Lights... camera... pay up! demand f ilm crew
Island movie caught up in wrangle over staff wages
THE crew of a movie shot on a Hebridean island are still waiting to be paid a year after it was filmed.
Psychological thriller Shepherd, starring award-winning Scottish actress Kate Dickie, Emmy winner Greta Scacchi and Victoria star Tom Hughes, was filmed on Mull at the start of last year.
However, crew members who worked on the movie say they have been left out of pocket after production company Castle Valley Films failed to pay their wages.
Some of the crew successfully pursued employment tribunals against the firm but have still not been paid.
Civil proceedings have also been raised for workers who are owed more than £10,000.
Castle Valley Films claims it plans to complete the film and sell it in order to pay what is owed.
But entertainment union Bectu said it was not confident this would happen. Spokesman Paul McManus said: ‘We took legal action against the company on behalf of a number of members, which was successful, but no money has been forthcoming.
‘The director has been trying to get agreement from the producers for him to get the film to a roughcuts stage so he can try to sell it to distributors, but the producers have been unwilling to agree to that. The producers are saying, “We’re trying to find funding to finish the film and get it sold and once we sell it you’ll all get paid”.’
The union believes the best option is for director Russell Owen to be allowed to complete the film then sell it on.
One freelance crew member, who was awarded £1,200 at tribunal, said the non-payment had caused him financial difficulties.
The man, who asked not to be named, was awarded the sum in July last year but has been unable to have the judgment enforced.
He said: ‘I’m owed my final pay plus expenses, and I’m freelance so I rely on these payments coming through. It took me a couple of months to recover financially because, obviously, that’s what I budgeted to have.’
He said location firms and suppliers had not been paid.
Glasgow-based Pretty Scenic, which carries out work on film sets, is said to have confirmed it, too, is still owed money.
Shepherd centres on a widower who is so overcome by his grief that he decides to create a completely new life for himself. He moves to a remote island and takes up a new job as a shepherd, but when mysterious things start happening he is unsure if they are real or imagined.
Mr Owen claimed the film will ‘definitely’ be finished and sold for release – but to do this he needs authorisation from the production company.
The director said he has a deal in place to ensure the completion of the film, including a guarantee that crew members and suppliers owed money are paid first.
He added: ‘I just need the producers to accept the deal that I’ve put forward.
‘I’ve told them they can keep their percentage of the film and keep their title credits, but that deal has been ignored.’
Producer Karim Tshibangu, director of Castle Valley Films, said he ‘deeply regretted’ the fact that crew members were still awaiting payment.
He added: ‘The intention is to complete the film, sell it and the first payment goes to crew members and suppliers.’
He has agreed to the deal put forward by Mr Owen ‘in principle’, subject to seeing a written agreement – which he claims has never been produced.
He said: ‘Logically, who would spend the money that I’ve invested in this film and then sign it over to someone else for free?’
‘Once we sell it you’ll all get paid’