We’re all tired, tetchy and hungry, say BBC crew – but we don’t hit people
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Version 0 of 1. The violent argument over a lack of steak and chips that led to the sacking of Jeremy Clarkson is just a slice of daily life for embattled and hungry programme-makers working for the BBC, say professional camera crews. Cuts to the food budget and the size of film crews on documentaries and factual shows mean that teams working on location must work twice as hard, without much to eat. This is the claim of Keith Massey, chairman of the Guild of Television Cameramen, who believes the empty larder at the end of a day’s filming that incensed Clarkson, former presenter of Top Gear, is the sign of a widespread problem in the corporation. Speaking this weekend, he said the declining support for pressurised television crews has finally inflicted a serious wound on the BBC. “It is not acceptable to go round thumping people, but tensions are going to arise in a creative marketplace when people have been fighting the elements all day outside and then there is no hot food. We know, after all, that an army marches on its stomach,” Massey told the Observer. “It is very disappointing that the BBC has lost one of its most valuable assets because of this sort of problem. On drama productions, budgets and staffing levels are still fairly protected, but factual programmes are suffering. Many news programmes are now down to the most basic single crew member, and it certainly affects the quality of what you can do.” Last week Clarkson was sacked by BBC director general Lord Hall, after an incident in which the presenter verbally and physically assaulted his producer, Oisin Tymon. Clarkson had arrived late at night at a hotel after the kitchen had shut. Massey, whose organisation was set up 40 years ago and represents the interests of men and women who work as professional camera operatives in Britain and abroad, argues that the Top Gear row was a symptom of short-sighted economies. According to another freelance cameraman, who is regularly employed on news and factual programmes by the BBC, the job has become much more physically challenging. “The BBC has been cutting and cutting and it makes it a lot harder to do the things we used to do,” said the cameraman, who did not want to give his name. “Everybody is tired all the time and we all work twice as hard. That means that people get tetchy. You don’t have to hit someone, of course, but I can see why it happened.” The refreshment needs of a crew are frequently met from the producer’s own pocket, especially if more than £6 a head is paid out for lunch. A producer working on factual programmes, who also wanted to remain anonymous, confirmed this standard limit for lunch expenses and added that, while there is a £16 limit for a full meal, this makes it very hard to feed everybody at the end of a long day, especially in London and the south-east. “A presenter will often order over that [amount] and you have got to manage the talent somehow,” he said. “You can’t be stingy about lunch when people have worked hard. People who last worked for the BBC a decade ago get a tremendous shock, because everything has been cut back. “There is no per diem allowance, as such but, if you have a lunch receipt for £8, it will be rejected and you will have to explain it to accounts,” he added. A spokesperson for the BBC responded to these claims this weekend, saying: “We are committed to supporting camera crews, and provide food and rest breaks within the allowances agreed on individual productions, as well as observing industry standards and working time regulations.” Massey said that, while some may think of television work as comfortable and well paid, it is often gruelling. “Crews are sometimes asked to work for 16 hours non-stop. And while 30 years ago a documentary would have a crew of seven, you are now working without a sound engineer, or an assistant cameraman, or an assistant producer.” |