The Power of Guild Membership

At times I know many of you wonder why you are part of the Techos’ Guild. So often over the years I’ve heard people question what the Guild does for them, and I’m inclined to respond with the famous line from US President John F Kennedy’s inauguration address, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

We, the members, are the Guild and it’s what we do within the Guild that makes it work for us as ‘techos’ and for the whole industry. The Blue Book and the Safety Code of Practice have not come about by chance, and although we all know The Blue Book ‘guidelines’ are broken more often than they should be, we do still have a say in the way we work.

On an off-shore shoot here late last year, when crew were asked to do overtime an American HOD commented, “you get asked if you want to do overtime.” Personally, I’ve always considered that to be a basic courtesy. There should be no presumption of overtime as we already work long enough working days in our business. I have witnessed crew saying “no” to overtime, but it has always been for realistic reasons. They may have already done quite a lot of overtime that week or have felt they’ve been messed around by some bad decisions which have led to the apparent need for overtime. Sometimes it’s simply the last day of the shooting week and people have other arrangements.

We all have a responsibility towards ensuring safe and sensible work practices, and the Techos’ Guild is an intrinsic part of that. But we should remember that the Guild is not simply Karla in an office and Carolyn working on the magazine (currently the only hardcopy magazine our industry produces), or the national executive and the branch committee members, rather it is all of us. Imagine how we could be taken advantage of without the group strength of the Guild to mind our backs. We are the Guild, you are the Guild.

Note the way the various industry guilds got together last year and lobbied a reluctant government over the screen production incentive scheme. Some individuals came to the fore, but those individuals were representing the various areas of the industry, and all who I saw speak up were representatives of various industry organisations including the Techos’ Guild.

So don’t just sit back and appreciate what the Techos’ Guild has achieved over the years, think about how you can contribute to the ongoing work of the Guild.

By the time you’re reading this rave, we will have held a series of film safety workshops. Hopefully, many of you will have attended one of these workshops. My hope is that these workshops will stimulate ongoing discussion within our industry because we do need to be updating our_ Safety Code of Practice_ as soon as possible.

The media made a bit of an issue about Geoff Murphy’s recent comments to an audience at Massey University when he was receiving an honorary doctorate. Geoff said something about Peter Jackson’s influence overshadowing our industry and that consequently, our local production is suffering. Most of us feel the whole industry, big and little, has been suffering for quite some time. I don’t see any more money going into little local films, but we do now have a boosted incentive scheme for larger productions, which makes sense under a government which obviously favours big business. Of course, the big business side of our industry has been and continues to be of huge support to our little local production industry. It has helped establish world-class technical resources, skills and experience. And let’s not forget that Sir Peter’s Park Road Post facilities are regularly given freely in the service of low-budget local filmmaking, as is the case with many of us, our time and resources.

Renowned cinematographer Gordon Willis died recently aged 82. I mention his passing because he was very influential in his field with beautiful innovative work, such as Woody Allen’s Manhattan and Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather films. Although he never won an Oscar, the Academy did give him an honorary lifetime achievement award in 2009.

As Karla has already noted, I will be standing down from the position of national president come this year’s AGM. This means I’ll be taking over the role of immediate past president from David Madigan. I figure it’s about time David had a rest from official duties; he’s been a stalwart for many, many years.

Albol