ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

10 years, 2 months ago - Miren Patel

How would we go about applying to them?

10 years, 2 months ago - Alève Mine

On my way!

10 years, 2 months ago - Alève Mine

I do have experience directing multiple camera scenes (in which I was also acting). Where is Coronation street? :)

10 years, 2 months ago - katy vans

Can the OP tell us why it is a good time? As far as I know the only thing happening there is the ongoing negotiations re payment for freelance directors on that show.

10 years, 2 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

North of Albert Square!

(It's the longest running TV soap opera in the country, and one of the most watched programmes)

10 years, 2 months ago - Beatriz Delgado Mena

Hi Daniel,
I'm director and DoP based in London and I have experience as camera operator on TV as well. What is this opportunity about? More details? And when do they need people? :)
Cheers!
Bea

10 years, 2 months ago - John Lubran

Wow this raises all sorts of considerations.

With regard to the very narrow issues concerning these particular soap directors, I would have to say personally that I'd be very uncomfortable about exploiting this opportunity, just as a matter of principle. It'd be much better if the parties involved were able to come to mutually reasonable terms. However as a person holding generally liberal socialist views (center left in some parlance but that label would be a total misdirection) and as a person acutely aware that not one advancement of fair play and decency has ever been initiated from above but always pressed from below, the irony has been, in recent times, that the 'empowered above' is not necessarily the bosses.

The issues pertaining to this matter are a microcosm of a much greater reality now evolving across the western world. The changing business paradigms affecting ITV and everyone else in the private media sector reflect the increasingly ridiculous and unsustainable monetary system that we've been conditioned into believing has a basis in empirical physics. Our Western economies are mired in colossal debt that is only held off by more than one version of quantitative easing, the other being bankers creating money from further debt, or to put it plainly, from thin air. It's the elephant in the room, hiding in plain sight. We will need to fundamentally redesign the way we function economically and socially at some seminal point, and that doesn't mean some dystopian reactionary austerity regimen; the World can easily sustain 15 billion people all living a comfortable European middle class quality of life. That seminal point, just as with the profoundly sudden and entirely unpredicted collapse of the Soviet system is, more likely than not, to come as much as a sudden surprise to those of us immersed in the current illusionary reality as it was to us then. The 'dog eat dog and the devil take the hindmost' reality bubble currently holding sway as a pernicious and pervasive philosophy must surely end with an impact commensurate with the longer it's resisted by empowered elites; bit the same as it impacted King John 800 years ago. Who do they think they are? Why do we put up with it?

I'm curious to know if the £1,581 plus holiday pay that Daniel mentions is for a day or a week!? But this is Shooting People and quite frankly most of the 30,000 folk here can only dream of these figures. For the great majority here the issue of ITV's remuneration for soap directors is moot. The emerging business models of greater interest to most of us here are of an entirely different kind, and very promising they are too.

Cap doffers need not apply.

10 years, 2 months ago - cath le couteur

Now is a particularly good time to support your fellow directors.

Coronation St directors are in the middle of talks with ITV Studios over pay and schedules on the show. While these talks are going on, directors are holding off from accepting new bookings on the show at the old pay rates.

Why does this matter? Freelance directors on Corrie have had just one pay rise – 2% last April – since 2007!! In that time, ITV staff have been given pay rises of more than 20%. A number of senior craft grades are now paid more on the show than the director because their rates have continued to rise while directors’ pay has been held down...

So yes. Corrie directors are seeking a fair pay deal that recognises their creative leadership, their dedication and their professionalism. ITV last week posted record profits in the last financial year – up 31% - and revenues up 11%...

Our fellow directors are fighting for a fair pay deal – this is the time to give them your full support because their cause – fair pay – is your, all of our cause, too.

Chrs
Cath
SP

10 years, 2 months ago - John Lubran

"For him that has an eye let him see; for him that has an ear let him hear."

One example of a cap doffer is a person who has invested his soul in accepting the 'divinity' of legislation and the dogmas of others, whether they be of over fervent Unions or the reactionary self interested, the person who says that overbearing intrusion into the sanctity of a persons life is OK if one believes in cap doffing to an authority, any authority, with particular reference to religious, political and financial institutions. The rest of the meaning can be extrapolated through the application of decency and rationality. It's a spiritual thing (nothing to do with religion), that transcends shallow material consciousness.

10 years, 2 months ago - Mät King

Nothing like the smell of money and entitlement to sharpen the pencils, and tongues.

10 years, 2 months ago - Daniel Cormack

Haha - a masterpiece of ambiguity. Thank you for giving me a good laugh.

10 years, 2 months ago - John Lubran

The old metaphor "think outside of the box" may be a cliché but it's still a good one.

10 years, 2 months ago - Daniel Cormack

Trade unions, or in this case pseudo-train unions*, are there to protect the existing workforce. This often involves taking measures to keep outsiders out and restrict the available pool of labour.

The current rate of pay on Coronation Street, increased this year, is £1,581 plus holiday pay and the producers have made an offer of £1,625 per week plus holiday pay -a 2.8% increase, following on from a c. 2% increase in the spring of 2015. According to Directors UK this new increase "falls well short of the expectations of members", although as they have not surveyed their members it is difficult to see how they have come to this conclusion.

Personally, I would be happy to work for the £1,625. If I were available I would be knocking on their door with a CV, showreel and covering letter noting their wage negotiations and saying I would be happy to work at the existing rate.

Many of the established soap directors in circulation at the moment got their breaks during industrial disputes in the 90s, so morally they have no leg to stand on criticizing new directors taking the same opportunity they did.

Anyone who has worked on a soap can see the laziness and general lack of talent and energy in evidence amongst a certain class of established directors on these programmes. Hearing how they got their breaks is often hilarious and reinforces the old adage that it is not what you know but who you know that matters.

I will not be lectured to by these types. The sooner they clear out the deadwood from Corrie (and other shows), the better.

* As Directors UK is not a registered trade union ( https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-list-of-active-trade-unions-official-list-and-schedule/trade-unions-the-current-list-and-schedule#d-to-j ) it has no powers to collectively bargain on behalf of its members. Frankly, I was surprised that Directors UK fired out a missive on this subject with such confidence that it knew the views of its members. I expect that 'consultation' took its usual Directors UK form: ie. a few informal chats with disgruntled bigwigs who happen to have the ear of the relevant committee or officers.

10 years, 2 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Ah, industry changes... The rest of the industry has taken a kicking, so whilst I sympathise that more money would always be useful for directors, the wider picture isn't as clear as one would imagine.

Trades being paid more than creatives, that's actually pretty common now - but look at the other side of that. 'I was a second electrician on Emmerdale' vs 'I directed these shows on Emmerdale' - the director can use that as a part of their CV to get bigger, brighter, better roles whilst honing their craft on someone else's budget. They may get that movie deal where they can pull £75k+ for a film. The spark by contrast has no route to similar money, he'll top out at gaffer rates.

I heard it nicely put by (gosh, who? Can't remember!) 'The director gets the girl, the producer gets the money'. OK, it's somewhat old-fashioned, but it hinges on the perceived glamour of being a director vs being in production (or trades by extension).

I have sympathy for people working on the soaps - particularly cast. They work insane hours for quite limited pay, however it's a fabulous training ground in not being precious, working hard, being on time, etc. I urge anyone to consider soap casting for their projects as those guys are diligent (or axed - so go with the longer-running characters).

As for the current dispute, production shoes on, I see that the landscape has changed MASSIVELY over the past decade or two. TV's glory days are over in the UK, fewer risks are taken, more hours of filler are produced to be 'original programming'. Whilst many departments may have negotiated better rates, you can be sure production have them in their sights if they get too militant.

The situation mirrors the union grips current struggles wanting a minimum rate of (whatever) and being quite strict with members. This means production companies either skew their budget to pay grips the asked-for rate (which may be higher than equivalent grades), or import grips from Eastern Europe and South Africa. Guess which started happening? I'm sure British grips will still get work at their requested rate, but similarly run the risk of outpricing themselves in a financially very different landscape than a decade ago. There are no PACT/BECTU negotiated rates any more, it's all 'by individual negotiation' which tells you all you need to know about how both sides have accepted that things are changing.

Unions have done a lot of good for workers in this and other countries over time, and so many things we take for granted now came as a result of collective action. They redressed the power imbalance at a time when it was all in the employers hands. Alas putting more power in union leaders hands also causes problems, hence the Thatcher/Scargill years. Beware of pushing too hard, in case of pushback which will damage an industry for everyone involved, not just coalminers/grips/directors/etc.

Just some ramblings...

10 years, 2 months ago - NICHOLAS PROSSER

May I ask why NOW in particular would be a good time for directors with multi-camera experience or training (or even a creditable reel of single camera work) to approach Coronation Street exec producers and producers?
Is there a new development I am unaware of or an invitation for experienced multi-camera screen directors to train newcomers? I have 400 + broadcast television drama director credits (single & multi-camera), e.g. HOUSE OF ELIOTT (BBC period series), EASTENDERS (15 contracts), EMMERDALE, FAMILY AFFAIRS, FAIR CITY, ELDORADO, CROSSROADS plus single camera - e.g. BROOKSIDE, THIEF TAKERS, THE BILL with extensive mentor and trainer experience. I am standing by to direct or train.
E-Mail Nicholas.Prosser@gmail.com

10 years, 2 months ago - Daniel Cormack

I'm a distribution-only member of Directors UK and in fact I voted for Cath in her successful bid to get on the board.

Why would directors pay increase? When you look at how the value of broadcasting advert space has collapsed over the past decade is it any surprise that the pay of directors hasn't increased for some years before the 2% rise this spring.

The value of the work has gone down. It's easy to cherry-pick stats on ITV revenues, but looked at over reasonable time period the story is pretty clear.

The gravy train is over and the cash cow that used to be ITV is looking decidedly like a bony, juiceless fossil.

10 years, 2 months ago - John Lubran

Alluding to whose ambiguity Daniel? Perhaps that member might be able to convert levity to enlightenment for you.