UK producers organisation Pact and creative industries union Bectu have agreed to extend the deadline for the termination of the TV drama agreement by a month, to allow more time for a solution to be agreed.
Until then, both parties have urged all productions that started formal prep before 1 September, when the existing deal was due to end, to continue working under the 2017 collective agreement until it is superseded by a new one.
The deal has been the subject of a months-long row between the two representative bodies, with Bectu rejecting Pact’s revised terms relating to working conditions on sub-£7m per hour dramas earlier this month.
In a joint statement, the bodies said their priority is a “fair and transparent collective agreement” that is workable across all budget levels of scripted TV and stressed their commitment to finding a solution to the outstanding issues in their negotiations.
“It is incumbent on all of us to do all we can to maintain a collective agreement and to encourage stability within our industry, both for the sake of the domestic production community and of those who seek to invest in the UK and bring their productions to the UK,” said the statement.
In the event that negotiations do not bring about a new collective agreement by 30 September, they said that producers and crew members will be entitled to renegotiate the terms of engagements on new productions on an individual basis with effect from 1 October.
Pact and Bectu will agree an agenda for further talks, with a roundtable of Bectu’s branch representatives and Pact’s producers from a cross-section of budget levels due to take place in September.
Talks will encompass Bands 1-3 (productions up to £3m) and Band 4 (productions above £3m).
Pact sat down with its members, the PSBs and Sky this month to discuss the ramifications of Bectu’s rejection of its drama agreement offer.
This story first appeared on Screen’s sister site Broadcast.
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