Industrial Awards and Agreements cover motion picture production in NSW and Australia. They include
- Actor’s Feature Film Collective Agreement (AFFCA) 2012
- Motion Picture Production Agreement (MPPA) 2010 ^
- Broadcasting, Recorded Entertainment and Cinemas Award 2010 *
- 2018 In-Principle Offshore Agreement **
Motion picture production covers not only film, television and television commercial production, but also web streaming shows, and even “indie” features.
Deferral contracts are illegal under NSW and Australian Employment law. If you are employed to work on a motion picture, in all likelihood you are an employee. Employees in Australia must be paid. Any producer who tries to contract out of employment law is making themselves liable for claims down the road.
There may be a legal way to make a feature film without employing the cast and crew but I’m not going to publicly speculate about it here. Get in touch if you have an absolutely brilliant idea that can only be made this way and we’ll discuss it.
^ Technically there are two published versions of the Pay Rates under MPPA, one put out by MEAA that won’t get you in legal hot water, and one published by SPA which may get you a date with the Fair Work Ombudsman. Note that there is no agreement between MEAA and SPA on this agreement since it expired in 2013.
* I have never met a professional crew-member who works under the BRECA.
** In-principle agreement between MEAA and the six major studios (Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal, Disney and Warner Bros). NB: Disney now owns Fox.