CUT-PRICE SALARIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 May 1937, Page 10

CUT-PRICE SALARIES

DEAD-END JOBS IN FILMS Behind the glittering opulence o£ the film industry lie a thousand unsuspected miseries. In certain branches of the industry in Britain, says Victor Brome in “Pearson’s Weekly,” hours and salaries are not standardised, and in some companies they are simply scandalous. There are many men and women getting as little as thirty shillings a week. These people come into the film industry to learn the business. They are apprentices, and as such they don’t expect the salary of an expert. They learn their jobs, whether as cameramen, scenario writers, or anything else, under actual working conditions. That, at any rate, is the idea. In practice it doesn’t work out like that. In many cases they are little more than glorified office-boys, assistant assistants at the beck and call of the junior officials they assist. Sixteen hours a day for a seven-day week is not unknown among them. In some cases, on the technical side, employees are expected to work in conditions definitely detrimental to health.

Mr. George 1-1. Elvin, secretary of the Cine-Technicians’ Association, was told by one worker:

“If cinema fans saw the workers in our laboratory they would boycott the films we process. Mr. , who lias just left, had been fourteen years in the industry, mostly with one firm. He contracted tuberculosis as a result of his dark-room environment. lie had to leave, and is now quite unable to return to the only job he knows. He has no pension. His wages were under £4 a week,”

A technician may consider himself fortunate if he works bn an average only two-thirds of the year. And a large proportion of studio workers do not. get unemployment benefit. Assistant camera operators earning £2 or £3 a week would be fairly content. if- they received that regularly for every week of the year. Instead, for nearly fourteen weeks they may be idle and unpaid.

Even your art directors, sound recordists and editors, getting from £8 to £4O a week, are similarly placed. At the. very top of the tree they can tide themselves over idle periods. But many of those at the bottom, or even half-way up. often get. into difficulties.

Films take on an average ten weeks to make. The staff may change from picture to picture. There is no guarantee of regular employment. Our leading corporations are perfectly sound financially. But there are mushroom companies constantly springing up which ruthlessly exploit thousands of film-workers by shady financial dealings. Here is a case typical of many. A film company was floated -with a nom inal capital of .Elim. The amount paid up totalled only ,E2, but. they undertook to produce a picture costing E 20,000. Directly and indirectly at i least a hundred men and women were I employed. ] The first week no wages were forth-j coming. The second week again not aj penny was paid. For the following I few weeks the most ingenious excuses] were produced. At the end of that] lime the patience of the staff was ex-, hausted. They had a showdown, and] left. At. least (Bonn is still owing to them. I

In another case a company engaged some twenty people to assist in a new production. They were told to report for duty, but day after day the start was delayed. Finally the company crashed. Hs liabililies amounted Io c 1(100. Tin main asset a w ere i\ pc writer, a wardrobe. and a book-debt from one of the directors.