ASE flags members' concerns to the Arts Minister

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Below is the letter requested by our members at last year's AGM, debated by the executive committee and sent both to the minister and all significant funding bodies....



Australian Screen Editors

ABN 69 377951319

P.O. Box 150
Paddington
NSW 2021

Tel: (02) 9380 6945
Email: nswoffice@screeneditors.com
Web: http://www.screeneditors.com

10th June, 2003.


The Hon. Richard Alston,
Minister for Communications and the Arts,
Parliament House,
Suite MG70,
CANBERRA. ACT. 2600

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Australian Screen Editors Guild, an association of over two hundred and eighty skilled works in the Australian film and television industry. Many of us find employment on short films, documentaries and feature films funded by the Australian Film Finance Corporation and the Australian Film Commission at the Federal level and the State bodies such as the FTO, the Pacific Film and Television Commission, Film Victoria, The South Australian Film Corporation and Screen West.

It is of great concern to us that these organizations, particularly in their financing of short films with low budgets, are encouraging Producers to employ Editors (and other key personnel) at substantially lower rates than the industry standard. For example, in the funding application process for the AFC’s short feature scheme, Producers are required to submit two amounts – the total budget for wages and expenses as contracted with those who will work on the proposed film and the total value of discounts and deferred wages that the Producer has been able to get these potential employees to agree to.

Editing is a highly skilled profession and we find it particularly galling that government funding bodies should so strongly encourage the erosion of wages of Editors and other production personnel through the present financing policies and application processes of these schemes. In many cases Producers feel that unless they hire Editors willing to work for substantially reduced money (or better still, no money) they fact a much slimmer chance of being funded.

Furthermore, there can be no justification for the reduction in short film and documentary budgets to the point where Editors are not only paid a token wages but also required to work longer hours to compensate for unrealistic short schedules.

Government funding bodies should be encouraging Producers to make films that uphold standards of professionalism and quality, not undermine them. It is only in this way that Australia will have a film and television industry that is both culturally rich and a fair and supportive environment for those who work in it.

Yours sincerely,



Jane St. V. Welch
President
Australian Screen Editors Guild.

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.....with little delay the ASE received the following letter from the FFC which was also cc'd to the minister....

Film Finance Corporation Australia Limited
A Federal Government Agency
ABN 22 008 642 564

3 July 2003

Jane St. V. Welch
President
Australian Screen Editors c:\data\ase\ffc_logo1.gif
PO Box 150
PADDINGTON NSW 2001

Dear Ms St. V. Welch,

I am responding to your letter of 20 June 2003, in which you enclosed a copy of a letter to Senator the Hon. Richard Alston from the Australian Screen Editors.

Your letter to Senator Alston makes reference to the FFC as one of a number of government-funded organisations that in your view are, "encouraging producers to employ editors (and other key personnel) at substantially lower rates than the industry standard".

I must take issue with this and assure you that the FFC does not endorse or pursue such a practice - in regard to editors or any other production personnel.

The FFC employs highly experienced production managers to analyse and approve the budgets of all projects financed by the FFC. Our production managers are very familiar with award rates and industry standards, and would not approve a budget where production personnel were paid less than award rates. While it is up to producers to determine the appropriate payment when it is above the award, our budget analysts would query rates that did not appear to be commensurate with the professional standard required by the project.

I would also like to add that one of the FFC’s objectives is to support the development of a highly professional and creative screen production industry. We take this responsibility very seriously and actively seek to prevent practices which undermine the professionalism of the industry, including the erosion of wages and conditions.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like further information on FFC procedure regarding production budget approval.

Yours sincerely

BRIAN ROSEN
Chief Executive

cc: Senator the Hon. Richard Alston

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8 July 2003

Dear Ms St. V. Welch

Thankyou for your letter dated 20 June 2003 in which you enclose a copy
of your letter to the Hon Richard Alston, Minister for Communications
and the Arts.

You raised a number of issues regarding the use of deferrals and
reduced fees in production budgets for low budget/short film
applications. As the only short film funding the FTO offers is through
the Young Filmmakers Fund (YFF), I would like to respond to some of
your concerns in terms of the information we provide to applicants to
this scheme.

1. The FTO encourages producers to employ editors (and other
professionals) at industry standard minimum rates. The YFF
Guidelines state that projects funded through the YFF must be
completed according to the FTO's contractual requirements,
which incude compliance with all Union awards and government
regulations. We require that producers on YFF projects (who
are often inexperienced) are aware of industry awards and
structure their budgets to reflect the true cost of production.
We believe this is a crucial part of the process of learning how
to prepare professional and realistic budgets. We also actively
direct applicants to the appropriate professional organisaions
for further information.

2 The FTO acknowledges that editing is a highy skilled profession
and strongly supports the maintenace of industry awards and
conditions. Many of the editors attached to YFF projects are
new or emerging and may view working on a YFF project as an
avenue for developing much-needed experience and skills. YFF
projects are often produced by teams of people who have already
established a good working relationship with each other. Many
are not only willing to work on a deferral or reduced fee basis,
but actively seek to work on YFF projects in order to help
realise a collective vision.

3. The FTO YFF grants are a modest $30,000 but the FTO does not
require to recoup this money. Instead, we encourage producers to
use any income derived from the exploitation of the film to pay
deferrals.

The FTO is aware that deferral and reduced fees for short films remain
an issue despite the general goodwill of those who are willing to work
on such a basis. There is no anticipated increase in funding for YFF
for the next two years however, the FTO is planning to hold a forum in
Sydney later this year in order to address short filmmakers' (including
editors') concerns and ascertain their needs, so that they can be
better met within the limits of the YFF grants budget.

The FTO seeks to consult with all professional film industry
organisations in order to maintain an awareness of the key issues for
each, and we hope that the Australian Screen Editors Guild will be
able to participate in the YFF forum I will advise you of the time,
date and venue details as soon as they are confirmed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on 9264
6400.

Kind regards

(SGD)

Sally Browning
Acting Chief Executive

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OFFICE OF THE MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS

Senator the Hon Richard Alston
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Telephone (02) 6277 7480
Facsimile (02) 62734154

28 July 2003

Ms Jane St V Welch
President
Australian Screen Editors Guild
PO Box 150
PADDINGTON NSW 2021

Dear Ms Welch

Thankyou for your letter of 10 June 2003 to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Hon Richard Alston, concerning employment conditions for editors. The Minister has asked me to respond on his behalf.

Through the Commonwealth Film Program, the Federal Government provides funding in the order of $120 million in 2003/04 to support a range of activities designed to sustain the Australian film and television industries to ensure that Australians continue to have access to Australian screen content. This support is provided to meet broader cultural policy objectives and is administered through a range of agencies, including the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) and the Australian Film Commission (AFC), that operate at arms length from the Government.

I have been advised by both the FFC and the AFC that neither organisation condones the practice of employing staff at rates less that the current award. In this regard, the FFC employs experienced production managers to scrutinise the budgets of all projects before funding is approved to ensure that all personnel are paid award wages. Similarly, in order to be eligible for funding from the AFC, all cast and crew must be paid award minimum rates.

The AFC does, however, allow payment and deferrals above the minimum wage in order to allow producers to attach more experienced cast and crews to their productions. In addition to this, some producers submit a deferrals budget tot he AFC to demonstrate the amount of money they have spent in developing their project. However, development does not usually involve work done by editors and the deferred costs are borne most commonly by producers, directors, researchers and production managers.

I can assure your that both the FFC and the AFC are committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and quality throughout the Australian film and television industry, and this includes remuneration for creative personnel.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to the Minister’s attention.

Yours sincerely

(SIGNED)

ANN MULLER
Adviser - Broadcasting Policy & Copyright

[sarab]

30th January, 2004

The Hon Daryl Williams AM QC MP
Minister for Communications and the Arts
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600


Dear Minister,

Thank you for your letter of 28th July 2003 responding to our letter of
10th June 2003 regarding wages and conditions for Editors on film and television productions funded by Federal and State funding bodies. We thank you for your attention to this matter and we appreciate the efforts of the funding bodies to ensure that the productions they fund adhere to minimum wage standards as set out in the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) agreement. We acknowledge that some programs, such as the NSW Film and Television Office Young Filmmakers Fund sometimes do not adhere to the MEAA standards and we would encourage this to be addressed in the future.

In the current industry climate of decreasing budgets and expansion of production into new media pathways (Internet, DVD, Interactive DVD-ROM, etc) we are concerned by the erosion of professional standards and the pay and conditions in the industry in general. We intend to educate our membership as to what their rights are under the current MEAA award and the recent Post-Production Checklist agreed between the Screen Producers Association of Australia and the MEAA. We would appreciate continued co-operation with the funding bodies to ensure that all productions funded by them continue to uphold the standards set out in these two agreements.

Yours sincerely



Sara Bennett, President
Australian Screen Editors Guild