Fair pay chain table proposals for Film/AV: respond now!

Framework of terms AV Sector.

The chain table Film/AV production is a broad table. It includes representatives from the entire field: from producing broadcasters, producers, screenwriters and directors to all creative and technical professionals who are part of the cast & crew. Audiovisual productions in the form of feature films, short films, documentaries, animation, series and innovative media productions are funded purely on a project basis. Virtually all workers are self-employed. There are (still) no (collective) agreements on terms and conditions on which clients and contractor can lean. In September 2022, the chain table therefore started to draw up a Framework of Terms for the audiovisual sector. The purpose of this is to provide commonly used terms when negotiating contracts with a neutral definition. This way, clients and contractors are talking about the same thing when they use these terms in negotiations. This prevents misunderstandings and saves time; the negotiation time can thus be used to flesh out these terms. The Framework of Terms includes 300 general and legal terms with definitions and has been checked by De Koning Vergouwen Advocaten.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 1: ‘Framework of terms AV sector_ version 1.0-20231103

Guideline for Safe and Healthy Work AV Sector

The second tool of the chain table Film/AV production concerns a Guideline for Safe and Healthy Work in the Audiovisual Sector. This Guide includes basic principles intended to ensure the physical and psychosocial safety of contractors involved in making professional audiovisual productions. The basic principles will be translated into a safety policy and plan, which will be tailored to the specific characteristics of a production and applied through mutual working agreements. The basic principles only apply to those days or parts of days on which work must be carried out for a certain period of time and at a certain location in order to carry out the assignment and for which coordination and planning by the client is required. The chain table Film/AV production assumes that the starting points will have a normative effect and become part of the negotiation process. They provide a basis for reaching clear agreements when entering into an agreement where such a basis is currently lacking. The emphasis in the Guideline version 1.0 is on the shooting period of an audiovisual production and its preparation and completion. In a new version of the Guide we will see if additional principles can be added for different types of productions and other phases in the realization of an audiovisual production.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 2: ‘Guide to Safe and Healthy Work AV Sector_version 1.0-20231103

Assignment Compass AV sector

The third tool is an Assignment Compass. This technical tool was developed by Bureau Berenschot in cooperation with the chain table to arrive at minimum hourly rates, or starting rates, for freelancers. Using the Assignment Compass as a guide, you can classify the combination of tasks and activities of an assignment for each audiovisual production. As a first step, the chain table identified and briefly described the various functions (some 200) in the development, pre-production, production and post-production phases. These were then classified into subject areas. Within 13 subject areas, Bureau Berenschot conducted at least two interviews with contractors with different job functions. For these reference assignments, Bureau Berenschot wrote specific norm texts and classified them at the corresponding level (Band A to K) in the Assignment Compass. A number of derived descriptions of tasks and activities were then prepared and classified within each subject area. The reference assignments (green boxes) and derived descriptions (blue boxes) are intended as benchmarks. By looking at these as well as the level indicators, you can also classify other assignments.

NOTES. The Assignment Compass is currently formatted in excel but will be converted to a digital module in the next phase.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 3: ‘Assignment Compass AV sector_version 1.0-20231103

Starting rates guideline AV industry

Using the Assignment Compass as a classification tool, Bureau Berenschot has developed a fourth tool with input from the chain table. This concerns the advice ‘From wage to ZZP starting rate’ with a proposal for minimum hourly rates (starting rates) applicable to a beginner in each of the 11 levels (band A to K) in the Assignment Kompas. In view of the wishes of the Council for Culture and State Secretary Gunay Uslu of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, a comparison was made with incomes in adjacent sectors. In this case, these are the collective agreement for Broadcasting Personnel and the collective agreement for Theatre and Dance. The averages were taken from these. The results have been tested against the so-called BV Nederland. The starting rates roughly consist of two parts: a basic hourly rate and a ZZP surcharge percentage. The starting rates (reference date July 2023) are based on 1686 net deployable hours (i.e. excluding vacations and weekdays) and about 1350 billable hours per year. Bureau Berenschot recommends that the indexation of the basic hourly rate be aligned (annually) with the average level of indexation of the adjacent collective bargaining agreements. In the next phase, the application of the starting rates will be translated into practical guides.

For consultation:

FairPACCT Chain Table, Fair pay proposal 4: ‘From Wage to ZZP starting rate_v4.3.1-20231018

Specific handouts for application in practice necessary

The chain table agrees with the four currently presented tools. However, it wishes to state explicitly that they do not tell the whole financial story. After delivery of these four conditional tools for fair practice and fair pay, the chain table will therefore start translating them for application in practice. For how do you use a starting rate and a Reference Assignment in the Assignment Compass to arrive at the valuation of a specific assignment in one of the departments of an audiovisual production? After all, in the audiovisual sector, many work with a daily rate that includes preparation and completion time or with a lump sum fee for an entire assignment or an amount for a script version. Aspects such as cancellation or the period in which a contractor must keep himself available also play a role, or the use of his own equipment. The amount of compensation for ”flexicurity” must also be identified. An agency will be engaged to collect (detailed) information from all trade union constituencies using a compact survey. Given all this, the chain table will produce specific manuals for each cluster of trades before the summer of 2024. Eventually the four tools already developed as well as the manuals will be published on a central platform and agreements will be made about a point of contact, monitoring and evaluation.

Financial position stakeholders

Audiovisual productions in the form of feature films, short films, documentaries, animation, series and innovative media productions are financed on a project-by-project basis in the various stages of their creation. This differs substantially from other cultural subsectors where it mainly involves support for the work of individual artists or (multi-year) support for institutions. Self-employed people and companies in the film production sector work together in constantly changing compositions on a specific production. These include self-employed people such as directors, screenwriters, crew and cast as well as companies from producers, animation studios, post-production companies and suppliers. For each production, a producer raises specific funding through public and private parties such as funds, distributors, sales agents, broadcasters, streaming services, investors and co-producers. The project-based method of financing and its frameworks leave little room for building resilience.

The national government has €34.1 million structurally available for fair pay in the cultural and creative sector from 2025. With this in mind, a nationwide study is currently underway, commissioned by Kunsten ’92, into the fair pay additional costs for organizations that are subsidized by the national government and the state cultural funds for several years. This will also provide an indication of the additional costs for sub-sectors that receive project-based subsidies, such as the film sector. Using the fair pay chain table tools and further data from the Netherlands Film Fund, the additional costs for audiovisual productions will be calculated even more precisely in a follow-up study in early 2024, using a number of cases, among other things. In all of this, the financial cooperation of subsidizers and all private and commercial financiers involved is required in order to actually realize fair pay.

The Film Fund acts as a partner in and co-financier of this track.

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* Please email the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl no later than Nov. 24.

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