Happy Holidays

With the festive season approaching, it seems a good time to take a look at the treatment of public holidays for screen production professionals as recommended by_ The Blue Book._

The Blue Book is essentially an accord between producers and crew that sets out reasonable and balanced working conditions for the screen production industry. It’s all about good faith on both sides.

The subject of public holidays can bring out some fairly entrenched opinions. Some might argue that we work in a 365-day industry so why should contractors and companies charge extra for working on any of these days? Others might wonder why screen production crew members are treated as second-class citizens compared to professionals in other industries. The holiday entitlement dilemma is underlined on Anzac Day or Queen’s Birthday, for example, when the production office finds outside suppliers are on holiday and unavailable.

Most societies have a number of days each year that, for various reasons, are declared public holidays. While the reasons to mark these days may have blurred, it is generally accepted that they are ‘days of rest’ when a majority of the population are not required to work. They are days to spend time with family and friends, and to celebrate all sorts of things (such as marching against trade unions on Labour Day!)

Employees are granted certain rights regarding public holidays by the Holidays Act 2003. This Act specifies which days are ‘statutory’, or legally required holidays for employees. There are 11 statutory holidays in New Zealand, about the middle of the pack by international standards. Consider moving to India, China, Japan or Egypt if you want more public holidays throughout the year.

The other main requirements of the Holidays Act are that employees are paid a penalty of at least T1.5 for working on a public holiday, and if it is a normal workday, then they also get a day off in lieu.

There is no law that covers public holidays for contractors; however, the screen production industry does have an industry accord in the form of The Blue Book, which sets out reasonable workplace conditions and guidelines for engagement. The Blue Book lists six relevant public holidays for the screen production industry: these are Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Waitangi Day, Easter Friday, Easter Monday and Labour Day.

The penalty payment for working on a public holiday is nominally one extra hour of pay (at the agreed hourly rate) for each hour worked. This is negotiable, meaning a producer may ask for a lower rate, or crew might ask for a higher rate.

The Blue Book public holiday penalty payment is in addition to any overtime or turnaround penalty payments incurred on that day. For example, if you work on a public holiday and end up doing overtime, your pay entitlements for the day should be as follows:

_1 to 10 hours at T2 _

11th and 12th hours at T2.5

_ 13th hour onwards at T3._

The public holiday penalty payment is not supposed to be a goldmine for crew, but rather is designed to encourage producers and crew to observe the public holiday where possible.

If you are booked to work on a screen industry public holiday, you should confirm the penalty rate with the producer before you commence work to avoid any confusion.

So what happened to the other five public holidays celebrated by employees in other industries? When The Blue Book was last negotiated, Boxing Day and New Year’s Holiday (the day after New Year) were deemed academic, in that hardly anyone in screen production ever worked them (although those working in outside broadcast might dispute this). On the other hand, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are often work days for documentary and broadcast crews and so the penalty rate is justified. The regional anniversary holidays were not seen as significant and possibly punitive to productions shooting outside of their home region. Historically, there had been no agreement from producers with respect to Anzac Day or Queen’s Birthday and, as they hadn’t been included in earlier Blue Books, they were left out.

Public holidays can become interesting for productions using international crew, particularly those from North America, who are commonly engaged as employees and have binding union contracts. An example of this was The Last Samurai. The production was obliged to observe ‘Presidents Day’ on 17 February due to the US crew and actors’ contracts, and the production faced significant penalties if the day was worked. The production also wished to observe Waitangi Day, on 6 February. The solution at the time was to ask the New Zealand crew to shift their Waitangi holiday entitlement to 17 February.

Every now and then, screen industry workers really do lose out. The Christmas and New Year holidays this season fall on weekends and employees have their statutory holidays transferred to the following Monday and Tuesday. Anyone in prep for shoots early in the next New Year (2011) can be brought back to work on 3 and 4 January 2011 while most of the country is still on holiday.

A word of caution: if you are being engaged as a contractor and the contract mentions ’statutory holidays’ rather than ‘screen industry public holidays’, you can be sure it has been written by someone who doesn’t understand legal basics as applied to the screen production industry. Take care to read the remainder of the contract carefully!

Finally, do make sure you take a holiday over this Christmas and New Year period. 2011 is shaping up to be a busy year for crew and we all need to get away from the business for a week or two over summer….enjoy!