A crew deal memo outlines a contract’s contents between the production company or producer and their hired crew member. Formally,
A crew deal memo highlights and outlines the duration of the new crew member’s hire, compensation, and other essential factors that the production company and crew member need to agree upon. Production and film creation is a temporary project. Therefore, most crew members are constantly engaged temporarily.
Crew Deal Memo- an Overview
The crew deal memo is also used to expedite the negotiations between both parties to settle their agreement’s top-line particulars before drafting the entire crew contracts. This document is issued before the parties agree on full crew contracts that will now document the legal agreement between the parties officially. While crew deal memos are not legally enforceable documents, they can include caveats such as ‘subject to contact’ to avoid any confusion.
There are cases where the parties will sign the crew deal memos but only as a sign of good faith. However, that doesn’t mean that the potential crew member has necessarily committed to moving to the complete crew contracts. In fact, if the full crew contracts significantly differ from the crew deal memo, the crew member can always walk away from that deal.
Terms to Include in the Form
In this section, we will highlight the basics of what the crew deal memo should constitute.
The terms that are to be included in a crew deal memo are:
Ways of compensation
Besides the crew member’s standard rate, the crew deal memo should specify compensation for the crew members in the compensation section. The document should state whether compensation will be a day rate, weekly, monthly or gross fee. This part will help the contractor understand when and how they should expect their payment to be delivered.
Duration of the agreement
This clause states that the crew member must deliver the best services during the agreement’s duration. The crew deal memo also specifies the start and end dates of the production.
Common parameters
Common parameters that may be included in a crew deal memo are:
Travel
The production company may require a crew member to travel for a shoot. In any case that happens, the production may pose travel day rates, mostly half the crew’s day rate if the travel is under six hours. All in all, these rules may vary depending on the union.
Food and provisions
The crew needs to be nourished. Being one of the crucial perks of working with a production company, the deal memo should specify their meal provisions. While it may seem customary for the film production to provide all meals and at least one during the travel days, the production should always check with the union regarding the food and provisions guidelines.
Purchases, rentals, and expenses
Production companies have to negotiate the most when it comes to the purchases, rental, and expenses kits. That’s because some crew members will bring their packages to the production and expect reimbursement for them. This section should outline the terms of reimbursement.
If the crew member purchases anything; food, a microphone, a camera, etc., for the production, it must be cleared with the producer. This section of the deal memo should also specify that the production is not liable for the contractors’ kits, equipment and rentals.
In that, it’s the contractor’s sole responsibility to take care of their rental kits. All in all, all rentals that the producer has approved must be documented in the rental agreement at the hire time.
Insurance
The insurance clause should explain that the producer’s insurance will not cover the contractor’s property’s damage or theft due to negligence. Neither will the employee get reimbursement for any personal items lost, damaged, or stolen.
Gas reimbursement
This section of the deal memo should note the gas reimbursements for the crew. The production company should consider gas reimbursement if the crew is driving more than an hour to set.
According to the IRS Standard Mileage Rates for Business, larger productions set their gas reimbursements at 0.54 per mile. The crew will appreciate any form of refund all in all. It could be added to the paychecks or come in the form of daily or weekly rates.
Responsibility of production equipment
The contractor should be responsible for any production equipment they are handed. Also, they are required to return production equipment in good condition as issued. However, if the budget allows it, a production assistant would go a long way in taking care of the production equipment. They should checkin and out the equipment to avoid loss or damage after production hours.
Screen credits
The screen credits clause should provide a detailed outline of how the crew members will becredited. In this section, you should ensure all the crew members understand that screen credits could change depending on the production’s preference.
Also, the crew members should understand that credits are subject to the contractor’s performance during their term period. The screen credit clause should further detail the font, size, and placement of crew members’ recognition on the screen.
Termination notice
The termination notice clause is to let the contractors know that the production temporarily engages them. In this section, the deal memo will specify the amount of notice the producer should issue before moving the termination.
The covered terms include; the reasons for termination and any ‘kill fees‘ incurred for improper notice. An inappropriate notice typically occurs within 24 hours or less.The production must ensure the contractor understands this section; otherwise, there is a likelihood of paying a day’s rate or more.
No waiver
The No waiver clause indicates that the terms of the entirecrew contracts are under no circumstances to be altered, amended, or revised by the contractor unless both parties agree.
Availability during emergencies
As the production company, you don’t want to call your crew members in the middle of the night. However, sometimes emergencies may occur, and you will need various crew members to show up.
In this section, the deal memo should advise the contractor to notify the production company of their whereabouts to be reached at any reasonable hour when urgent situations arise.
Publicity
Usually, most crew members won’t mind giving you full disclosure to use their picturesor voice for promotional work. All in all, in the deal memo, the production company must specify how, when, and where this will occur. The company should indicate they have the right to use the pictures, likeness, and name of the contractor in connection to the film for promotional or publicity without any additional compensation.
The publicity clause should also outline that the contractor should not publish directly or indirectly articles, blogs, or posts concerning the production without the company’s consent. This section needs to be as detailed as possible as such scenarios are likely to occur in this internet and social media age.
Compliance with immigration reform act
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1996 clearly states that it’s illegal to hire immigrants to your crew. In this clause, you must indicate that the contractor must provide the documents required by IRCA and comply with immigration verification/proof of citizenship for employment eligibility,
Arbitration clause
The arbitration clause is a critical part of the deal memo, and production companies should pay close attention to it. Most of the time, production companies will find crew deal templates online and use them without reading.
You will find that the clause deciding where and how disputes will be resolved is stated to be in a different state or country from where the production is situated. That will push you to deal with international legal systems,which could take a toll on the company. So, be careful when creating this section.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are there any Expendables and Kit Rental Fee?
When a contractor rents their tools for production, they should be reimbursed for that.The producer must clarify what happens if the team brings their tools to the production and any regulations to be observed in the crew deal memo. That ensures the production doesn’t incur costs for equipment that had not been approved to be on set.For instance, a picture car could be used for travel to and from the set on the independent productions. The crew deal memo should specify that the Picture Car is not covered on off hours in such a case.
Will I Get Footage for My Social Media?
Crew members working behind the camera might need reels to keep their social media updated. However, it’s not that easy-to-get reel footage. That is why both parties should discuss this in the deal memo to avoid it coming to haunt them later when the production has already kicked off.
Are there any provided rates for the prep and wrap-out days?
The wrap-out days and prep days aren’t always wok-intensive as other production days. However, crew members need to be compensated for these days too. Most production companies will pay half-day rates for such days. All in all, the production companies can negotiate the rates, so both parties should come to an agreement and document it in the deal memo.
If a shoot goes overtime, what happens?
Working on set means a crew member could be getting gigs all the time from different production companies. That is why once the deal memo is issued, the crew member should inquire what happens if the shoot goes overtime. This will help crew members to get organized for their multiple gigs. Also, the production company will plan if they need to find a replacement for the crew’s position when shoots go past the scheduled time.
Will I get paid for working overtime? And how is the payment calculated?
There is a standard rate when crew members work on set, but the overtime pay is equally important. The crew should always inquire about this as not many companies will offer overtime fees. This is crucial that the crew and production company should discuss and get out of the way before the shoot commences.
What are the per diem rates(if any)?
Crew members are always given a small amount of money for the general daily expenditures. There is never a fixed amount the crew should get for these expenses. So, the crew and production should agree on how much the per diem will be, depending on the crew’s daily costs.