A set of proposed minimum working conditions has been sent to film crews by the Film Commissioner, sparking anger from local producers who say they were not consulted about them and could impact their budgets.

The new guidelines were sent to film crews on Wednesday evening by Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech, who is expecting their feedback by the end of the year before rolling them out across the industry. 

Producers told Times of Malta that while they are not against discussing ways to improve working conditions for those they employ, they are dead set against any kind of “imposition” of any new standard without first having basic discussions. 

“I am all for improving working conditions but not in this way. We have been trying to have some form of dialogue with the film commission for months and then we discover that these new guidelines were sent surreptitiously to crew members behind our back. This is not the way things are done and goes to show how clueless and amateur our film commissioner is,” one producer said. 

“This is just a populist move where he took on the role of a union while ignoring the employer,” the producer added.

Another producer accused Grech of turning the film commission into an authority whose role is to facilitate film production.

In his email to crew members, Grech told them the guidelines were drawn up following a series of sessions held with them and that the commission had listened to and addressed their concerns and demands.

Equal treatment for local and international crew members

He told them that the “first-ever” crew guidelines sought to ensure equal treatment between local and international crew members, educate them about what they should be entitled to while working in Malta, and promote equal treatment of crew across all productions in Malta while delivering “fairness”.

The 10 proposals sent by the commission.

The guidelines are expected to be imposed on those productions that benefit from the commission’s cash rebate scheme. 

“Let’s keep moving forward together to ensure we build a sustainable film industry based on well-paid jobs, leading to more career opportunities for the many not the few,” Grech said in his concluding remark. 

The proposed guidelines include a provision that crew shall have the option to be either on the payroll as a full-time employee or self-employed with payment via invoice. 

A deal memo shall be sent out to all crew after a verbal agreement and contracts issued within the first week of engagement. The payment rates shall not be below those set out by the Malta Film Commission. Working hours for Maltese and foreign crew shall be equal, the guidelines say. 

They also specify that the industry standard working day will be 11 hours plus one hour, with overtime at 1.5 the rate paid as of the 12th hour of work. 

Where more than five consecutive days are worked, the daily rate shall be payable at 1.5 times on the sixth day and twice the rate on the seventh day. If it is a public holiday in Malta, crew members are to be paid double. 

Gozo-based productions must include per diems for crew members and a meal allowance of €20 per day is to be paid to crew members who cannot access on-set catering.  

Producers who spoke to Times of Malta on condition of anonymity said they expected the commission and the commissioner to discuss these guidelines before "blurting them out in public".

"What worries me is that crew members are now going to feel entitled to these conditions which were drawn up without consultation with producers. It is also going to cause financial strains because we have our budgets for 2024 and these will skew them," a producer said. 

The Malta Film Commission has been repeatedly in the headlines over the past year, especially after Times of Malta revealed that between 2019 and 2023, the government will have awarded €143 million in taxpayers’ money to 54 films and television series.

While the Maltese producers spend almost all the film’s budget directly in the Maltese economy, foreign production houses spend nearly half of their budget outside of the island and still get refunded the 40% for it, leading local film-makers to question to what extent the country will benefit for handing out such a huge rebate.