The Zack Arnold Podcast On Signing COVID Waivers, Kit Rental Fees, and Working Humane Hours | with Cathy Repola, MPEG National Executive Director
In case you missed it, my recent article Dear Hollywood: We Don’t Want to ‘Go Back to Normal.’ Normal Wasn’t Working ignited a firestorm of conversation, social media messages, and a barrage of emails (I promise I’m reading all of them!!!) that ultimately became the impetus for this candid conversation with MPEG National Executive Director Cathy Repola. Since 2016, Cathy has been one of Hollywood’s leading voices on labor, working to negotiate and enforce contracts that protect the wages, benefits, and livelihoods of more than 8,000 workers in the post-production industry – including my own.
Like so many other organizations, Cathy has been working tirelessly with studio executives and union members alike to come up with a plan to get Hollywood back to work – SAFELY. But how can we do that without putting ourselves at risk? If you haven’t yet read my article (stop this recording right now and go read it!) here are the Cliffs Notes:
We’re tired of long hours and unrealistic deadlines that keep us from seeing our families, raising our kids and enjoying our lives. We want to seize this opportunity while Hollywood is shut down to shift the paradigm and restructure our work-life balance. Instead of “going back to normal,” we need to define a new version of normal that works for all of us.
- Namely, we need to abolish the “standard” 60-hr week
- Nobody should EVER have to sign liability waivers to return to work
- We require compensation for our equipment if we’re asked/required to work from home.
- BONUS: Don’t you dare ask me to provide child care if I have to work from home.
Cathy and I discuss each of these topics in-depth in this interview as well as also fielding live questions from the Facebook community that attended this live Q&A.
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Here’s What You’ll Learn:
- American Cinema Editors, Blue Collar Post Collective, Motion Picture Editor’s Guild and other groups have been fighting for these rights for years and now are finally starting to come together to continue this conversation.
- Waivers 101: What do they mean? Do you have to sign them to report to work? (Bottom line: Don’t sign anything without giving it to the Guild to read first)
- How absurd it is that we are fighting for a 10 hour work day!!! KEY TAKE AWAY: More hours do not equal better hours.
- There is no mandate for the 60-hour workweek for an on-call Union editor. The hours came from the number of hours that the studios were contributing to the pension and health plan.
- How to create a better balance of work hours with more flexibility to the employee to get the work done on their schedule.
- Employers and producers are abusing their power if they ask you to trade a weekday off work for an unpaid Saturday or Sunday.
- KEY TAKEAWAY: We need to summon the feeling of dread we have about going back to the way it used to be and use it as a catalyst to change.
- Don’t let employers tell you that they’re doing you a favor by allowing you to work from home. The reverse is true.
- Burnout comes from a lack of setting proper expectations.
- What the timetable is for going back to work based on regulations and new COVID guidelines.
- The way to set boundaries for yourself without being perceived as “the difficult one.”
- Guidelines for kit rentals and reimbursements for working from home and the timeline for when these will come out.
- KEY TAKEAWAY: Cathy says, “If we want this business to thrive, we need to start taking care of each other”.
- The value of the work is more important than micromanaging our time and we need to destroy the culture of the “theatre of work”.
- The idea that today’s miracle equals tomorrow’s expectation needs to be revised with post-pandemic expectations.
- Can the editor’s guild have a protected cut the same way the director’s guild does?
- How we can access the box rental guidelines when the Union releases them.
- Advice to leave with: We can solve these problems as a larger community. Be involved. Don’t fight this fight alone!
Useful Resources Mentioned:
Dear Hollywood: We Don’t Want to “Go Back to Normal.” Normal Wasn’t Working.
Dear Hollywood: We Create Entertainment For a Living. We’re Not Curing Cancer.
Dear Hollywood: We’re Not “Lucky to Be Here”…You’re Lucky to Have Us
Our Generous Sponsors:
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Guest Bio:
Cathy Repola has served the Motion Picture Editors Guild in several top leadership roles since 1992. Since 2016, she has been the Guild’s National Executive Director, where she is one of Hollywood’s leading voices on labor. Repola helps negotiate contracts and ensure enforcement that protect the wages and benefits of more than 8,000 workers in the post-production industry, including picture and sound editors, re-recording mixers, Foley artists, technical directors and story analysts. The Guild also leads the way in organizing labor within post-production.
CineMontage: Journal of the MPEG
Show Credits:
This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.
The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).
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