Scotsman open letter

Dear Member

I can assure you that BECTU has never called for a protest or boycott of this film.

We urged the Edinburgh Film Festival to use its obvious position of influence to seek real commitments from the financiers that the crew would be paid. The administrators control the payment of any monies received in this situation and if the film is a big success there is still a chance that the crew may get paid.

Don't forget however that the crew are owed wages by Mel films which was set up as a subsidiary by Doosra Ltd. Both of these companies went into liquidation and so any money achieved in income firstly goes to Doosra Ltd's creditors and not to Mel films. Its only if all of Doosra films creditors are paid off (and Mel Films is at the bottom of that list) that excess money may eventually filter through to Mel Films creditors. Top of the list of people who will get paid are the financiers who could be in a position to pay the crew for wages owed even if the film isn't that successful which is what we are seeking to achieve.

We have slated Scottish Screen for not saying or doing anything when shooting started even although both they and the financiers knew full well that funding was not in place to complete the production and we do have further meetings agreed with them to see what pressure they can bring to bear on the financiers to pay the crew what they are due. We will continue to press screen agencies and anyone else we feel it is appropriate to do so in an effort to get the crew paid but we will not do anything which threatens the ability of the film to make money while there is still some chance, however remote, that the crew may get paid.

Paul McManus, Scottish Organiser
BECTU