Being busy, challenge for crews to find further work
According to RMK Crew managing director Sam Downs, taking on a big job can be an obstacle for production crews to find more work.
“Being busy is actually the biggest challenge for good production crews in getting work; when they take a job – particularly a big one- it puts them out of the picture, and if a client can’t get hold of a crew member because they’re on a job, they will pretty quickly move on to someone else,” Downs told Encore.
Downs added that when a job on a film or TV program can put crew members out of the picture for weeks or months, making it “incredibly difficult” to come back into the market again.
“They may, for example, take a four-week job and then be quiet for two weeks until word spreads that they’re once again available. Having an agent manage those enquiries and bookings means we can help fill those gaps and let clients know when their preferred crew are back on the market and in the meantime, we can crew the job with other great crew and everyone benefits from that mutual referrals, he explained.
RMK has provided its services to actors and voice actors, and recently launched a service for ‘elite’ film and television production crew – directors, DOPs, producers, camera operators, sound recordists, grips, gaffers.
“These professionals are otherwise only able to use a diary service,” said Downs. “The difference between us and a diary service is that we not only manage a diary; we take briefs from clients about jobs and endeavour to match the best crew to jobs – rather than just supplying a list of all available crew to clients.
“We are also being very choosy about who we take on – we are not interested in representing large numbers of crew, we are only taking on crew who are recommended to us by clients (or other elite crew) so clients can be confident they’re getting highly skilled, reliable crew for every job,” he explained.
Another challenge for crews, says Downs, are pay rates, because there is little consistency across the industry.
“The industry doesn’t benefit from constant undercutting and haggling – I believe having standardised rates for our crew will be a welcome change for both crew and clients,” he added.
