Operating

[Jon O'Brien]

On professional, big productions, fully financed and all that, what sort of money does the camera operator make compared to the DP? Or is that like asking how long is a piece of string? But there must be some general pay grade I suppose.

[Brian Drysdale]

The 2017 BECTU recommended rate for a camera operator for a 55 hour week is £3300 on a £30m+ feature, The DP rate is individually negotiated, it depends who you are..

[Stuart Brereton]

The 2017 BECTU recommended rate for a camera operator for a 55 hour week is £3300 on a £30m+ feature, The DP rate is individually negotiated, it depends who you are..

I remember there being a substantial difference between BECTU rates and what the BBC (or anyone else) actually paid. Has that changed?

[Phil Rhodes]

I suspect any such comparison would be made pretty difficulty by the overwhelming variability in DP rates. I wouldn't be surprised if people who were stepping up and taking a big opportunity had on extremely rare occasion been paid less than some of their crew, even on big movies.

 

P

[Brian Drysdale]

I remember there being a substantial difference between BECTU rates and what the BBC (or anyone else) actually paid. Has that changed?

 

The rates I mentioned are for high end productions. BECTU does have rates for different budget levels for drama and TV drama, however, I suspect the actual rates on a BBC drama may vary depending on the budgets and the above the line costs, they tend to be a lot tighter on the crew rates.

[Mark Dunn]

Crikey, I'm definitely putting my Steenbeck rates up then. I only charged the BBC £600 for a week's rental and local transport.