Over 100 film and TV workers assembled at London’s Leicester Square today (October 5) in support of the SAG-AFTRA strike and to urge the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in the US to reach a fair deal with the striking actors.
The demonstration brought together members from creative industries union Bectu, as well as the Trade Union Congress and actors’ union Equity.
It is the second demonstration in two days that has been held in central London to highlight the plight of below-the-line UK film and TV industry workers in the wake of the strikes. The first was a grassroots demonstration held yesterday at the BFI London Film Festival’s opening night ceremony.
Impassioned speakers at today’s event were Charlotte Sewell, chair of Bectu’s costume and wardrobe branch; Blair Barnette from the British Film Designers Guild; Pia Josephson representing the visual effects and post-production community; co-chair of Bectu’s unscripted branch James Taylor and Albert Cheah, chair of the Film Artistes’ Association, that represents background artists in Bectu. Bectu head Philippa Childs was due to attend but had to pull out due to illness.
Sewell gave thanks to the retail and hospitality industries for providing out of work crew with employment in these difficult times. Barnette spoke of two emails she had received two emails today of people losing their homes owing financial hardship from the lack of work in the UK at the moment. Taylor noted that, in a survey conducted by Bectu’s unscripted branch, 50% of respondents said they would want to leave the industry in the next five years.
Josephson highlighted the poor employment practices VFX employees had been subjected to, such as Oppenheimer VFX firm DNEG demanding employees take pay cuts, or for those who the pay cut is too steep, the chance to enter a salary loan scheme, in which they would still endure a cut, but would be loaned back some of their salary, to be paid back over three years.
Speaking at the rally, Spencer MacDonald, Bectu’s national secretary of London production and regional production division, told Screen: “We want to draw attention the lack of support freelancers have had. Productions have been suspending crew and employers have washed their hands. There needs to be greater support. Productions and government need to step up.”
MacDonald has had no luck with getting the US streamers and studios to commit to paying UK crew retainer fees. “There needs to be a collective response from employers,” he said. “There is a shared pool of freelancers and they need to put a system in place that they provide support, if there is another downturn. People are just going to leave the industry.
“Government needs to make it more flexible for freelancers in terms of paying their taxes. They do have ‘time to pay’ [a policy allows businesses and individuals experiencing temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts into more affordable instalment arrangements] at the moment, but they put interest on that,” said MacDonald.
“We need more investment in the British film industry. We’re heavily dependent on inward investment.”
“It’s going to go bananas”
MacDonald has noted that, now the Writers Guild of America (WGA) dispute has been settled, and with murmurings of possible resolution on the horizon for the SAG-AFTRA strikers, that job offers for crew have started to pick up again. “People were saying they thought their phone was broken, no one was ringing. Now, they are starting to get calls, we know of some productions that are looking at rescheduling. It does seem to be picking up, definitely. We’re seeing the big high-end productions showing more interest in getting up and running. There’s one I know that wants to start again before Christmas – they only had 10 days to go before it got shut down.
“All the signs are there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s going to go bananas for a while as there will be a backlog from production and all the new ones that want to start up.”
Louise Cooper, a background artist, attended the rally to show her support for the SAG-AFTRA strike, in which the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been a key sticking point for acting talent in the negotiations. Cooper’s work has completely disappeared since the strike. “I don’t think the industry for background artists is going to be the same,” she said. “I don’t think there will be as much work, whatever happens. AI will definitely come in, life goes on. Things move on. You have to accept that to a certain extent, but it’s about the fairness of how it’s done, and the fairness of how the industry shares out its wealth.”
Costume designer Rebecca Duncan told Screen: “I tend to not work on big US films, but even the UK industry has taken a back seat with all the investment from the US. I had an incredible year last year, but I haven’t really worked this year. Financially, it’s had a massive impact on everybody.”
Vanessa, a costume daily who requested her surname was not used, was about to step onto Deadpool 3, before the strikes were called. She added: “All my jobs went. I got lucky and got some local dailies with British productions, but that only amounts to maybe four days a month.
“Terms and conditions are a really big thing. We need to get them set in stone. UK law is not great for self-employed people. Terms and conditions need to actually be stuck to.”
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