Unions and groups in the editing industry
since i'm hoping to get into the industry as an editor and i know that starting freelance work may start off difficult such as dealing with larger clients paying me, i figured the best way to begin in the industry if i were part of a type of union.
From beginning this module, i had been told about a guild of actors based in the uk known as The Guild of British Film and Television Editors. Unfortunately i found out that it's not really a type of union but more or of a members only group for big named editors that are based in the united kingdom. on their website they say that they "aim to promote the importance of the editor's contribution to film making and encourage discussion between editors about technical and creative matters. It also promotes the improvement and protection of the role and rights of an editor or assistant as an essential and significant contributor to all productions". So from this i can gather that they would be a good place to contact about big named editors in the industry being able to complete my survey as majority of the editors in the membership include people who have worked on large scale projects such as sean barton who worked on sweeney todd( 2003) colin chapman (waking the dead) and dicky everton (top gear)
However as much as that will aid my primary research i would however need information of unions that provide safe working conditions and industry level pay. That's when The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union, or formerly known as BECTU. Formed in 1991, BECTU provide many services to its members, including training courses, safer work environments for staff workers or freelance workers and most importantly, Securing industry standards in pay for freelancers. For example (as seen above) These are the rates that BECTU offer when being part of their union and as you can see, projects that exceed 15 million may need negotiation.