The new terms have been officially accepted and the dangerous culture of excessive hours is finally being addressed. This outcome is entirely down to the 775 of you who refused to stay silent about the risks we face on set. I am honestly stunned by what we achieved together and …
August 13, 2021
Final supporters
The existing APA agreement is failing to protect the safety of the freelance workforce upon which it relies, through the normalising of excessive and unsustainable hours.
Unreasonably long shooting days, paid for with the health, safely and welfare of crew, are entirely contrary to the BECTU commitment to promote “work that enables people to live fulfilled and healthy lives, unharmed by workplace risks, is good for them and their families and promotes health equality.”
Clearly 16, 18 or even 20-hour scheduled days are incompatible with being able to return home from work in good health and without injury. We have all lost colleagues and friends in traffic and other accidents, simply due to exhaustion.
As freelancers we are not able to choose when we work and generally cannot afford to decide not to work. As such it is paramount that the working hours that are expected are reasonable, safe and sustainable. This benefits productions as well as the people working on them.
The new terms suggested below are therefore designed to make dangerously long hours prohibitively expensive and shorter shooting days LESS expensive to a production:
1) return to the Basic Daily Rate based on a pro-rata 8 hour shooting day
2) Continuous Working Day based on a 7 hour shooting day
3) First two hours of OT at double hourly rate
4) Next four hours of OT at triple hourly rate
5) Any day going beyond 14 hrs billed as another day on top of the above
6) Saturdays at 1.5x the above
7) Sundays at 2x the above
This is not an attempt to negotiate more money for crew but to end the increasingly common and dangerous practice of squeezing two shooting days into one, purely for financial gain.
By removing the incentive to shoot excessively long days, we can save lives.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
May 25, 2021
May 24, 2021
I logged on this morning to see 100 names on this list and I am truly blown away by your response. It was never my intention to lead something like this, but seeing all of you come together shows that this issue belongs to everyone.
Reached 100 supporters
May 21, 2021
106 Comments
I myself nearly fell asleep at the wheel on more than one occassion after long shoots. I was pulled over both times for “drunk driving,” which the cops soon realized was exhaustion. This is a legitimate problem that must be fixed.
Anything to stop dangerous working hours for crew. I have already lost a good friend the location manager Ben Hopkins possibly due to long hours on a job
Studies have shown that people who work more than 55 hours a week are 35% more likely to suffer a stroke . We are regularly expected to work 70-80 hours a week. Enough said
To echo other sentiment on here. It’s not a shakedown for more cash. It’s about increasing the penalties to create a culture where agencies won’t insist scheduling jobs unrealistically resulting in horrendous hours
It’s not right, that when working for multinationals with strict working conditions for their employees the same rules don’t apply to subcontracted production crews.
We want safe working environments, which means enough rest and sleep.
I am In.
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The new terms have been officially accepted and the dangerous culture of excessive hours is finally being addressed. This outcome is entirely down to the 775 of you who refused to stay silent about the risks we face on set. I am honestly stunned by what we achieved together and …
August 13, 2021
Final supporters
The existing APA agreement is failing to protect the safety of the freelance workforce upon which it relies, through the normalising of excessive and unsustainable hours.
Unreasonably long shooting days, paid for with the health, safely and welfare of crew, are entirely contrary to the BECTU commitment to promote “work that enables people to live fulfilled and healthy lives, unharmed by workplace risks, is good for them and their families and promotes health equality.”
Clearly 16, 18 or even 20-hour scheduled days are incompatible with being able to return home from work in good health and without injury. We have all lost colleagues and friends in traffic and other accidents, simply due to exhaustion.
As freelancers we are not able to choose when we work and generally cannot afford to decide not to work. As such it is paramount that the working hours that are expected are reasonable, safe and sustainable. This benefits productions as well as the people working on them.
The new terms suggested below are therefore designed to make dangerously long hours prohibitively expensive and shorter shooting days LESS expensive to a production:
1) return to the Basic Daily Rate based on a pro-rata 8 hour shooting day
2) Continuous Working Day based on a 7 hour shooting day
3) First two hours of OT at double hourly rate
4) Next four hours of OT at triple hourly rate
5) Any day going beyond 14 hrs billed as another day on top of the above
6) Saturdays at 1.5x the above
7) Sundays at 2x the above
This is not an attempt to negotiate more money for crew but to end the increasingly common and dangerous practice of squeezing two shooting days into one, purely for financial gain.
By removing the incentive to shoot excessively long days, we can save lives.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
May 25, 2021
May 24, 2021
I logged on this morning to see 100 names on this list and I am truly blown away by your response. It was never my intention to lead something like this, but seeing all of you come together shows that this issue belongs to everyone.
Reached 100 supporters
May 21, 2021
106 Comments
More sleep = more productive crew. Not to mention more safe crew! Just this month I worked on a job that went on for 4 days shooting for 13-14 hours, then the last day was 20 (2 days crammed into one)! On all of those days I had to drive home for an hour too! Just one question for production- when am I meant to sleep?
I myself nearly fell asleep at the wheel on more than one occassion after long shoots. I was pulled over both times for “drunk driving,” which the cops soon realized was exhaustion. This is a legitimate problem that must be fixed.
Anything to stop dangerous working hours for crew. I have already lost a good friend the location manager Ben Hopkins possibly due to long hours on a job
Studies have shown that people who work more than 55 hours a week are 35% more likely to suffer a stroke . We are regularly expected to work 70-80 hours a week. Enough said
To echo other sentiment on here. It’s not a shakedown for more cash. It’s about increasing the penalties to create a culture where agencies won’t insist scheduling jobs unrealistically resulting in horrendous hours
It’s not right, that when working for multinationals with strict working conditions for their employees the same rules don’t apply to subcontracted production crews.
We want safe working environments, which means enough rest and sleep.
I am In.
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Share this petition to help it reach more people.
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More sleep = more productive crew. Not to mention more safe crew! Just this month I worked on a job that went on for 4 days shooting for 13-14 hours, then the last day was 20 (2 days crammed into one)! On all of those days I had to drive home for an hour too! Just one question for production- when am I meant to sleep?