My nephew, Nick Pople, and his good friend Jack Yarrow are taking on quite possibly the toughest obstacle course you can imagine. Described as the premier adventure challenge series in the world, this 12 mile course separates the men from the boys:

Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie.

The pair of them are a couple of beer monsters. I know this having sat in on a couple of sessions with them! However, unlike a lot of lads of their age, they’re both getting off their arses and preparing themselves for what will be a grueling test of endurance and character.

Why are they doing this?

Because the charities they’re raising money for are dear to both of their hearts.

The two charities are Help for Heroes and the Bobath Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy. Nick served his country with pride and did a tour of Iraq when he was just 19 years old. Jack has a sister called Sarah with cerebral palsy who is one of the loveliest girls you’ll ever meet.

I’m proud to be supporting them both and I hope you’ll join me too in sponsoring these two young lads raising money for good causes.

Just the thought of attempting the course brings me out in a cold sweat. To both of you – Nick and Jack – I salute you.

Iver Heath Cricket Club was formed in 1947 by a bunch of alcoholics looking for something to do when the pubs used to shut on a Sunday afternoon. Sixty four years on and we’re still boozing!

We’re looking for new players to join our Sunday social cricket team.

Key requisites are:

• The ability to drink your own bodyweight in beer
• A photographic memory to recall outrageous umpiring decisions from years ago in order to bare long term grudges
• A sense of humour to enable you to take part in our sledging. Note: we never sledge the opposition, only our own players
• Cricketing ability would be nice too although not essential as we don’t want you showing any of us up!

We’re a friendly team who play our cricket hard but in the right spirit. The most important thing is everyone gets a game and has a good beer and a laugh afterwards.

We play our home games at the picturesque Farnham Royal ground which is between Beaconsfield and Slough and play on some of the nicest grounds in the Home Counties. Most of our players live in the West London area so can provide lifts if you don’t have a car.

Our season runs from mid April to the end of September with pre-season nets at the MCC Indoor School at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

So if you’re looking for a game of cricket on a Sunday and a few beers, drop us a line and we’ll sort something out.

Dynamo Player is seen by many as the missing link in the distribution chain for the low budget independent film maker. It allows you to embed your film on any web page and to make money. Chris covers it pretty well in his blog post above as do the guys at Dynamo themselves on their website so, if your unfamiliar with Dynamo, I’ll wait for you to read their posts before I continue.

We’ve been using Dynamo for Stag Night of the Dead right from the off. They were our #1 choice because we loved the sexiness of the player, the transparency of the stats and the fact these guys are film makers themselves so we knew we weren’t going to get ripped off.

However the problem we’ve had since we released the film last Halloween was that you couldn’t embed the Dynamo player onto a Facebook page and allow users to watch the film full screen. This was down to the way Facebook dealt with embedded files and was something of a deal breaker for us. We were channelling people from our YouTube trailer to our Facebook page but there wasn’t a way for them to watch the film on Facebook. We had to redirect them to our website and, as a result, we were losing potential customers along the way.

With Facebook now using iFrames instead of FBML for custom tabs and pages, that all changes.

Here’s how you can embed your Dynamo video on your Facebook page and allow people to watch your film full screen.

I’ll start by saying that you need to have a fair understanding of how to create an HTML page and access to FTP software to upload your files to your web server. You will also need to have upgraded to the new version of Facebook fan pages. This is going to happen early March anyway so if you haven’t upgraded then it’s worth doing sooner rather than later.

I would also recommend that you set up a test page on Facebook so you can play around before launching. Oh, and this is one long arsed tutorial so you’d better make sure you have some coffee on the go…

Facebook iFrame Tutorial

1) You need to be a verified Facebook apps developer. This isn’t as tricky as it sounds. Just go to facebook.com/developers and allow the Developer application access to your Facebook account. This is perfectly safe – it’s an official Facebook app so no need to worry about your details going somewhere they shouldn’t.

2) Once you’re on the Facebook Developer page, click on the + Set Up New App button.

3) At this point you’ll need to verify your account. If you haven’t already done this, you’ll need to add either your mobile phone number or credit card to your profile. Again, this is perfectly safe. This is an official Facebook application. I was already verified as I’d bought Facebook ads in the past using my credit card.

Once you’ve verified your account, you’ll be able to start creating new Facebook apps. Remember: After March, Facebook are no longer allowing any new FBML custom tabs so if you want to add unique content to your Facebook fan page, you’re going to have to go through this process anyway.

4) You now need to give your app a name. The name isn’t really that important as you can see from the graphic below. You’ll get a CAPTCHA to fill in and then you’re on the way.

5) You’re now faced with a veritable plethora of options and no mistake. However, most of these are irrelevant as all we’re looking to do is replicate the old FBML custom tabs and change them over to the brand new  iFrame tabs for Facebook fan pages so we’ll only focus on the important ones. So first up you’ll want to change your icon and logo.

No need to worry about the Privacy Policy or Terms of Service options as you’re not going to be releasing the app for general use. Remember, it’s just to create a custom tab in the new Facebook.

6) IMPORTANT: Don’t click on Save Changes until we’ve finished, OK?

7) Next up, click on the Facebook Integration tab on the left

8 ) You weren’t paying attention, were you? You’ve only gone and clicked on Save Changes, haven’t you? You numpty. Just as well we can get back to where we were by clicking on “Edit Settings” at the top right of your app page but I’m not going to tell you again, OK?

9) So now we’re into the main settings. This is where we get into the bones of how Facebook will display our custom page.

A) CORE SETTINGS

You can’t change your Application ID or Application Secret. You will, however, want to make a note of your Application ID as you follow the rest of this tutorial.

B) CANVAS

The canvas page title is, as far as I can see, irerrelevant. It’s only useful to you so you can access the app again in the future.

Canvas URL is, however, important. It’s the destination directory of your HTML files on your server. Remember, with this new change to the Facebook pages that we’re directly referencing files served on your web server. My suggestion is that you create a new sub-directory in your httpdocs directory on your web server.

Set Canvas Type to iFrame.

Set iFrame Size to Auto Resize.

This is important. At the moment, the Facebook iFrame page settings will limit you to an iFrame height of 520 pixels x 800 pixels. This sucks so you’re going to want to break out of those size constraints using my handy fix later

C) DISCOVERY

We’ve left Discovery enabled. Kinda guessing this will help people find our app/page so will leave it enabled until we learn otherwise.

D) PAGE TABS

As you can see, we’ve renamed the Tab “Call To Action” in the screen grab above. We’ve done that deliberately. This is where you call your Facebook users to click on your custom tab. This is important, but you can also change it under your FB page app setting so don’t get too hung up over it now.

What is important is you set this to “Page Tab Type: IFrame” and you change your Tab URL to the actual page you want to display in Facebook. This will be the name of the HTML page you create later.

So in my live example the selections are:

• Tab Name: Watch Now (remember, you can change this on your FB apps page)
• Tab URL: snotd123.html (remember, this is relative to the canvas URL you specified earlier)

10) Click Save Changes and you’re finished. You’ve set up your Facebook app. Now we need to create the HTML page that will displayed on Facebook.

OK, you’ve got this far so I’m guessing you already know how to create a web page so I’ll only cover the bits which are specific to embedding your Dynamo video onto your Facebook page or for getting it to play nicely within the Facebook iFrame.

Key things to remember are:

• The new Facebook iFrame is set at 520px width
• The standard iFrame height is 800px

Losing The Scrollbar

If the height of your web page is greater than 800px, you’ll end up with an ugly scrollbar. To fix that, copy this script and include it somewhere on your HTML page. Personally I put all my scripts at the bottom just before the </body> tag so I remember where they all are:

<script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      FB.init({
        appId  : 'YOUR APP ID',
        status : true, // check login status
        cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session
        xfbml  : false  // parse XFBML
      });
      FB.Canvas.setAutoResize( 100 );
    </script>

Remember to change ‘YOUR APP ID‘ to the actual Application ID from Step 9A.

You’ll also want to make sure that you’ve reset the styling on your page so within your CSS, you’ll want to include this:

body {
    margin: 0;
    overflow: hidden;
    padding: 0;
}

Using Facebook Font

If you want your page to replicate the look and feel of Facebook, you’ll want to use the same font settings so your CSS will need to include this:

font-family: "Lucida Grande", Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
	font-size: 11px;
	text-align: left;
	color: #333;

Embedding Dynamo Video

As we know, the maximum width for the new iFrame is 520px so we need to resize our video to fit. Head on over to your Dynamo Dashboard, select Your Programs and then click on the Details button for whichever film you want to embed.

Click on the Embedding Codes button and you’ll get a pop up window containing your embed code. Simply copy the embed code onto your web page. Now you’ll need to change the object width and height values in two places. Personally, I chose to make the Dynamo player 480 pixels wide so here’s what we ended up using on our Facebook page:

<object width="480" height="271"><param name="movie" value="https://player.dynamoplayer.com/player//playerx.swf?pid=P2eece4ccd58e097a48eece4c&vid=X"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="direct"></param><param name="quality" value="high"></param><embed src="https://player.dynamoplayer.com/player//playerx.swf?pid=P2eece4ccd58e097a48eece4c&vid=X"  type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always"  wmode="direct" allowfullscreen="true" quality="high" width="480" height="271"></embed></object>

Remember to ensure your width and height ratios are relative otherwise you’ll end up with a weird looking video player!

Adding Comments Box

We included a comments box at the end of our page so folks could leave some feedback – hint! It was a bit fiddly getting it to play nicely with our CSS but, in the end, we got it to work by creating its own <DIV> and making it the final call before closing off the </body> .

<div align="center">
<div id="fb-root"></div><script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=YOURAPPIDHERE&xfbml=1"></script><fb:comments numposts="10" width="500" publish_feed="true"></fb:comments>
</div>

Once again, remember to replace YOURAPPIDHERE with the value from Step 9A. You can grab the code direct from the Facebook Developers Social Plugins page.

TIP: If you’re using web stats software such as Google Analytics, don’t forget to add your tracking code to your new HTML page. This will help you see how many people are looking at your custom content on Facebook.

OK, so now you’ve finished creating your web page, it’s time to add it to Facebook so let the tutorial continue!

11) Using your FTP software, create a sub-directory with the same name as your Canvas URL from Step 9B. In our live example, we created a sub-directory called “fb” making the full URL http://stagnightofthedead.com/fb. To keep things simple, we’ve kept all CSS, HTML and pics in this directory.

12) Upload your new web page and any CSS files and images to the new sub-directory. Ensure that the file name for your web page is the same as your Tab URL from Step 9D. I would also create blank index.html files for all your sub-directories. This is a security measure to stop people from nosing around.

13) Once all your files are uploaded to your web server, head back to your Facebook application dashboard and click on Application Profile Page.

You’ll now get a page that looks very similar to a regular Facebook fan page except that this is your iFrame apps page. Click on the link on the left Add to my page. You’ll get a pop up window displaying all the pages you’re an admin for. Select the page you want your Dynamo video to appear on and click Add to Page.

14) Your Facebook iFrame custom tab has now been added to your page. It will appear on the left navigation bar. You can change the call to action label within the admin section of your Facebook page (Edit Page—Apps—Edit Settings—Custom Tab Name).

Every time you want to add a new custom tab, you’ll need to go through this process but it’s relatively painless once you’ve got the hang of it. Besides, after Facebook roll out the mandatory upgrade in March you won’t have a choice…

Here’s our custom iFrame Facebook page out in the wild complete with embedded Dynamo player. Click on the FULL button and you can watch our film full screen.

I hope this tutorial has helped you get to grips with the new Facebook iFrame tabs and how to embed your Dynamo video player onto your Facebook page. If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to help you out.

THANKS

A huge thank you to Robert Holland for coming up with the original article I used to write this: How To Create iFrame Tabs For Facebook Fan Pages

Thanks to StackOverflow for the tips on dealing with CSS overflow: New iFrame canvas for page tabs width lower than 520px and iframe-based facebook app gets unwanted scroll bars with a smaller windows size.

photo credit: Kevin Steele

What started out as a usual Friday afternoon quickly turned into the craziest 72 hours online that I can remember since I first fired up my 14.4k modem back in 1995. Over that period I have run pretty much the full gamut of emotions from despair to elation with every possible combination in between. I’ve cried, I’ve sworn and I’ve whooped with joy. My neighbours probably think I’m some kind of window licking mentalist.

Why?

Because on Friday afternoon, the film that I’ve put blood, sweat and tears into for over 4 years got pirated.

You want to know something? I couldn’t be happier.

Let’s clarify something right from the outset. Stag Night of the Dead isn’t my film. I didn’t direct it but I’ve been working closely with Neil Jones right from concept through to completion. My current role on the film is what the cool kids are labelling as PMD – Producer of Marketing and Distribution. So although it’s not my money on the table, I’m speaking of the film as “my film” because my investment in it is more than monetary.

Right. Back to the story.

I got an alert on Twitter some time early Friday afternoon that a site was promoting a torrent of Stag Night of the Dead. Nothing new there, I thought. These things have been going on ever since we first announced we were making the film, let alone finished making it. Besides, how can they have a DVD rip of the film when we haven’t even released the film on DVD yet? However, after two hours of non-stop tweet alerts, I started to get a bit twitchy and went off to check the source and, sure enough, there was our cover art along with a full description of the film, running time, IMDb data and everything.

Quite frankly, I nearly shit a brick.

We released the film online back in October last year via our good friends at Dynamo. We deliberately set the price point very low – $1.99 for 3 days rental – because we figured that people wouldn’t object to paying the price of a cup of coffee to see a full length feature film. My initial thought, knowing we hadn’t got a physical DVD out there yet, was that someone had used software to capture the film and this was what was being circulated. By this point, the tweets were coming in every 30 seconds.

To cut a long, and very emotional, story short, it wasn’t our film that had been pirated. It was another film called “Stag Night“.

When I realised this, I nearly cried with joy. I knew that somebody hadn’t made an illegal copy of our film and wasn’t distributing it for free. Pretty much everyone involved in the making of SNOTD did it with little or no payment (hello TV Watercooler folks :wave:) and the subsequent DVD, TV and online sales would ensure they got something back for the time they committed to the project. My immediate concerns that they wouldn’t get any reward were allayed. We hadn’t been ripped off and there was still a chance that my friends that I made making the film would still get some kind of recompense for all their hard work after all.

And then I took a step back and looked at the affects of having our film “pirated”:

• Over 30,000 views of our trailer on YouTube in 48 hours
• Over a quarter of a million new results in Google for the exact phrase [stag night of the dead]
• Twitter followers, Facebook fans, SNOTD newsletter subscribers all up
• Website traffic up by 2000%
• Sales of our online stream up

In short, having our film “pirated” was the best promotion that money can’t buy.

Now, obviously, we can afford to be a little pragmatic about this. We didn’t actually get “pirated” at all. It wasn’t our film that was being ripped but someone elses and we’re reaping the benefits – more sales in last 72 hours than the previous month. However, it’s something of a lesson to all independent filmmakers out there.

These guys are fucking good at what they do. Underestimate them at your peril.

The next chunk of text is a blog post I started writing back in November 2009. I revisited it when I began to write this blog post. Whilst the references maybe somewhat out of date, the sentiment still remains the same:

The biggest shift for both studios and indies is, of course, what the music industry has been battling for some time now and that is the threat to its core business model presented by online piracy.

It’s a common misconception that illegal streaming or downloading is as a result of people wanting their content for free. Whilst there are obviously folks using torrent sites because they don’t want to or don’t see why they should pay, that’s not always the case.

The most common reason for downloading a film or TV show from a torrent site is because the user wants to watch it when they want to watch it and not when the TV channel or studio mogul decides to release it.

So what can UK independent filmmakers learn from the likes of Pirate Bay?

The simple fact is that the film industry has had its head stuck so firmly up its own arse for so long now that it’s lost track of what people want. They seem to have missed out on the fact that today’s consumer seeks out content rather than have it forced upon them. It’s gone from push to pull.

Generation Y (or is it Z? I blame the idiot who started it at X) has grown up with the Internet and sees the web as its source of content. It no longer accepts being drip fed information but actively seeks it out. When I first came online back in the mid 90′s the Internet was pretty much a walled garden. A select number of sources provided you with a select amount of information. Google, The Big G, came along and changed all that.

As a side note I have to apologise for my part in creating the beast that is The Big G. I was working in an IT support department for a large multinational corporate and, as a geek, I championed Google and changed the default search engine on new laptop and desktop builds from AltaVista or Hotbot or Lycos or whatever the heck we were using to Google. I created a monster and I am truly sorry.

Anyway, getting back on topic, it’s my belief that the concept of release windows will soon become a thing of the past once Hollywood wakes up and smells the coffee and realises it is fighting a battle it cannot win. The TV studio execs will fall into line shortly afterwards.

Why, for example, are Top Gear torrents in the US so popular? It’s because our American cousins are so far behind us that a pre-pubescent Jeremy Clarkson is reviewing a Triumph Toledo on US prime time TV as a season exclusive.

Revolver, a film distribution company I have massive respect for, got slated for having the audacity to release Mum & Dad simultaneously on theatrical, DVD and online platforms. There were calls to boycott the release.

…any attempt to break the 17-week window between theatrical and other releases which remains at the moment the norm, was taken very seriously and called on members not to show the film.
Source: Screen Daily.com

WTF?!? The film industry seems to have buried its head so far in the sand that even the most scared ostrich would extricate its head and say “dude, it ain’t gonna go away”. The simple fact is that as soon as your film hits the streets that it will get ripped and be on a torrent site within 90 minutes. If you believe otherwise your name is Aaron A. Aadvark – i.e. first in the stupid queue.

The bottom line is that regardless of useless legislation by the UK government or DRM or any of the other archaic methods suggested by the film industry, torrent sites are here and they’re here to stay.

More Depressing Stuff

Illegal downloading has impacted on revenues and, as a result, MG’s (minimum guarantees) have pretty much gone the way of the dodo and any sales estimates broken down by territory that you might have aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

Miramax have just slashed staff and slate by 60%. MGM are teetering on the edge. Pinewood Studio had a 55% drop in first half profits this year. 100,000 people have lost their job in the US entertainment industry.

The whole business is in a state of flux. It’s a combination of the recession and a shift in the way the customer wants to watch film. Everyone knows the old ways of doing things are dead but nobody is coming up with any answers.

Making money from independent film has always been tough but if this shift in the balance of power to the consumer is threatening the big Hollywood studios, what chance the indie?

Sell The Sizzle, Not The Steak

Research has suggested that many people who download a film from a torrent site will then go on to buy the physical product. This is borne out by my own, often heated, discussions with torrent site users. It’s a combination of “I want it now” and a try-before-you-buy mentality.

However, if you provide a range of “value added services” to your proposal then you have yourself an advantage. Something the pirates can’t replicate.

I’m talking about user interaction.

The Online Revolution

The Internet offers filmmakers an alternative distribution model and revenue stream.

By going online you remove the traditional gatekeepers who all want a slice of your pie (sales agents, distributors) as well as the cost of getting your product to market (P&A, DVD manufacture). Unlike the traditional methods, there is no limited shelf or screen space.

Shoot something for the online market and you are guaranteed distribution.

Unlike the old distribution model, the second your film is released you can start to make money. No waiting 18 months for the first cheque to come in from your sales agent.

You have the option to completely self distribute or use a third party to do it for you. Either way you make your money from the first sale.

Services like Amazons CreateSpace allow you to distribute your film online either as a physical DVD or as a video download – rent or buy. They charge a commission but the advantages are no overheads – server space, inventory, bandwidth.

You can go it alone and sell your film directly from your own website. Amazon once more come up trumps with their S3 server storage where you only pay for the amount of storage or bandwidth that you actually use.

It’s my opinion that we are moving away from a business model that relies on physical product in much the same way as the music industry has adapted.

The Problems For UK Filmmakers Online

Now before I go on let me clarify that I do not think UK independent feature films are dead. However I think that, at the moment, the outdated business model employed by the film industry is not sympathetic towards the independent.

Until there is an online solution for delivering feature length productions that is accessible to all filmmakers and, crucially, all audiences, my belief is that UK independent filmmakers are going to stuggle.

The majority of current online services (Hulu, Joost, iTunes, Netflix, etc.) cater almost exclusively to the major studios and, for feature length productions, to the US only. They are run by the US studios and networks and unless you know how to use a proxy server, there’s no way of accessing the content so unless your target audience is sufficiently savvy enough to know even what a proxy server is, you’re screwed.

LOVEFiLM caters to a UK audience but is essentially no different from the current model in as much as it serves predominately mainstream studio films.

The barriers to entry for some of these sites are dropping slowly and new ones are appearing but, at the moment, online distribution for UK feature length productions is limited to the traditional sales agent route or self distribution as previously outlined.

Sheri Candler recently posted an article on her Facebook page about piracy and it evoked a shit ton of responses from people. What folks are missing is that it ain’t gonna go away. This is where we’re at. As I mentioned in my old blog post, the second you release your film, you’re going to be hit.

Conclusion

In short, you have to accept that anything you release – film, music, books, poetry – is going to end up somewhere on the Internet within seconds of you releasing it and – guess what – these folks ain’t gonna pay for it.

However, rather than wake up your gin sozzled media lawyer from his afternoon sleep, embrace these guys. Find a way to work with them. We’ve reached out to some of the major players and I’ll let you know how we get on but I still stand by my statement of earlier:

It’s the best publicity that money can’t buy.

If you are an independent filmmaker in the UK or you’re an actor involved in low budget films you need to mark March 18th 2010 in your diary.

A meeting is taking place in London which could potentially revolutionise the way low budget and indie films are made in the UK and change the landscape forever.

The following text is reproduced from the TV Watercooler website:

In the wake of the recent London Dreams case, which retrospectively awarded an unpaid intern the National Minimum Wage for the hours she worked on a feature film, there has been much debate within the industry about the effect this decision will have. Does the verdict represent the long-overdue protection desperately needed by the industry’s most vulnerable workers, or the death of creativity and collaboration which often provides a stepping stone for those who are new to the industry? Should it be viewed as a victory or a disaster..?

In order to discuss both sides of the argument, BECTU’s Writers Producers and Directors’ branch brings you:

A Debate about Low Budget Collaborations and the National Minimum Wage

Please join us on Thursday 18th March at 7pm, at The University of London Union, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HY (nearest tube stations: Goodge Street & Russell Square), and make your voice heard!

The proposition:

Working for free is the only way for new entrants to get a foot in the door of the film and television industry but… are you shooting yourself in the foot?

The meeting will be Chaired by Steve Overell of The Work Foundation. Jess Search from Shooting People; Martin Spence, Assistant General Secretary of BECTU; Chris Jones, author of The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook and Benetta Adamson of the TV Wrap campaign, will be among the key speakers to address these issues. The event will take the form of a parliamentary-style debate with prearranged speakers setting out their point of view in support of, or opposition to, the motion. The audience is invited to actively participate throughout the debate.

The aim:

We hope that this event will kick off a process leading to an industry wide charter endorsed by BECTU, Shooting People and other interested parties setting out how microbudget films can flourish while staying on the right side of the law. We really hope this will be the beginning of an end to the confusion and misunderstandings surrounding what does and does not constitute a collaboration.

I’ve covered my thoughts on the subject in two previous posts – National Minimum Wage To Kill UK Low Budget Films and NMW & Low Budget Films – A Solution? so I won’t go over old ground. Sufficed to say that I will be there and, if you have any interest regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, I urge you to be there too.

* Mind you, he also said “I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob” so maybe he was something of a mentalist

The debate over National Minimum Wage and low budget filmmaking took an interesting turn a couple of weeks ago when Shooting People launched a survey of its members to see whether or not they supported working for less than NMW. Many critics of SP who had previously accused the organisation of ignoring the issue subsequently ridiculed the poll for being biased and poorly worded. My favourite response from the TV Watercooler website was “its a bit like asking all shoplifters what they think of conditions in retail“.

And you know what? They’re right. Whilst I applaud Shooting People for raising the issue to its membership, the poll itself doesn’t really get to the crux of the issue and that’s the fact that any low budget film or fringe theatre production is potentially breaking the law by not paying its cast and crew National Minimum Wage.

Rather than go over old ground or look at whether it’s fair or not, I thought I’d have a look at the two sides to the argument, a potential solution, why the unions (BECTU and Equity) would not support the proposal and the reasons why they should.

Background

Contrary to what some people may think, the National Minimum Wage Act is nothing new. It’s been around since 1998. Campaigners have been fighting for NMW within the entertainment industry pretty much ever since. As recently as July last year Equity activist, Clive Hurst, tried unsuccessfully to get the actors union to enforce NMW on fringe theatre productions. (Guardian article – The Stage article – Equity policy statement)

Why this has become the hot topic in the independent filmmaking community over the last few months is because of the BECTU supported landmark case which saw an Employment Tribunal rule in favour of an art department assistant who had been engaged on an “expenses only” basis and order the film producer to pay the crew member over £2,000.

Since that point there have been many, often quite heated, discussions over how this Tribunal affects the future of fringe theatre and low budget filmmaking.

In the red corner you have the bulging eyed, frothing mouthed supporters who say that every production should pay at least NMW on every project…and in the blue corner you have the bulging eyed, frothing mouthed supporters who say that their right to make films is being taken away.

They’re both right. And they’re both wrong.

Red Corner

You have activist groups like the Sweat Team and individuals like Clive Hurst who are fighting to stop the exploitation of people within the entertainment industry and want NMW to apply to all productions whether low budget films or fringe theatre. You also have the actors and crew members who believe that not being paid for their labour demeans or undervalues their creative talent.

Any attempt to stop the exploitation of, in some cases, young and vulnerable people is something which should be applauded. This industry attracts sharks and charlatans who profit at the expense of others. There can be no excuse for not paying cast and crew when you’re lining your own pockets with the proceeds of their hard work and I fully support efforts made to expose the dishonest outfits who rip people off.

Equally I support my fellow actors when they say that there is no excuse for projects where crew members get paid but actors don’t. I also, to a certain extent, go along with the notion that working for nothing undervalues you as a performer.

However I cannot support the idea that all low budget films or fringe theatre must be forced to pay at least NMW or they can’t be produced. I outlined my reasons in the previous post and subsequent discussion so won’t go over them again.

I question the way in which individuals or groups are targeted by those in favour of a blanket enforcement of NMW. It seems that anyone who is not paying NMW is considered a legitimate target regardless of whether there is an agreement in place regarding deferred payment or profit share. I also don’t know what the legal position is on publishing private emails on public forums but, regardless, I find the practice reprehensible.

It’s one thing to go after the crooks and con artists who exploit the system, it’s another to tar everyone with the same brush and publicly demonise them.

Blue Corner

You have the aspiring directors or producers who just want to make a film or groups of actors who want to put on a fringe theatre production. Whether it be as a hobby or as part of the early stages of a fledgling career or the collective work of experienced professionals looking to fill the gaps in their diaries, these people simply want to do what they enjoy doing and, in many cases, have paid a lot of money to be trained to do.

They’re outraged that a blanket enforcement of NMW will take away their freedom of choice to produce a show or work for no/low pay. There is some confusion over whether NMW applies to low budget productions (see comments on the SP poll) and a feeling that creativity is being stifled by legislation from the nanny state.

Well I’m afraid you’ve only got yourselves to blame.

The way many low budget filmmakers go about their projects is, frankly, laughable. How can you expect to be considered professional when you’re not insured, ignore health and safety regulations, think that a curled up cheese sandwich constitutes lunch and then ignore requests for DVD copies of your film months after it was shot?

The advances in digital technology and the ever increasing use of the Internet as a distribution mechanism now mean that it is possible for anyone with a half decent camera to make a film and get it seen. That doesn’t mean that you can cut corners and put peoples lives at risk in your quest to make a film for £4.50.

Just because you believe you can make a film for nothing doesn’t mean you should.

Facts

• The National Minimum Wage Act is not going to go away.
• Groups like the Sweat Team and individuals like Clive Hurst are not going to go away.
• Despite my tabloidesque headline, low budget films and fringe theatre productions are not going to go away.

Moving Forward

Part of the problem at the moment is being able to distinguish between the productions which deliberately flout the law like the one which resulted in the Tribunal hearing and those which genuinely fall into the realms of the low budget independent filmmaking. This equally applies to theatre productions whether they be classed as fringe or profit share.

A potential option discussed on my previous post was reviving the old ACTT Workshop Agreement (download copy here courtesy of Ben from the Sweat Team) which enabled union members to work for less than industry rates on non-profit ventures. Richard Hartley also raised the issue of forming a co-operative, limited company partnership or voluntary organisation to make your film to remain within the realms of NMW law.

One of the proposals put forward by Clive Hurst was to re-define any unpaid work in fringe theatre as “amateur”. I’m assuming here, and I’m sure Clive will correct me if I’m wrong, that this was not meant to be a derogatory label but, moreover, in line with the fact that amateur dramatics shows are exempt from NMW (although nobody has been able to tell me why this is the case).

There’s possibly some mileage in this although a label of “semi-professional” would perhaps be more palatable to those card carrying members of the union who are performing in the production

Putting labels to one side, creating a clear distinction between the can’t pays and the won’t pays can only help all those concerned. As a performer or crew member you know from the outset which category the production falls into and as a campaigner or union you know which productions to target. No more being unknowingly exploited. No more friendly fire.

Proposal

A cross-union agreement ratified by HMRC which encompasses all low budget films, fringe theatre, student films and amateur dramatics productions. The agreement would cover areas such as working conditions including health and safety, contractual rights and obligations, issues like Working Time Regulations, provision of DVD copies and such like. It would also cover the issue of production company status (i.e. co-op, collaborative, non-profit, commercial, etc.), funding and disbursement of profits.

Simplistically you would register your production with the organising body in order to receive certification, seal of approval or similar. By registering you are then legally bound to fulfil certain criteria such as following H&S guidelines, WTR, etc. and be liable for the payment of at least NMW to all contributors once the production hits a defined level of profit. As a registered production you may be asked to produce accounts to back up your financial statements.

By making the process as simple as possible there would be no reason why any legitimate production would not register. As a performer or crew member you are working on a project safe in the knowledge that you’re not being exploited. Sites like Shooting People, Casting Call Pro, Talent Circle and Mandy would have no excuses accepting non-certified productions. Fringe theatre productions and low budget films could continue to be made and organisations like the Sweat Team would have legitimate targets to concentrate their efforts on.

It’s a win-win.

Why BECTU and Equity Would Not Support The Agreement

Both unions have worked for many years to put in place agreements with the major TV and film networks, theatre production companies and such like to establish minimum rates of pay and working conditions for their members. Equity have previously released a guideline entitled Low Pay/No Pay Work In Film & Television (log in required) and they already have in place an agreement for low budget films, although the figure they use for “low budget” is <£2m. I’m sure BECTU have probably done the same for their members.

By being seen to align themselves to deferred payment, profit share or no payment projects, both unions could argue that it diminishes their negotiating power with the larger commercial organisations and, to an extent, they’d probably be right.

On top of this you have the costs of administering a system like this, the drain on resources and, perhaps, the fact that its scope falls outside of the fundamental constitution of the union itself.

However…

Why BECTU and Equity Should Support The Agreement

The industry is going through massive change at the moment and this is due, in part, to a new generation embracing digital technology and the ability to produce and distribute content in a way that wasn’t possible a few years ago. This is married to the fact that budgets are shrinking because the consumer now wants their product for a fraction of what they previously paid. A speaker at last years Power to the Pixel event in London referred to it as “The Age of the Free“.

Ever since the end of the closed shop, the requirement or necessity to be a union member has lessened. I know plenty of professional actors who are regularly employed on fully paid projects who are not Equity members. They don’t see the point in joining.

By putting in place the benchmark, by providing the official seal of quality, by supporting the flourishing independent fringe and filmmaking community, both Equity and BECTU would make themselves more relevant in the second decade of the 21st Century.

In Conclusion

Like Richard said in one of his comments on the previous discussion, I don’t want to see the industry legislated into the ground. All of us involved in this long running debate are creative people. We don’t want to be spending our time filling in endless forms

Equally I don’t want to see people being exploited by unscrupulous individuals who are in the industry just to make a quick buck.

A BECTU sponsored meeting is planned for March 18th in London to discuss the issues faced by low budget filmmakers and fringe theatre producers. I urge all those concerned to attend. This is genuinely an opportunity for those involved in the community to help shape its future.

On the face of it, the two camps are diametrically opposed but I don’t believe they are. Whilst I question some of the methods used by certain individuals, I do believe that there’s an awful lot of common ground here. By working together and putting in place a set of guidelines or an official agreement we can not only encourage a more professional approach to low budget productions but also ensure a safer, fairer deal for everyone involved.

Uruguayan filmmaker, Fede Alvarez, posted his low budget short film Ataque de Panico! (Panic Attack) on YouTube last month. The film cost $300 to make.

According to an article on the BBC website, he uploaded the film on a Thursday and by Monday he’d received offers from Hollywood studios to make a feature film. He’s now signed up a deal with Sam Raimi to make a $30m Hollywood movie.

I wonder what would have happened if Panic Attack had been made by a UK filmmaker. Would the UK film community congratulate him or castigate him?

If you read some of the comments on my previous post or the resulting discussions on Shooting People (requires log in), there are plenty of people who think Fede Alvarez wouldn’t, or perhaps more importantly, shouldn’t have got this opportunity in the UK. There are people who would dismiss Mr Alvarez as nothing more than a hobbyist or enthusiast. There are some who would hound him for making a film without paying everyone.

So, the way I see it, the next generation of UK filmmakers needs to fall into one of the following categories:

1. Be called Tarquin and have a father who drives a Jaaaaaaag
2. Live in Uruguay

Happy Christmas!

In 2008 over 20,000 feature films were made worldwide but only 516 had a theatrical release in the UK of one week or more. (source: UK Film Council). As an independent filmmaker the chances of your film getting a theatrical release in the UK is pretty much zero. DVD sales have been dropping annually since 2002 and the number of UK distributors for indie films has dropped during the recession as firms go to the wall or merge.

With the Film Council announcing a £25m cut in funding it all looks pretty bleak for the UK indie filmmaking community, doesn’t it?

Well the results of a recent employment tribunal are only going to make matters worse.

The tribunal in Reading ruled that expenses only engagements are illegal and National Minimum Wage should be paid to all workers engaged on an expenses only basis. HMRC can impose a fine of up to £5000 to those companies who fail to pay their workers at least NMW.

So where does that leave UK indie films like Colin, the zombie movie which was shot for £45? Will this decision lead to the end of low budget filmmaking in the UK?

On the face of it, any film that has utilised actors or crew on an expenses only basis has been breaking the law. Even offering a token payment of £50 is below the current National Minimum Wage and could land the film producer with a nasty fine from the tax man.

The HMRC (HM Revenues & Customs) penalty was introduced 6 April 2009 and can be applied retrospectively so any films made before April ’09 could still be fined for not paying NMW.

The current NMW is £5.80 per hour for anyone over the age of 22 but you also need to add on holiday pay at 12.07% so the actual figure is £6.50 per hour.

Let’s look at a micro budget film with a cast of five and a minimal crew (I’ll use the crew breakdown from The Guerilla Film Makers Movie Blueprint) with a 10 day shoot. The chances are for a feature length film you’ll be working your butt off for those 10 days but let’s make the numbers easier by calling it a 10 hour day (yeah, I know, I know but stick with me…).

So we have 5 x actors, a writer/director, producer, PA/Assistant, DP, Assistant Camera, Gaffer, Set Designer, Make Up/Costume, Sound, Runner/Driver, Stills Photographer and someone to do the catering. That’s 17 cast and crew who are working for 10 days.

The wage bill for the two week shoot would be £13,260.

We’ve also got to consider not just the shoot date but the pre and post production times too. Using the example from the Movie Blueprint book, the total number of days to make this micro budget film would amount to 1085 over a 52 week period. Assuming 10 hour days that equates to a wage bill of £84,630.

£85k and we haven’t even started to look at money for camera hire, lights, costumes, make up, locations, transport, expenses and catering costs. Suddenly our micro budget film isn’t looking so micro any more…

As a further example, filming on Colin wouldn’t have made it as far as lunch on Day 1 if it was just Marc Price (the director) and Alastair Kirton (the star) both getting paid National Minimum Wage.

So what does all this mean to the low budget filmmaker, student films, the fringe theatre producer and even the local amateur dramatics group?

As an actor myself I should be embracing the rules and regulations. I’ve done plenty of expenses only gigs in the past so it’s nice to know that I can get paid at least a few quid an hour for working on a student film but I also sit on the other side of the camera and can see that strict enforcement of NMW regulations will kill low budget productions in the UK.

I’ve debated this over at Casting Call Pro in the past and was shot down in flames by many of my fellow actors. Their argument was that the production company should find the money to pay all of the cast and crew before committing to the project. As my example above shows, £85k is a lot of money to pay out in wages on a project that statistically is unlikely to get picked up for distribution.

Getting funding to make a film has always been pretty tough and with the cut to the UK Film Council budget it’s only going to get tougher. In most cases the low budget filmmaker will be either self-financing or looking at some kind of equity deal and that’s only if he can find anyone with spare cash willing to invest during a recession in a business that is on it’s arse thanks to a drop off in sales and an increase in online piracy.

The fact is that, in the vast majority of cases, filmmakers will simply not have access to the kind of figures we’re talking about here and if NMW regulations are rigorously enforced they won’t be able to make their film which means everyone is left sitting around scratching their arse because there are no more film projects to work on.

photo credit: Nogwater

Now I know the title of this blog is “The occasional ramblings of an out of work actor” but I’ve really taken the piss, haven’t I? No posts since April? Shocking behaviour…

There’s no real excuse, to be honest. Sure I’ve been busy with stuff but not so busy that I should neglect you – my solitary reader. I know you’ve been checking back every day to see if I’ve updated. You probably thought the RSS feed was borked or something, right? I feel so totally connected to your IP address. It’s like an old familiar face to me. There you are. Every day. Hoping I’ve updated the blog.

I love you mum.

So what’s been happening that’s kept me away from the keyboard? Well sadly it hasn’t been any acting work. This has been the worst year I’ve had in the business. Pinewood recently announced a 55% drop in first half profits and a lot of the TV companies have slashed their budgets by 30-40% so I put the lack of work down to the fact that less is being made. The bigger names in this game are taking on work they would have previously rejected so less is filtering down the food chain.

It’s easier than thinking I’m unemployable.

The zombie comedy movie I’m involved in had a pre-release screening in August. It was a great night catching up with all the cast and crew as well as seeing the film on the big screen. Here’s a short video of the night. I’m the bald guy standing by the door at 0’43″ sweating like a biatch.

We’re busy remastering the film, getting a new trailer done in preparation for release as well as negotiating the minefield that is music clearance. I’ve touched on it before but getting everything tied down to get tracks in your film is a ball breaking job. Still, it’ll be good to finally get the movie out there after having worked on it for so long.

I’ve been writing a screenplay for a vampire movie I want to make but my enthusiasm has been tempered by the realisation that there’s a good chance it won’t get made for a while. Even paying everyone at union minimum rates the budget would be nigh on impossible to raise for a UK indie and it’s not really feasible. I’m still going to finish it off but then maybe look to sell it and let someone else make it. Dunno. Haven’t decided yet.

The other idea I have knocking around my head is for a web series. As far as I can see there are no decent UK based web series out there; everything is US based. Maybe the UK guys aren’t as proactive at marketing as our American cousins but I’m not seeing a UK series as high profile as The Guild, for example. I’ll probably write more about this sometime soon.

Talking of The Guild, I watched every episode back to back the other day. All two and a bit seasons. My eyes hurt at the end of it but it was so good that I couldn’t help myself. I’ve also now got something of a crush on @feliciaday. She makes my winky go funny.

So what else has been going on? Well I closed my old online marketing and search blog. I’d kinda got bored writing about the topics so decided to put it out of it’s misery. Still up for sale if anyone wants it My cricket blog is still alive but barely. Despite England winning the Ashes I wasn’t too enthused to update it much over the summer.

I think I’m suffering from a serious dose of meh.

This might have something to do with my impending 40th birthday. Everyone says life begins at 40 so perhaps I’m subconsciously not starting anything I won’t be able to finish in time.

Rambling now. Will stop. Just wanted to let you know I was still alive and I figured that if I didn’t write a blog post soon that I’d have to scrub ‘blogger’ off my list of part-time activities on my Twitter profile…

Demons DVD - Image courtesy of Amazon

Despite all the recent furore over Amazon (search results for Amazonfail), I’ve been a happy customer of theirs for many years. You can buy anything on Amazon. It’s like an online Woolworths without the pick ‘n’ mix.

One of the things I really like about Amazon is the recommended products feature. Every time I log in they try to entice me with a list of DVDs or CDs that they think I’ll like based on stuff I’ve bought from them in the past. On the whole the products they recommend are pretty accurate.

However today Amazon failed. Forget all that business about dropping adult material from their searches, today Amazon thought that I might like to buy Demons on DVD.

WTF? Demons single handedly put the turd back into Saturday!

I loved Philip Glenister in Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes but even he couldn’t save this utterly apalling show. His ridiculous American accent has made him the Dick Van Dyke of a new generation.

The dialogue was full of more cliches than the Arsenal left backs family Christmas dinner, the effects more special than a convoy of Sunshine Variety buses and the acting of the “guest stars” suggested that they’d rather be somewhere else. Like most of the viewing audience.

I know after my recent outburst that I should be grateful that ITV drama actually made a program that attempted something different from the norm. Fuck it, I should be grateful that they actually made a program at all but watching it made me feel angry. It just felt like a massive waste of budget. They could have spent that money commissioning projects from the wealth of undiscovered talent we have in the UK.

So needless to say, Amazon, you’ve disappointed me. You’ve failed. We’ve been together long enough for you to know that I’d rather stir fry my own testicles than buy this pile of shite. I still love you but start showing me some recommendations that’ll have me reaching for my credit card rather than just reaching.