Member Survey: ethics and Hobbits

The Hobbit Law is up for review: Do you prefer to be a contractor?

The Hobbit law will be reviewed by the incoming government. To prepare for this we would like your opinion. It will only take a moment, and responses are confidential.  To respond select the register button.

What is the Hobbit law?

The Hobbit law is the unofficial name for an act of parliament passed in 2010 which says if you work in the screen production industry you are definitely an independent contractor.  The only exception is if you have a written employment contract.

The Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety promises that no-one who is currently a freelance contractor will be forced to be an employee if they don't want to.  

The purpose of the survey is to find out members preferences so that we can accurately represent your position. 

Industry Code of Ethics: do we need it and what should be in it?

The proposed industry code of ethics would be guide to ethical behaviour of productions and funders. It would be in addition to other industry documents like the Blue Book and ScreenSafe's Code of Practice.

We need to know if NZCS should support the concept of an industry code of ethics and if so, what it should cover.  

The survey will only take a moment, and responses are confidential.  To respond select the register button.

Background

The idea of an industry code of ethics was proposed by the Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand (DEGNZ) who have concerns about pay on low-budget productions.   They believe that people trying to get their foot in the door in the screen industry may leave themselves open to exploitation on these productions. 

DEGNZ believes that it's not acceptable:

• For productions to underpay crew for online series and expect exclusive rights to it.
• For funders to take all the downstream profits of low budget and no-budget productions without sharing them with the cast and crew.
• For funders to have the same creative control over low budget productions as they would over fully funded productions.

A code of ethics is a non-binding document.

The purpose of the survey is to find out what NZCS members want to see an industry code of ethics introduced and if so what should and should not be in it.