Overworked and underpaid: film and stage workers set up union

In an industry rife with poor pay and long hours, actors and crew are banding together to set up a committee with the General Workers’ Union to demand better working conditions.

“Everyone is paid poorly,” says Martin Bonnici, the director of Is-Sriep Reġgħu Saru Velenużi, who formed the committee together with six other creatives spanning film, TV and theatre.

“The standard pay for actors in a leading role in TV is €40 per episode.”

Best known for directing the film adaptation of Alex Vella Gera’s novel, Bonnici says his industry is full of underpaid actors and crew members who also face delayed payments. One film shot last March still owes money to its cast and crew, while another was called off after a month of preparations, and still owes money to its crew members, he says.

He has now teamed up with fellow actors and writers Joseph Zammit, Anthony Mizzi, Peter Galea, Teodor Reljic, Michela Farrugia, and Kenneth Cassar to set up the committee’s board.

The new committee will incorporate three distinct sectors: broadcasting, film, and theatre. But poor wages and conditions might not exist across the board.

“Take film for example – the servicing sector that engages in the filming of foreign films in Malta is very organised and most people are paid fair wages – although hours can sometimes be too long,” Bonnici admits.

But there are still at least two productions from 2021 that wrapped up filming in Malta and are yet to pay all their cast and crew, according to Bonnici. “These productions got government funding, hired people and so far still owe thousands of euro. One of them was an Italian film handled locally by Lumisfar Film, owned by a certain Ivan Buttigieg, which shot last March and received funds from the Malta Film Commisison – yet people are still waiting for their wages.”

And, Bonnici reports, TV broadcasting is also rife with abuse. “When casting actors for my own productions, almost everyone I met told me that when acting in Maltese TV productions, they were paid between €20 and €40 per episode for a leading role,” Bonnici said.

This behaviour is not limited to a single TV station. “We are talking about prime-time dramas on TVM, One, and Net. Unfortunately most producers focus on improving the technical quality of their shows rather than the conditions of their cast.”

Theatre is also a mixed bag of working conditions, with commercial and non-commercial productions that need to be evaluated and treated in different ways. “But a lot of theatre practitioners I’ve spoken to have told me stories of working in unsafe conditions, with actors falling off stages and simply being asked if the producer should find a replacement for them, or asked to act for free on major theatre productions for exposure.”

Poor working conditions on set are widely document. Last November, hours before news broke of Hollywood star Russell Crowe’s return to Malta, an anonymous contribution posted to Maltacrewstories on Instagram warned local crew workers called to the set of ‘Prizefighter’. “This production is to be avoided. It owes crew money and is very badly run. Spread the world. Don’t do it if you are offered it and if you hear of anyone else considering it, discourage them,” the warning read. The local service provider disputed the claims with MaltaToday. “All commitments have been honoured, from crew, to extras and other services.”

The Instagram page features reports of errant producers and unnamed “key players in the local industry”, low budgets, lack of safety protocols for live action guns, lack of prop masters, and other horror stories from the world of non-unionised film production workers.

One of the latest contributions details how foreign crew and actors were treating locals like “second-class citizens” – “I later found out that a crew member with a lower rank than me who was brought in from abroad was earning more than me (that’s not even factoring in the per diems they were entitled to that we don’t get, obviously),” one contribution says.

The committee’s strategy to ensuring better working conditions will centre on research, advocacy, and support. “We are open to supporting our members in any workplace issues they might encounter, be it cases of discrimination, safety at work, or unpaid or low wages,” Bonnici says.

However, the committee will not be pushing for production companies to hire unionised cast and crew when operating in Malta. “Producing any film, TV or theatre project is already a complicated affair and our aim is not to make it harder for producers to do their work, or for cast and crew to find work.”

Regardless, Bonnici said that the committee will still work to ensure that whoever is hired with a production company is respected and treated well.

So far, the committee has held “positive and encouraging meetings” with Minister Carmelo Abela as well as representatives from the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations and the Public Broadcasting Services. “We’ll certainly be meeting with the Malta Film Commission and other entities in the near future, and we look forward to working with them.”