Deferred pay sparks debate

BECTU's legal challenge to deferred pay productions has sparked digital debate amongst independent filmmakers.

The union is running a test legal case against the practice of deferred pay productions, where freelance crew members work virtually unpaid in return for "a stake in the project" or a promise that payment will be paid "when we go into profit". Most of these productions sink without trace.

This initiative has sparked a furious debate in the independent filmmaking community. Various arguments, for and against, have been put in messages posted at www.shootingpeople.org and elsewhere.

BECTU's advice to members over the years on deferred pay productions has been simple: don't do it. More recently the union's legal advice is that deferred pay is a breach of the recently introduced National Minimum Wage legislation.

BECTU believes this new law means that it is illegal for an employer to fail to pay wages, and that a vague promise to pay in some ill-defined future is not acceptable. The union is currently running a test case against a recent deferred pay production in view of this legal advice.