Updated Commercial Rates from 1st September

Overtime

This Page is Archived

The 2017 agreement is no longer valid for new contracts that started after 1st January 2022

See Main TV Drama page for the latest info.

Clauses in section 6.7 outlines how Overtime is defined, and if required, paid.

Overtime is aimed to compensate for additional hours worked outside of the contracted hours.

Where a worker would be expected to be available for the contracted hours, any additional hours are worked on a purely voluntary basis, and a worker is perfectly within their rights to decline Overtime without prejudice.

Unlike the MMP, the TV Drama Agreement does not differentiate between the duties performed while attracting OT compensation.

All OT, including on & off camera hours, payments for missed breaks, rigging/derigging, travel, TOC etc, refer back to one clause, 6.7.2, which is used to explain how OT is calculated for additional out-of-contract time, unless there is a separate clause that states otherwise (ie Grace or Bus to Base etc)

The fee associated with OT serves as a deterrent, it is not to be viewed as a price list.

6.7.2 Overtime will be calculated as the greater of £35 per hour or 1.5T subject to a maximum cap of £45 per hour. Overtime will accrue in thirty (30) minute increments for the first hour each day. Thereafter, overtime will be payable on an hourly basis

In plain English, the first hour of OT is booked as 2x 30 min segments.

Subsequent hours, or part hours, are then booked in full hour long (60 min) segments.

While you would be expected to be available for your contracted hours, Overtime is voluntary, and you should be able to decline without prejudice.

Members are reporting that Producers are referring to a new PACT Agreement when engaging crew, interpreting Terms in scheduling, or signing off timesheets.

For the avoidance of doubt, there is No New Agreement.

The only official document agreed by both BECTU and PACT is the TV Drama Agreement, signed 1st May 2017, and implemented on 1st December 2017.

This is still the current agreement, and should be used on all PACT Member TV Drama Jobs. This position is confirmed by the clause that PACT insisted on adding to the recent pay offer.

“Terms and Conditions Continue as before”

Any deviations from the agreement are rejected by the branch

Despite repeated requests to PACT, both personally by Committee members, and by BECTU officials, for the guidance to be retracted, the insistence of production to keep pushing forward this unsolicited inaccuracy is extremely concerning, compounded by the fact that they are ignoring one of very first clauses on the entire document:

1.4 ... Pact and BECTU pledge not to endorse, publish, support or recommend any terms which vary, or purport to vary, the terms of this Agreement.

PACT have chosen to ignore these requests, along with invitations to talk in the aim to resolve any friction that these inaccuracies are creating.

Contracts are being issued under this new guidance rather than the agreement.

You are very strongly advised to read any early notifications from production regarding employment terms, including emails, deal memos and contracts, and to question any parts that deviate from the mutually agreed documentation.

You may be told you will not get paid unless you sign the contract, but do not be tempted to sign anything you are not completely happy with as once a contract is signed, it indicates you have understood terms and are prepared to work to them.

In some cases, Deal Memos have been issued that specifically highlight that a worker is engaged under the TV Drama agreement, but when the contract is subsequently issued, in a very small font size, that you have to read on your phone, some conditions are markedly different.

There are still options open to you even if you have signed the contract.

If you are being offered work under a contract that deviates from the agreement, please report it to the Branch Mobile - Batfone

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