Nearly 100 Producers Launch New Advocacy Group Aimed At Improving Working Conditions
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A new advocacy group has emerged to improve working conditions, this time for movie and television producers. Their new group, Producers Guild America (PGA) is seeking several reforms, primarily in terms of their pay and healthcare coverage. Members of the PGA (not to be confused with the professional golfer organization) believe that they should be entitled to decent pay and some protections.
“I don’t think what we are suggesting will be painless, but we believe it’s not wildly painful, either,” said Lorenzo di Bonaventura, one of the town’s most prolific makers of big studio pictures and among the few who still has an overall deal at a major studio. “We’re talking about basic American rights here. You have a right to work and get paid for it, and you should have healthcare. What we’re asking is to face up to a basic commitment, which is to pay people for their work and give them a little protection. This is not bone breaking from a monetary point of view. We recognize that we’re asking them to take a step, but we don’t believe it’s that big a step. But it’s a huge step for the emerging producers.”
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In terms of pay, PGA is advocating for reforms for how their fees are paid out during development and for film and tv companies to kick some healthcare contributions before, during, and after production. They argue that increasingly high healthcare costs have created a burden on producers and their employees (and their families). Other reforms discussed include restoring some status and authority to producers, giving them the title of “Career Producer” and allowing them greater means to halt productions if they believe that there is a safety problem (such as those that led to a death on the set of Rust last year) that needs to be addressed. They believe that this will ensure greater quality control. They are also advocating for fee advances that pay up to 10% of a producer’s total fee, so that there is more cashflow available during production to pay staff and overhead as a production makes its way towards a green light. This is not so much an increase as it is a change in the timing of the payment to producers. For productions that are not ultimately green-lit, they have proposed that fees should be treated in a similar way as how writer fees are handled for projects that are ultimately not green-lit, or remain in limbo for months and years at a time.
In terms of healthcare, PGA is advocating for health insurance contributions for “Career Producers” during 8 weeks of pre-prodcution, the span of the production, and 8 weeks of post-production. Aside from arguing that increased pay and health care benefits will improve the quality of film and tv productions, some members of PGA have also sought to increase their leverage with film and TV studios by signing a petition asking that the term “producer” be removed from the AMPTP. They claim that they were not signatories to the deals that were ultimately negotiated to end the film and television strikes. The PGA acknowledges, however, that they will be in for an uphill battle to achieve their goals.
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Source: Deadline
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