Guild Updates and Progress

Women in the Guild and putting The Blue Book online

Kia ora all.

Well, six months into 2016 and it has been busy. Out there in the field there is a good amount of steady work for many technicians predominantly in the long-format arena. Commercials have been a little quieter but there have been some small rumblings.

Here at the mother ship things have been equally busy. With so much activity in the long-form format there has been the inevitable overflow of immigration, contract, term and condition enquiries to deal with. Also, the pending changes to WorkSafe legislation created quite a shakeup in the industry. In the lead up to the legislation introduction enquiries were coming in thick and fast, which then continued for a time after. Many of the callers were from individual contractors wanting to clarify their position, but a number of production companies also called in as they geared up for shoots. All this activity stirred up and highlighted a refreshing awareness of safety in our industry and a desire to get it right. Since then, things have settled down with more information and workshops helping to reinforce what this legislation means to us all. I’m personally very proud of the leading role that The Guild played with the setup of ScreenSafe, a subsidiary company of The Guild. ScreenSafe’s key role is to support and promote health and safety for the whole New Zealand screen sector. The positive side from the formation of ScreenSafe is that it acted as a catalyst for unity within the film industry, engaging ongoing involvement from many players who have, in the past, taken a backseat with regard to health and safety. An encouraging change in the landscape.

Another success this year is the completion of The Blue Book review. Publication is still a way off but comprehending The Blue Book committee’s mammoth task of having to comb through every clause and every bit of wording in The Blue Book explains why this process wasn’t achieved overnight. Each clause had to be carefully reviewed and discussed as to what did or didn’t need to be changed. Each of the members involved has done this on a voluntary basis and it could only be done when they had free time to give. To this end I must commend and thank the committee as a whole for their work but in particular Sioux Macdonald and Nick Treacy whose stoic finish-line effort saw this huge task to its conclusion. The next stage has now been actioned with The Blue Book having been placed before a lawyer for review. Thereafter it will be passed to SPADA and the NZAPG for comment. As mentioned there is still a ways to go but the momentum is forward.

Further to The Blue Book, for some time there has been discussion regarding access to it. The thinking behind this being that the more universally accessible _The Blue Book _is, the better the prospect of getting productions (particular overseas productions) to adhere to the terms and conditions contained within. Recently revisited by the Executive Committee, it was decided to make The Blue Book available on our website as a PDF, so this has now been uploaded. The Blue Book is still available in printed form for those who prefer a hardcopy. Online access should additionally make it easier for line producers and production managers to direct – particularly overseas companies who have not worked in New Zealand – to the link.

Fantastic funding news. Over the past three years the Guild had received core funding support from the NZ Film Commission. This came to an end early this year and we had to revisit our needs, plans and future and put together a comprehensive application to re-apply to the Film Commission. Of course this is never a given, as there is only so much money to go around. Over several months earlier this year the skeleton of a proposal was put together by Richard Bluck and myself culminating in a two-day ‘lockdown’ refining the proposal into something we felt happy to present. And I am happy to report that after weeks of anxious waiting we got the call to let us know our hard work had paid off and our application had been successful.

One of the areas that the Film Commission required the Guild to consider was gender diversity. The Guild has a 25% female to 75% male membership split. Bearing in mind the inequality in the screen industry workforce, we believe we can do better, so will be looking at ways to move closer to a more level split that recognises the number of women in the industry which we know to be more than 25%. So, greater female membership is something we would like to encourage. This segues itself into areas of the industry that have traditionally been male dominated. It requires a shift by all in the industry. It is not so much the employment of women, but that women consider roles outside of the traditional female-dominated departments. We know this has been happening, particularly in camera, but the industry is very diverse and the options and opportunities are greater for women than where they traditionally tend to end up.

Finally, something to look out for over the coming months will be a series of branch ‘special’ meetings to vote on a change to the Guild’s name. These meetings’ sole purpose will be to vote on a name change or not. The words ‘film and video’ are being phased out across the board by the words ‘screen industry’. We unfortunately carry both words in our title NZ Film and Video Technicians’ Guild. Some may be happy to keep the name, others may see the merit in a change. So, do look out for your next branch meeting announcement if you want to have your say. We have already been looking at updating the Guild’s website, which by IT measures is a dinosaur. We are aware that, as it stands, it is not very mobile-friendly (this in itself shows its age). It would be apt, that if there is to be a name change, this proceeds a webpage update. So keeping up the momentum of the past six months, it’s gonna be busy busy busy with lots to look forward to and much work to be done!