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Maxim Ford for president!


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Just received the ballot paper for election of the national executive committee of BECTU's London Production Division only to find that our very own Mr Ford is up for election.

 

Since he's the only person whose election statement didn't just go on about the BBC and huge PACT productions on which most people will never work, I'd be minded to vote for him. Except, well, you know. There's only so big a budget for red flags.

 

Why, Maxim? What do you hope to achieve?

 

P

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OMG, the jokes write themselves on this one. Ok I have to go out for a few hours, but I'll be back. I'm going to make a goal of three one-liners. Stay-tuned.

 

R,

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I'm sure it's just the ongoing crisis in Ukraine that has him occupied with dreams of a new Soviet. :)

 

Damn it Stuart! Now I only have two left. :angry:

 

R,

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Oh the wit, you guys must have killed them in the schoolyard. This is however a grown-up's forum.

 

If you want to mock people on the internet, using their real names, because you disagree with their politics or their choice of footwear or whatever, do it somewhere else.

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Would that the subject of this post observed your stipulation. Look him up.

There's nothing here which offends against forum rules and to be fair some of the comments are quite witty seen in a wider context.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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Oh the wit, you guys must have killed them in the schoolyard. This is however a grown-up's forum.

 

If you want to mock people on the internet, using their real names, because you disagree with their politics or their choice of footwear or whatever, do it somewhere else.

 

What are you the internet police?

 

R,

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I met Maxim and got the impression he had a sense of humor.

 

A lot of people here seem to love his posts, and yes they get some laughs out of it, as well as long extended discussions on the state of the world.

 

I've never got the impression it has ever been especially nasty but maybe I'm not just not picking up on that?

 

Freya

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What are you the internet police?

No Maam, just a concerned citizen.

Incidently, the accusation was of being craven, childish and witless, not of breaking any laws.

 

I met Maxim and got the impression he had a sense of humor.

 

A lot of people here seem to love his posts, and yes they get some laughs out of it, as well as long extended discussions on the state of the world.

 

I've never got the impression it has ever been especially nasty but maybe I'm not just not picking up on that?

 

Freya

Freya,

I understand Maxim has started some controversial topics, I've enjoyed those discussions too. The difference here is that he is not part of this discussion, just the butt of its jokes, and named in the thread title. It's a form of cyber bullying. Maybe I'm over-sensitive to it, but I know kids who have topped themselves over this stuff.

 

It doesn't really matter who the target is, whether people think he deserves it or whether he has a sense of humour. A lot of young people come here looking for guidance and advice, and this thread is like coming across a circle of bullies guffawing and poking something with a stick.

 

So I said something.

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I'm sure BECTU would be delighted if more members stood for election on to various committees and put forward their views. I've known the current president for many years, so it's very possible to get to that position from starting out as an ordinary member in Dublin. There's a range of views from the political spectrum on the union's committees and many enjoy debating them. This is part of a healthy democracy, although the tone of this debate may have strayed into the personal, rather than putting forward counter arguments.

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For what it's worth, my initial question was serious.

 

But ultimately I do think it's all a bit of a waste of time. People who work on big productions will continue to get paid a lot of money. People who don't will continue to take non-film work on the side in order to avoid starving. The union has no control whatsoever over people who won't sign some form of union agreement - and the overwhelming majority of people I work for have never even heard of PACT.

 

Joining committees and airing views is probably cathartic, but not much else.

 

What's more, I'm not sure that quite a lot of BECTU people do actually want anyone other than their buddies joining committees. There's a hell of a lot of politics involved.

 

P

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For people who don't know what PACT is: http://www.pact.co.uk/home/

 

I notice that quite a few people up for election have been around for many years, but they get elected onto committees by members so there's no reason that someone can't stand against them. Although it may be easier in the regions than London to make a move. Also, unfortunately, not that many members go to the general meetings, so there can be case of the usual suspects getting elected..

 

.

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I'm sure you're right.

 

The problem is, if I go to a union meeting all I get to hear is people arguing about whether meal breaks should be five minutes longer or shorter on Harry Potter 17. This represents a hopeless degree of tunnel vision and doesn't represent what must reasonably be the situation that pertains to the vast majority of members. Who don't go. Because of this.

 

On the other hand, perhaps they know full well they can't really do much for anyone but the top 5%.

 

P

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Freya,

I understand Maxim has started some controversial topics, I've enjoyed those discussions too. The difference here is that he is not part of this discussion, just the butt of its jokes, and named in the thread title. It's a form of cyber bullying. Maybe I'm over-sensitive to it, but I know kids who have topped themselves over this stuff.

 

It doesn't really matter who the target is, whether people think he deserves it or whether he has a sense of humour. A lot of young people come here looking for guidance and advice, and this thread is like coming across a circle of bullies guffawing and poking something with a stick.

 

So I said something.

 

Fair enough! It's an open forum and you should definitely feel okay about saying something if you feel uncomfortable with things. :)

 

You also make a good point about young people coming here looking for guidance and getting the wrong impression about things. I hadn't looked at it that way, tho I have wondered whether some of the stuff here comes across as cliquey. In reality people are quite welcome to come and post here as they feel and people do try to help, unless a person seems rude or especially arrogant. It's usually quite nice to have new people posting. :)

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
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  • 5 months later...

What have I been missing?

 

I have been bust promoting my LED light Softy Lite and here I am the subject of a thread.

 

Yes I stood for the NEC of BECTU and I have been elected.

 

Why?

 

I have been pushing the Union to come up with a plan to support the British film industry in the same way as the French support theirs.

 

I want to see the Union fight for a freelance living wage.

 

I want to see film students get a good film education with real film making practice and teaching and not just a money making scheme for universities.

 

 

For or against, just turn up to meetings and get your voice heard

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The problem is, if I go to a union meeting all I get to hear is people arguing about whether meal breaks should be five minutes longer or shorter on Harry Potter 17.

 

Maybe the producer, who actually writes the cheques and makes the decisions, will tell the EMPLOYEES this is how long lunch break will be and if you don't like it work someplace else.

 

R,

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For or against, just turn up to meetings and get your voice heard

 

Whatever anyone's opinion of Maxim is, I agree 100% with this mentality which applies to ANY unionized group. I reminded my own colleagues of this just the other day.

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I did go to the last camera branch meeting, but the only thing I remember is about there being a vote on a system of qualification, like the grips have put in, so they can control who gets to work.

 

In camera there isn't even really a safety issue to use as an excuse for this, so I was horrified, and I wasn't entirely alone. It passed anyway.

 

P

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I did go to the last camera branch meeting, but the only thing I remember is about there being a vote on a system of qualification, like the grips have put in, so they can control who gets to work.

 

In camera there isn't even really a safety issue to use as an excuse for this, so I was horrified, and I wasn't entirely alone. It passed anyway.

 

P

Two questions here.

 

1) should grips be trained to be safe and not kill the crew and cast ?

 

2) should being a grip be open to all who are prepared to work safley?

 

 

BECTU says yes to both.

 

 

The free market has created more film workers than jobs, the union supports workers joining together to protect wages and conditions, that all have an equal opportunity to work, that training is improved, that we create a film industry with more work

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Two questions here.

 

1) should grips be trained to be safe and not kill the crew and cast ?

 

2) should being a grip be open to all who are prepared to work safley?

 

 

BECTU says yes to both.

 

 

The free market has created more film workers than jobs, the union supports workers joining together to protect wages and conditions, that all have an equal opportunity to work, that training is improved, that we create a film industry with more work

 

I think Phil was talking about camera and not Grips.

He seems to acknowledge there are some serious safety issues around gripping whereas this is not really the case for cameras.

 

Freya

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I think Phil was talking about camera and not Grips.

He seems to acknowledge there are some serious safety issues around gripping whereas this is not really the case for cameras.

 

Freya

 

Film making is dangerous and I think all depts should be aware of the dangers, DOPs and directors are often hands on, a 2 kw lamp falling on someone will hurt, putiing two lights together from different phases will give an exciting 480 volts if they are faulty.

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Film making is dangerous and I think all depts should be aware of the dangers, DOPs and directors are often hands on, a 2 kw lamp falling on someone will hurt, putiing two lights together from different phases will give an exciting 480 volts if they are faulty.

 

Film making is completely safe. It only becomes potentially dangerous when people start working at a higher level of the kind you suggest here where there are 2kw lamps and 3 phase power. At the lower levels filmmaking is safe and getting even safer.

 

It's good to have an awareness of safety tho for sure.

 

Freya

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