freelance: Last News

A majority of some 5,000 freelance TV commercial production workers, organizing under the banner of the grassroots “Stand With Production” movement, have signed authorization cards certifying that they wish to unionize with IATSE. According to IATSE, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) has agreed to voluntarily recognize them as a group for the purposes of collective bargaining.

Naman Ramachandran A comprehensive report published by Freelancers Make Theatre Work (FMTW) sheds light on critical challenges faced by the freelance theater workforce in the U.K. The survey, conducted between March and April 2023, had 1156 theater freelancer respondents. It reveals significant disparities in pay between male and female workers, amounting to a pay gap of 37.4%, with more male respondents reported earning 100% of their income from freelance work. The data also exposes an industry plagued by ageism, as the pay gap widens to 47.7% for freelancers with 21-30 years of experience. The sobering picture painted by the report continues, with average earnings for freelancers in the industry falling 17.5% below the U.K. national average salary. Work intensification, where freelancers are expected to do more work for the same or reduced pay, or even for free, was exacerbated as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, as high numbers of freelancers exited the industry, leading to the hiring of inexperienced individuals at lower wages. Consequently, a skills shortage emerges among producers, stage managers and technical roles, resulting in imbalanced workloads, compromised workplace safety and fairness concerns.

UK broadcasting union Bectu has declared a state of “emergency” in the unscripted TV community due to an unprecedented lack of work.

Alison Brie rocks a cute black mini dress for her appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Monday night (April 4).

Freelance Whales, has died at the age of 36.His brother, Glee actor Darren Criss, yesterday (March 2) shared news of his passing, revealing that Chuck had taken his own life after years of “severe depression”.“I loved my brother so much. And I know he loved me.

In Tre’vell Anderson’s L.A. Times piece “There is room for everyone: 14 film critics on making media more inclusive,” he states, “Those who work for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety, among others, receive preferential treatment for talent interviews and screening access. And traditional publications tend to have traditional critics. The result is a community of discourse around film and art that is fairly homogeneous and ignores many members of the filmmaking and filmgoing communities across all demographics.”

John Cena has lined up a new action movie role!

Jake Kanter International TV EditorAmazon has donated £1.5M ($2M) to two emergency relief funds aimed at supporting workers in film, TV, and theatre through the coronavirus crisis. The pledges are the first in a $6M commitment to help stricken production communities across Europe recover from an unprecedented pause in work.Amazon will donate £1M to a new COVID-19 Response Fund established by the UK’s Film And TV Charity.

Make-up mogul, Huda Kattan has pledged US$100,000 on Instagram to help struggling freelance make-up artists. 

"HMU I want to work with you"

As the coronavirus outbreak escalates in the U.K., union leaders and lawyers are calling for enhanced support for freelance film and TV workers, who are projected to fall at the sharpest edges of a crisis that could decimate the independent production sector if prolonged.