Well, I started a new job in August 2012 of which I am a
Casual Employee.
It’s now January 2013 so to date my employment with this
company has turned into 5months.
During these 5 months, I have worked a grand total of 10 days at approximately 4hrs per day.
When I have investigated why this is happening I am told
that there is little to no work available at this time – which is a practical
response.
My next question would be “Why is this so?”
Followed by “What can we do to get more work?”
Well... of course... that’s the entrepreneurial approach and
not your average plebs but it’s not exactly rocket surgery.
First and foremost, I must say, it is a complete travesty to
have people (like myself) – Industry Professionals with years of experience,
sitting and waiting for work which is never given, particularly when we are not
even told of future employment opportunities.
To have these qualified creative’s (who are rare as hens
teeth) sitting in unemployed limbo while production after production steamroll
through the complex and offer them no support is absolutely putrid!
You are willing to have these people represent your company
by allowing them to perform a skilled service on behalf of the company and yet
you don’t have any interest in representing them in return.
You want these people to be available and on call at any
given moment yet for no apparent reason.
You should be grateful that these technicians are even
accessible to you and/or willing to accept these ridiculous conditions.
Hey...maybe if you were a tad inventive you would issue all
new, upcoming and existing productions with an information pack including
profiles of all of the crew who are available to provide their individual
services to the production.
Showcase the talent we have in Brisbane, use these
employees’ names and networks to build a proper creative service aimed at
potential business clients.
Producers and Directors should know, first hand, what type
of talent they have to choose from and what possibilities could transpire from
employing them.
It’s called “ADVERTISING YOUR TALENT”. The Film Industry has
been doing it for many years!
Let me tell you, once other business professionals are
handed a shmicko information pack containing crew bios, images, history etc and
told they can utilise these people at any time, you’ll find more positions
opening up, much more employment and you’ll also improve the companies profile
tenfold.
In the interim, I’ll just sit here and pick my arse while
watching the same few being handed more and more hours and hope that someone
with a half a brain is actually, truly creative and not just pretending to be
like most.