The Voice of New Zealand Crews

Recently I was asked by President Richard Bluck and Executive Officer Karla Rodgers to help them write a guide to governance for the Screen Industry Guild.

It’s one of those things you know you should have, even if it takes a while to get round to it. Using the constitution as a starting point, the idea is to clearly explain the structure and roles within the Screen Industry Guild, so that everybody involved knows what they have to do, and what they are responsible for. It might be helpful, it might be plain English, but it’s not supposed to be a fun read. Instead, it’s the kind of thing you refer to when you are wondering how to run a meeting properly, or what you are supposed to do if you are elected to a branch committee or the national executive.

An exercise like this gets you thinking about what the guild is built on and what it all means. At least it did for me, and this is my take on it.

Objectives

The Screen Industry Guild exists to represent crews and to give them a collective voice. The constitution spells it out like this:

• To promote the interests, opportunities for employment, welfare and safety of New Zealand crews
• To communicate and represent the interest of members in dealings with employers
• To assist with complaints and problems

There are other objectives as well, namely, promoting professional standards, education, providing a forum, and liaising with kindred organisations. These are important but don’t mean much unless The Screen Industry Guild is seen as the voice of New Zealand crews. Put another way, as the representative body for New Zealand screen crews the Screen Industry Guild needs a mandate to speak on their behalf. With well over 400 members covering three branches in the main production regions, I believe that The Screen Industry Guild has indeed achieved a fair and legitimate mandate to speak on behalf of New Zealand crews. There is geographical coverage too. About two thirds of members belong to the Auckland branch, a little under a quarter belong to the Wellington branch and over 50 members belong to the Queenstown branch. Importantly, members come from all crew departments, with around 40% belonging to camera, lighting, grip and sound, 15% from production, and the rest drawn from roles as diverse as assistant director, art department, locations and all the other roles you see on set, plus post production. The constitutional objective of representing crews and promoting their interests, is a very wide brief. You see it in action during negotiations for the Blue Book, the creation of ScreenSafe, and in the guild’s involvement in the immigration process. Equally you’ll see it in action as we deal with issues on individual film sets.

Nevertheless, The Screen Industry Guild is an incorporated society – a professional organisation – not a trade union. This sounds obvious, but it is important because the legal requirements of an incorporated society are far less restrictive than the special minefield of industrial relations laws that trade unions operate under, which also unhelpfully seem to get amended every time the government changes colour.

In any case it seems to me that trade union philosophy and politics would sit uncomfortably with the freelance nature of the screen industry.

Strength in unity

All the same, there is strength in unity. The Screen Industry Guild’s strength, effectiveness, and legitimacy come from the fact it speaks as a united voice on behalf of members.

The long negotiations to develop the Blue Book are but one example of why a cohesive united voice counts. It would be impossible to effectively negotiate the Blue Book with producers if there were a number of different negotiating positions, or if they sensed a disunity or lack of mandate from The Screen Industry Guild.

On the other hand, inside The Screen Industry Guild there are bound to be members that start from different viewpoints, and at times there might be robust debate before a consensus can be reached, after which the Screen Industry Guild can move forward knowing it has a mandate from crews to proceed.

It is not helpful if that kind of internal debate is aired in the media, and to stay on message is vital, which is why there is a clause in the constitution that prevents speaking to the media unless authorised by the national executive (a power usually delegated to the president and executive officer).

Reaching consensus

The Screen Industry Guild exists to serve members and relies on members’ ideas and input at the branch level, usually at branch meetings. If you don’t come to branch meetings and give your opinion it is assumed that you are happy with the direction of the guild. Of course if you can’t attend the meetings because you are shooting or live miles away – you can always ask someone to speak on your behalf, or contact the branch chair and let them know your views. Sometimes a consensus takes time – for example it took a long time to work through the idea of changing the name to the more inclusive Screen Industry Guild which went through last year (and saw significant growth since then).

National executive

With input from members, the national executive develops the overall Screen Industry Guild priorities, positions, and policies that guide the guild’s activities at the national level. Feeding grass roots sentiments up to the national executive shouldn’t be too difficult, as each branch committee elects two members to sit on the national executive. This means if a branch comes up with a brilliant idea, their representatives take it to the national executive, where it will hopefully garner support from the other branches. If the brilliant idea is a project that needs money, remember the national executive ultimately controls the purse strings through the annual budget and approval of any significant project expenditure.

Convenience

Speaking as the legitimate voice of New Zealand crews is a convenient time saver for producers, government agencies and anyone else who wants to consult or negotiate with the majority of ordinary people who work in the screen production industry. Instead of going out and asking dozens of individuals what they think or trying to negotiate something with a whole lot of differing points of view, all they have to do is ask the Screen Industry Guild and they’ve got it in one. To be fair, the Screen Industry Guild doesn’t attempt to overstretch its mandate by speaking on behalf of specialist topics in specialist areas with their own guilds. Indeed the constitution requires that the Screen Industry Guild cooperates with kindred organisations like cinematographers, stunties, or for that matter, Women in Film and Television. The editors and directors are also a notable in that they have their own self-contained guild. Nevertheless, the Screen Industry Guild successes like the Blue Book and ScreenSafe underpin the whole production sector, including non-members.

New Zealand crews

The guild objectives are about New Zealand crews. As the official representative of New Zealand crews, the guild advises the New Zealand Immigration Service when they are considering applications from overseas crew for temporary work visas. It does this through issuing a letter of non-objection – or not, as the case may be. A letter of non-objection from the Screen Industry Guild carries a lot of weight, and smooths the path for overseas crews work visas, while the risk of an objection to a visa from the Screen Industry Guild can make things difficult. New Zealand line producers generally understand what is likely to be acceptable, but other times the Screen Industry Guild, in line with its objectives and its mandate, negotiates a solution in the interests of New Zealand crews. This invariably means striking a balance where enough key people are bought in so that the production is not deterred from coming here, while New Zealand crews get to fill the maximum number of crew positions.

Members

It’s all very well having a guide to governance for The Screen Industry Guild, but it is all a bit theoretical unless members play their part. So an important part of the guide was thinking about what members themselves should do – even if you can’t get to all the meetings. Here’s what the guide suggests you should do to help build a strong guild and get the most value out of your membership:

• Insist on being engaged under the terms of the Blue Book
• Insist on safe work practices consistent with ScreenSafe
• Support professionalism and ethical standards
• Advise the Screen Industry Guild of cases where unethical, abusive, unsafe or unfair behaviour occurs in the industry
• Refrain from media comment on guild matters, (unless a designated guild spokesperson)
• Play an active role in guild activities
• Attend branch meetings and the AGM and actively make you opinions known
• Read and support NZTECHO magazine
• Take advantage of member benefits and discounts
• Respond to surveys requests for information and feedback
• Attend networking and educational events
• Publicly support the Screen Industries Guild and encourage non-members to join
• Consider standing for a branch committee

To read or download the Screen Industry Guild governance guide, log in to the website at www.screenguild.co.nz and search for governance.