EXCLUSIVE: What started as a short open letter about working conditions in the UK unscripted sector has turned into a full-on campaign with backing from more than 1,000 people and the nation’s largest broadcasting union.
Off the back of the open letter signed by more than 1,000 TV industry workers in less than a week, Bectu has today launched a campaign to establish an agreed set of terms and better regulation of working practices for UK freelancers working across entertainment, docs and factual.
The union’s desire is to bring UK unscripted TV working conditions more in line with scripted, which recently saw a new deal brokered between Bectu and indie trade body Pact – although this took almost a year of negotiations.
Inspired by the open letter, which was penned by Inside The Worlds Toughest Forces producer-director Anna Collins, Bectu is calling for the standardization of employment conditions across the unscripted sector, including a maximum 10-hour working day on shoots, scheduled rest breaks and protections to ensure freelancer rates are not reduced to supplement production budgets.
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