The Beauty of Filmmaker Unions
One advantage of studying filmmaking in an English-speaking country different than your own is the fact that you learn all the essentials with the right terms, and not in almost non-sensical translations.
However, one disadvantage to that is the fact that you have to read up on all the possibilities the industry offers you in the nation you migrated to and where to find them. Which is why I dedicated today to read up on various unions in the UK to get to know a bit more about their responsibilities (and also about my rights as a filmmaker).
So in order to learn to the best to my abilities regarding the various job roles and departments in film and TV production, I decided to broadly look at unions for the following jobs:
1.) Actors (as represented by Equity)
2) Freelance Filmmakers (by BECTU)
3) Directors (Directors Guild of Great Britain and Director's Guild Trust)
4) Writers (Writer's Guild)
5) Producers (pact.)
6) Camera operators (The Association of Camera Operators)
7) Gaffers (Society of Television Lighting and Design),
8) Editors (The Guild of British Film and Television Editors)
I furthermore looked at German examples but was disappointed by the lack of variety in filmmaker unions altogether. But I will come to that in a minute
1) Equity
As mentioned above, Equity is a union for actors that not only recommends proper ways and language in the casting process, but also defines what is considered qualified demands that can be made to the actor and what isn't. Equity furthermore offers a resource centre with information for students considering an acting career as well as for working actors. They have records of agencies and employers and offer reports as well as guarantee stable rates for all its members. All actors who are signed under Equity must be paid the rate set by them, without exception.
With their programme, Equity furthermore aims at fighting for equality and diversity in their 'Play Fair' campaign and encourage inclusive casting as well as recommend and enforce fair recruitment and selection in the casting processes where possible.
2) BECTU
As a British union for freelance filmmakers in stage, screen, and even radio, BECTU offers not only
- offer rate charts, a Public Liability Insurance, but legal assistance, support with tax guides as well as rate charts that help navigate freelancers through the jungle that is the media industry. BECTU furthermore aims to help out with low-cost career development courses, fairs, and training courses such as in e.g. First Aid, and editing. They even offer a free student membership and registry for students to get a foot-hold and find networking events early on.
3) Directors Guild of Great Britain and Director's Guild Trust
I followed our college's weblinks to the homepage of the Directors Guild of Great Britain and Director's Guild Trust to learn that they have apparently ceased operations. Apparently, as they write in their own laudatio, their aim was to 'train, promote, and celebrate' British directors by hosting events and training sessions, publishing own publication and enabling a forum for their members to discuss and share of their experience. However, it was not all in vain, as a new foundation has been founded to take business up where the former left off: The so-called Directors Charitable Foundation, which I will have to investigate further in another blog post.
4) Writer's Guild
This union, as the name already entails, is dedicated to those who write media content in the broadest sense. Since 1959, the Writer's Guild offers free training, help with contracts, provide rate cards and agreements, offer resources such as guidelines, rule books, codes of practice, and free training as well as a pension scheme. However, they do not seem to help with funding, and don't offer advise on scriptwriting courses or scriptwriting reading services, which I consider a rather limited service for a union. They furthermore do not believe that registering a script does offer copyright protection and thus, do not offer it as a service, which I personally find kind of odd and unconvincing as well.
5) pact.
pact. seemed to me like a bit of a jack-of-all-trades with all its offers. It promotes itself as a trade association that represents UK film, media, and TV companies and further companies within the industry in order to secure producer's rights - and thus market shares - internationally. pact. aims at meeting with unions and guilds to represent members on collective international agreements and to help increasing export revenue as well as to sell independent UK content internationally.
6) Association of Camera Operators
This association offers articles, newsletters, and information on various events dealing with the job role of camera operator. They furthermore offer training in masterclasses and attempt to be at the forefront of technological development and production methods, opening up a forum for discussion and personal development as well as development of the craft itself. However, they seem somewhat limited with their web presence (at least from what I can see as a non-member).
7) Society of Television Lighting and Design
The Society of Television Lighting and Design is currently the only society I have found that is for gaffers in the UK. They do not consider themselves to be a union, and as of now, I have not yet found a union that is also directed at gaffers for film of TV for that matter. However, the STLD offers lighting courses and seminars as well as modules that are apparently conducted by the BBC Academy. They furthermore publish a magazine and give access to various articles.
Their goal is - much like with the Association of Camera Operators, to offer training and a forum for exchange of ideas in all aspects (such as discussion on techniques and use as well as design of equipment). They seem pretty interesting for me, even though I will be unable to pay for their crash courses (850 pounds for five days without accommodation) for the time being. However, their one-day seminars seem much more affordable with only about 40 pounds, so I might give that a go.
8) The Guild of British Film and Television Editors
That was the most sobering union in terms of what they displayed on their homepage. While I find it good and interesting that the editors do have their representative organ as well, I was surprised that the GBFTE only offered training, international networking events and book recommendations on editing for beginners as well as advanced filmmakers. I kind of expected more, if I am honest. But that finding might also be an indication that there is still more that needs to be done in that regard.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, there are, naturally, also German alternatives, tailored to the German market. However, Germany does not offer that much of a union landscape, much to my surprise.
In Germany, the so-called Ver.di FilmUnion is what entails all the above mentioned unions and comes closest to BECTU. FilmUnion champions for more and better social insurances for freelance filmmakers. They fight for appropriate production budgets at the German federal film stations ARD and ZDF and keep them in check regarding timely payment of proper wages.
Since production budgets have or the longest time been polished to unrealistic numbers, many freelance filmmakers ended up being unpaid for work they did, which is why Ver.di seeks to increase overall film production transparency, as well as equal, fair, and secured pay. They furthermore unannouncedly visit and inspect film sets and locations to ensure that Health and Safety measures are taken. However, Ver.di FilmUnion in and of itself is extremely in transparent in regards to their structure and it has become increasingly difficult to obtain information, especially in regard to rate cards.
Another final addition I need to make is the so-called German 'Künstlersozialkasse' which would loosely translate into 'Artist's Social Insurance and Pension Fund', which it actually is. Every artist, which includes filmmakers as well, has to apply to this insurance provider once they earn more than 300 Euro per month.
The Künstlersozialkasse essentially acts as an employer and thus pays half of the social insurances as if the artist was employed properly, securing not only social payments in case of sudden or unexpected unemployment, but also accruing a pension fund for all its members.
After all this research on unions, I must say that I am really happy that I decided to study film production in the UK. I have for the longest time realised that filmmaking in Germany was close to a lost cause, but it was an entirely different matter to see how varied unions are and how important the filmmakers rights - and thus, in turn - their work and contribution is considered in society.
I am sure that I will still have to learn a lot about the mechanisms of this industry in my new adopted home. But I really, finally, feel that I have a future here.
References:
Anonymous (n.d.) Unions make us strong [online] Image taken from: https://vizpainter.com/wp-content/uploads/00-Unions-Make-us-Strong.png [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
Association of Camera Operators (2017) Homepage [online] http://www.theaco.net [Accessed on 22 November 2018]
BECTU (2017) Homepage [online] https://www.bectu.org.uk/home [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
Directors Guild of Great Britain and Director's Guild Trust (2017) Homepage [online] http://www.dggb.org [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
Equity (2017) Homepage [online] https://www.equity.org.uk/home/ [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
The Guild of British Film and Television Editors (2017) Homepage [online] http://www.gbfte.org [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
Künstlersozialkasse (2017) Homepage [online] http://www.kuenstlersozialkasse.de [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
pact. (2017) Homepage [online] http://www.pact.co.uk [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
Society of Television Lighting and Design (2017) Homepage [online] http://www.stld.org.uk [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
Ver.di FilmUnion (2017) Homepage [online] http://filmunion.verdi.de [Accessed on 22 November 2017]
Writer's Guild (2017) Homepage [online] https://writersguild.org.uk [Accessed on 22 November 2017]