and always on the Guild’s administration agenda was following up on Guild promotion. As we launched around the country, I was asked on several occasions whether the Guild had some form of handout to give to potential new members. With a new name and branding, this went immediately onto my “to do” list. Serendipitously, at the same time the question was brought up at the November Auckland Branch Meeting and Steve King (Auckland Branch Secretary) took the task on and moved with it and has created a business-sized “calling card.” If you are interested in doing some promotion for the Guild and would like some of these cards to hand out, let me know and I will have some sent to you.
The most effective way to drive Guild membership is through existing members. As a non-profit organisation, you as members own the Guild and will always be its greatest advocate. I can run the Guild, advertise, field calls, solve and mediate issues, etc. from the office, but the ultimate influence and push comes from you as members on the coalface. This is where issues arise. Crew are very quick to refer to and quote the Blue Book, and more often than not this is coming from non-members. So as members, these are your opportunities to explain the necessity of being a member, why we have a Blue Book to quote, and why, without a sustainable membership, we would have no Blue Book and it would be every man for themselves.
So coming from the coalface in the past week, an old and ongoing issue that continues to raise its ugly head is production companies changing terms and conditions of their contracts after conditions were agreed upon according to the Blue Book and after work has begun. It is the accepted practice in the NZ Screen Industry for all crew and productions to work to the Blue Book standard terms and conditions for the engagement of crew as agreed between the NZ Screen Industry Guild, SPADA and the NZ Advertising Producers Group (NZAPG) unless there has been prior discussion.
The Blue Book is that standard contract. The purpose of this agreed document was that it was written in good faith to avoid having to renegotiate with every crew member on every single contract. As an independent contractor, how many of you have ever had to negotiate all your terms and conditions, work hours, lunch breaks, overtime, etc., etc.? I would hazard a guess, very few, because the Blue Book has done this for both you and the production company.
If you were a plumber, electrician or builder you would have had to negotiate and quote for your work as an independent contractor on every individual job. As an independent Screen Industry contractor, you do not have to do this because you have the Blue Book. With this in mind, unless there is a discussion to deviate from the Blue Book guidelines prior to starting your job, or you have negotiated a separate ‘independent contractors’ agreement, which you are entitled to do, the production company cannot change the terms and conditions once the job has begun.
There will always be those difficult jobs where conditions require an adjustment to the standard practices, and crew will generally adapt and accept reasonable requests. But out of courtesy to you as crew, producers must have these discussions prior to work beginning so that you can make an informed call as to whether you accept the change from standard practice and ultimately the job.
You might even be wise to let the productions know on any communication before the production begins that unless discussed, you are working to Blue Book guidelines. This is stating your written contractual position. If you use the diary service Filmcrews Ltd, they also state on all written communication to producers that crew work to standard Blue Book guidelines, so do not be bullied in the middle of a job, where on most occasions you will be working flat out to meet deadlines, weather, and schedules, and not in a mindset to start renegotiating a contract that in theory was agreed to when you began work. The contract is agreed upfront!
Another issue of significance that came to our attention early this year was that of a production who was shooting unauthorised on public land. This particular scenario came to my attention via Screen Auckland as they dealt with the fallout of an overseas production who shot without permission or permits in a public place, potentially creating risk not only to crew but also to the public whilst additionally damaging the land. The situation ended up involving the police and there was potential for trespass notices to be issued. I use plural on the word “notices” as each individual crew member was in line to be issued a Trespass Notice, not just the production company.
Under the new WorkSafe legislation, and as an independent contractor, crew are classified as a PCBU, (a Person Conducting Business Enterprise), so you have independent responsibility. The action being shot posed an enormous risk to the public. Fortunately, the situation was tempered with some careful negotiations with the Police, but it was a situation that should never have arisen. Ultimately, the end responsibility would have fallen back on the production company’s shoulders but only after each crew member had proved that they had made all reasonable efforts to ensure that they had checked that they were legitimately allowed to be on the land, which in this case they were not.
I am sure most crew would not want to go down this rabbit hole, so the lesson and advice to take away from this is, as crew, if ever in doubt, check whether you are officially allowed to be on any given location, do not just assume. This was an overseas producer who felt it was their right to just shoot wherever they wanted as they had done this in other countries. Many experienced crew already have a knowledge of land that is regularly used for shooting and a knowledge of what requires permitting and/or permission and the limitations of use, so do not be afraid to express concerns. This job did have experienced crew working on it. As crew in NZ there is an unspoken code that we must act as kaitiaki of our land. It is the responsibility of us all to look after our precious resource.
Also of major significance early 2018 was the government’s work to review the Employment Relations Film Production Work Amendment Bill (aka the Hobbit Law). On the 31st of January, 2018, the Screen Industry Guild was represented by our Vice President, Sioux Macdonald, at the first Film Industry Working Group meeting to discuss the Hobbit Law review. Sioux approached this meeting taking into consideration members’ responses on the question of independent contracting vs. being employees using data from the results taken in the membership survey conducted last year. Those results indicated 80.2% preferred to work as an independent contractor, 4.9% preferred to work as an employee, 12.3% didn’t mind, and 2.5% were not sure and left this question as a blank.
Having been in consultation and working on this since late October 2017, Sioux has a good foundation and has in place clear steps to represent the Guild and its members on their behalf. Additionally, she is in consultation with several Executive Guild members and every response to date has been carefully considered in the best interest of Guild members. Additionally, the Guild has taken consultancy advice on how we should appropriately engage with Government throughout this process. Please understand that at this time she is unable to make comments outside of those who are in the Working Group at the Minister’s request. We will, of course, inform, and request responses from you as the process moves along in the next few months.
Rounding up, I repeat my message from the last issue. For those who are not members of the Screen Industry Guild, please recognise the work we do is for the benefit of technical (below the line) crew with a wider vision for the health of the entire NZ screen industry. The Screen Industry Guild is a non-profit organisation supported by paid-up Guild members and run predominantly by passionate volunteers and the kind koha of professional advisors.
If you take advantage of the “terms and conditions” set out in the Blue Book, a publication created by the Screen Industry Guild, I would ask you to consider whether, as a “non-member,” you are truly entitled to use these guidelines, or as an “independent non-Guild contractor,” you should state upfront to any employing production company that you are not a member of the Guild and would like to discuss your independent non-Guild terms and conditions of employment. If this has given you cause to reconsider your position, you can go to our website and just click on “Join the Guild” to become a member of this very special and necessary organisation.
