Personal Managers Association
Dear all,
I just wanted to make everyone aware of an ongoing dispute I am having with Collette Tanner at BBC Contracts regarding BBC weekly fees and the manner in which she is attempting to book.
My client in question did a couple of weeks on a series last year and they want her to come back for the new series this year. Collette came through with a two week booking but the fee was massively lower than it was last year. When I questioned why this was, I was told this time, they were able to nominate the days they wanted her for within each week â two days one week and two days the next week â and because she would be working less days, the weekly fee would therefore be lower. She said my client would then be free to work other days around the dates they have nominated. I explained that this was not how the agreement works and that you either nominate the days individually or book by the week, which then gives them a degree of flexibility on the days worked.
She remains adamant that this is allowed, stating that when weekly fees are negotiated, the number of days worked within a week will be a factor in the offer. She says she has booked people in this manner before but was evasive when I pressed for more details as to who and on what, so I’m not sure I believe her. I am adamant that this is not the case and that they cannot nominate days within a week booking and offer a lower weekly fee because of this. I feel this is a concern on many levels, not least because when you take the low weekly fee on offer, if you were to work this back to two individual nominated days instead, the daily rate actually falls to below minimums.
I am going to speak to Ian at Equity about it but I thought people might like to know as it’s a new one on me. Also if any of you have come across this before, it would be useful if you could let me know any details and what the outcome was.
All the best,
Darren