A group of major drama production companies have sent a letter to crew members directly urging them to accept Pact’s drama crews agreement or “the whole of scripted TV risks being damaged if our offer is rejected.”
The letter, signed by most of the major UK scripted indies including Bad Wolf, Clerkenwell Films, Drama Republic, House Productions, Hartswood and The Ink Factory comes as crew union, Bectu, opens a ballot to members on Pact’s new collective agreement on scripted TV working conditions. Bectu has urged members to reject Pact’s current deal and has put forward counter proposals.
Pact’s letter says that Bectu’s counter proposals ”put all genres and budgets of television programme on terms and conditions not even used in the highest big-budget films made by US Studios. This is not something we can afford.”
The letter goes on to say that “the whole of scripted TV – covering many genres and budget ranges – risks being damaged if our offer is rejected. Financial modelling suggests that many productions will not be financially viable under the terms BECTU have posted via their branches.”
Bectu members have until July 31 to vote on the deal.
Jon Creamer
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