Guild's Positive Developments

Spring behind the scenes

Kia ora all, I’m feeling so happy to deliver good news in this issue. Guild funding, new member benefits, membership increases and immigration applications turned back at the border!

First positive news. As funding in any sector gets tougher and tighter I was thrilled to recently receive a call from the **New Zealand Film Commission **to let us know that the Guild has been successful in our application for funding under the Professional Training Partnership Programme for 2012.

With such a broad range of skills within the Guilds’ membership the challenge was to create an application to the Film Commission that would be geared towards all our members developing all our skills, and we nailed it! Although dates and venues are yet to be decided we have been funded for four workshops to be held in each Guild region: Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown. There will be a charge to non-Guild members but to Guild members the workshops will be entirely free.

On a second positive note. Fuel – going up by the minute and as important to our daily working life as food. The Guild has secured a well-timed fuel deal with FnF Fuels. On application all Guild members will get 6.5 cents off petrol and 8.5 off diesel (off the Auckland zone price). So no more mucking around with supermarket vouchers. **But there’s more **– additional benefits to the fuelcard will include great discounts with Bunnings, Repco, Noel Leeming, Office Max, Ideal Electrical, Mastertrade, Protector, Safety and Carters. The cost of savings on the fuel alone will literally cover the cost of annual Guild membership – so why wouldn’t you be in the Guild?

Onto the third positive note. We recently secured with **Mediaweb, **publishers of Onfilm and The Data Book, free yearly subscriptions to Onfilm magazine for all Guild members… and there’s steak knives… each Guild member will also receive their own free hard copy of The Data Book.

Moving on, fourth positive note. Over the past six months our membership has been steadily rising. Often the phrase coined is ‘but what does the Guild do for me?’ The answers are satirically put in the ‘Non-Guild Membership Card’ published in this issue (see page 19). Ironically, it is often the non-Guild members who are first to complain when lunch isn’t on time. Time to flash the Non-Guild Membership Card!

On that note: What we do do. In recent months, the Guild has worked very hard as changes in the immigration laws start to have an impact – and they are. We have heard of technicians booked and confirmed on jobs of less than 14 days dropped in favour of no better-qualified overseas technicians. Also, we watch closely the companies who have applied for Industry Accreditation, as rumblings appear to be surfacing of how that system is being used or possibly abused.

With the April 28 change in policy due for review in September 2013, I am working with the other Guilds to document as many cases as possible in readiness. Unfortunately, Immigration New Zealand have removed the ability for the Guilds (in fact anyone) to monitor who is and who is not coming into the country to work in the screen industry, so we will be relying somewhat on you, as crew, to let us know (in confidence) of situations which you believe to be impacting on the jobs of local crew.

Having had to bring the tone down a little with the immigration issues, I end on a relative** fifth positive note.** Recently the Guild did in fact object to a case being processed through Immigration and an immigration lawyer, and we won – protecting positions for local crew as DOP, co-coordinator and editor. So I do hope those positions end up going to Guild members who have secured the right to those positions, which without the Guild, would not have been possible