Directors concerned over lack of visas
A lift in television production has led to the hiring of international Directors, but some may be working without visas.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
The Australian Director’s Guild is concerned about a growing number of Directors believed to be working in Australia without proper visas.
At the ADG Conference last week, Executive Director Kingston Anderson said the amount of production in the television sector was leading to production companies employing Directors from overseas, but often at the expense of local talent.
“It’s a touchy subject and something we’re dealing with at the moment. I’m getting calls from all around the country with people saying ‘Did you know there’s a director on this show and we don’t think they’ve come on a proper visa?'” he said.
“We work hand and hand on this with the MEAA. The ones that we have investigated everything has been kosher. But we are getting the calls and it’s a reflection of the companies, and we’re really talking about a specific group of companies that are producing an enormous amount of material, very quickly.
“The issue is getting bigger because the volume is increasing and with the turnaround time they can’t get people quickly enough. We need to respond to that.
“It’s a concern for the Director’s Guild, the MEAA, the Writer’s Guild and all three of us have spoken about this.”
Anderson said Editors were also being sourced from overseas.
“The system here with visas has always been that you’ve got to prove you have the skills,” he said.
“We get annoyed when people have been given those jobs but don’t have the skill sets, and purport to have skill sets but are clearly inferior to local people.”
4 Responses
It’s not just directors and editors the big 2 production companies are also bringing large numbers of production co-ords, managers, line producers & producers on 457 visas. Many of these people are also not as skilled or as experienced as they claim. Yes, they are found out but the prod co’s don’t really care as they’re paying them a good deal less than locals.
When you come to Australia on a 457 visa you can only be employed by the company who has sponsored you to come down under, so if you don’t like the way they underpay you, you’re shipped home.
Why aren’t the unions paying attention? There’s an overabundance of experienced and qualified Australians for these roles. These jobs aren’t even advertised. How do they get away with this?
And deathly silence it seems from the Screen Producer’s Association. On the one hand it is lobbying government for as much as subsidy as possible for film and TV banging the Australian stories drum but is silent about the employment of foreign creatives. Having your cake and eating it too.
Yes they are worried about inferior Australian directors not being employed at the same rate of pay as the imports.
“are clearly inferior to local people” In which case they’ll be found out, and out of a job pretty quickly, don’t you think?
The ADG doth protest too much.