Guide

Contacting us

Please remember we all receive a high volume of calls. If your call is not urgent only phone during office hours.
i.e. 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

The Casting Collective Ltd
Olympic House
317-321 Latimer Rd
London W10 6RA

The office number is 020 8962 0099

Pay Enquiries
Edward 020 8962 0099
(only telephone between 11am-12pm, Monday to Friday)

or email accounts@castingcollective.co.uk

Other useful Contacts

London Transport: 0843 222 1234
National Rail Enquiries: 08457 48 49 50
Congestion Charge: 0845 900 1234

Email addresses

Casting Team

• Alex: alex@castingcollective.co.uk
• Beth: beth@castingcollective.co.uk
• Hannah: hannah@castingcollective.co.uk
• Laura: laura@castingcollective.co.uk
• Rob: rob@castingcollective.co.uk
• Sami sami@castingcollective.co.uk
• Sarah: sarah@castingcollective.co.uk
• Vicky: vicky@castingcollective.co.uk

Accounts

• Edward: edward@castingcollective.co.uk

Your contacts

If you do not have a mobile and email address you will miss out on all work offers. You can get a free email account from hotmail or gmail and we suggest getting a pay-as-you-go mobile to receive CC texts.

Bookings

You will be contacted by a member of the team and given either a confirmed booking or a pencil booking (If you are not told please ask). Before committing you must be 100% sure about your availability. If you have a pencil booking and other commitments arise please inform us immediately. Confirmed bookings will be made to you by phone or SMS text. You will be told the rate of pay when you are booked.

We have nine people in the office making bookings. It is therefore vital for us that you write down and remember the name of the person who has booked you and the name of the production you have been booked on.

SMS Text
We use a computer system to do this, although it will look like it comes from a mobile. Please make sure that you hit reply to this message rather than starting a new message. This will ensure that the message is delivered back to the correct person in the office. Although this looks like a mobile number you cannot call us on it. -If you need to speak to us please call 020 8962 0099.

Email
We will email you your booking details as soon as we get them the day before you are needed. It’s a good idea to check your email from around 4pm the day before shooting. If your details have arrived, please make sure you reply to the email with your full name (Not just your first name). This will ensure you do not need to call the office to pick up your details, as we will know that you have received and understood instructions.

Please make sure you reply to emails or texts with your full name (not just your first name).

Telephone
If you are unable to check your email and have not received details by text, you will have to get your details the old fashioned way – by phone. Please make sure you have a pen and paper before you call us! In this case you will be asked to call the office between 5pm-6pm the night before your engagement. You must call us between these times otherwise you may be replaced. You will be given your call time, details of location, wardrobe requirements and the name of the person from The Casting Collective who is managing that production with their emergency mobile number. If you are working on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday please call on the Friday evening.

Please be aware that your reliability and punctuality reflects on our company. If you fail to attend without good reason, or are consistently late, this will be noted by Casting Collective and may result in you being taken off the book.

Checking in

We do not have a checking in policy. Please do not check in for work by phone, text or email. The casting team are under tremendous pressure to get their work done within working hours and fielding calls from artistes checking in for work slows them down. If however you have not heard from us for a month or so, then feel free to give us a quick call. Artistes that check in everyday will not be used. You can also keep us up to date with your availability by using our online organiser.

Costume fittings

On some productions you will be required to attend a costume fitting which you will be paid for. This is not usually a full day, typically four hours or less. However, it is as important a commitment as a day’s filming and the same rules apply.

Appearance and Photo

Please remember that the photo we are using will last the entire year. We will also keep a second photo on our database. Please email this photo to photo@castingcollective.co.uk. If your appearance changes drastically; for example, a radical change of hair style/colour; please let us know and if possible email us with an up to date photo.

Cancellations

The nature of filming dictates that schedule changes often occur. This may result in your filming day being postponed or cancelled. Unfortunately this can occur at very short notice. The production is entitled to cancel you without remuneration up to 5:30pm the night before your scheduled day of work. Filming happens seven days a week so you could be cancelled on a Sunday evening for Monday’s filming.

Getting There

When you are given your details for the filming day you will be given directions on how to get to the Set/Location. It is your responsibility to get to a location on time. Because you are normally required on set very early please ensure that you plan your route the night before. If possible look it up online. If you are using Sat Nav, make sure the address you have works before you set out. If not please make sure you take your A-Z or road map with you. Please be aware that for central London locations you will be required to pay your own congestion charge.

For further information on the congestion charge, please visit www.cclondon.com or call 0845 900 1234.-

Problems

In the event of an emergency; for example, if you are unable to attend a day’s filming, you must notify the member of the casting team who booked you immediately so that a suitable replacement can be found. —If you are not able to do a job, do not leave a message on the office answerphone or send a text or email. It is important you speak to a member of the team rather than leave a message.

Emergency calls out of office hours must be made to a member of the Casting Collective on their mobile. Make sure when you are travelling to work that you have the appropriate mobile number in your possession. Please make sure that you call the member of staff that is dealing with your particular production.

If you have a problem on set remember that you should be polite to the crew. Always contact us with your query before approaching the AD.

Filming is not always action and glamour. Most of your day will be spent waiting around. Remember that members of the crew work very long hours. You are a representative of the Casting Collective; polite, patient and helpful behaviour will ultimately result in you getting more work. Bad behaviour will result in being taken off the book. An apparently harmless complaint can cause great offence.

On set

On set your first point of contact will usually be the 2nd Assistant Director (2nd AD). You will be given a salary voucher on Film and T.V. calls. Please fill in your name, address, National Insurance number and your phone number.

Please note: Usually on Commercials, Pop or Corporate Videos Photographics and promotions you will not be issued with a voucher. Instead you will be asked to sign a Release form. The production company will then tell us the hours that you have worked, but it is always worth keeping a note for yourself. If you do any overtime please email that to the person that booked you the day after the job.

The Wardrobe, or Hair and Make-up department may stamp your voucher noting any props or wardrobe you have been given.

Do not take any of your personal belongings onto the set. We are not liable for any loss or damage to personal possessions.

You will be told what to do by a member of the crew. We expect every one to behave in a professional manner whilst representing the Casting Collective.

MOBILE PHONES AND CAMERAS ARE NOT PERMITTED ON SET

Whether in a rehearsal or filming, a particular sequence may be shot a number of times and from a number of angles, for this reason you need to remember your first position and what you have been told to do.

Please keep noise to a minimum at all times unless otherwise instructed.

Catering will be provided when you are on location. If you are at a studio be prepared to pay for your own meals at the canteen. As the film crew always eats first, please wait patiently. You will be told when to go for your meal. Please queue in an orderly manner. At the end of the day you will be wrapped. At this point you will need your salary voucher to be signed off by the 2nd AD. Again please be patient and treat the crew with the respect they deserve. You must keep your copy of the voucher as it is the only proof that you were there.

DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT HAVING YOUR VOUCHER SIGNED, AS YOU WILL NOT BE PAID

It is also important to make sure you have enough cash to cover any eventualities, as there may be occasions when you will need to pay for food or travel.

Payment

We cannot pay you until we have received payment from the production company. Every effort will be made for this to happen as quickly as possible The industry standard is approximately 4-6 weeks from the day that you worked, but can sometimes take up to 3 months. All payments will be made by BACS directly into your bank account. It is therefore vital that we have your correct bank details. Incorrect details may result in your payments being delayed or paid into someone else’s account. Payments are made every second Friday. A remittance will be emailed to you just before payment, usually on the Wednesday.

Rates of pay

Within a 40 mile radius of London the FAA background rates of pay are usually used on all TV and Film Productions. However there are three other Equity agreements that may be used, the BBC agreement, the ITV agreement, or the Commercials agreement. You will be told the rate of pay at the time of booking. If you are not sure please ask. Additional money may be paid for Night shoots and Bank Holidays. Weekends, however, are considered normal working days. For other types of work, you will be told the rate when booked.

As rates often change, up to date pay scales can be found here on our website.

Pay enquiries

Our Accountant takes pay enquiries by phone between 11am – 12pm, Monday to Friday. You can also email accounts@castingcollective.co.uk

Tax and National Insurance

When working as an SA the Inland Revenue view of your employment status is complex. A different view is taken between Tax and National Insurance. For Tax reasons you are seen as self employed and therefore you are responsible for paying your own Income Tax and completing your own annual tax return. For more details please contact your local Tax office.

However for National Insurance purposes you are nearly always considered to be an employee of the production company. (The exception to this could be Photographic work, where no NI is usually taken) In all other cases the production company will deduct Class 1 National Insurance. Therefore unfortunately having self-employed status (class 2) does not prevent you from paying Class 1 National Insurance when working as an SA. You are only considered exempt from NI if you are of retirement age and have a valid exemption certificate, our accounts department need to have a photocopy of this.

Deductions

The Casting Collective commission is 15% (plus VAT) on all work.
You will also have an admin fee deducted from the first job you are paid for in 2012. This one off payment covers the cost of your photo in the casting book and on the website. The fee is £76 including VAT

Help the environment

The Casting Collective is committed to reducing our carbon footprint. In an effort to reduce paper consumption all remittances will be sent by email only. Please make sure we have your up to date email address. If you don’t have an email address of your own, we can send them to a friend or relation, or you can still check all your remittances online in the Artiste Organiser on this website.

A username and password will be emailled to you in January. If during the year you forget your username and password, please give us a call and we can resend it to you.

Unions

Unlike most other sectors there are two unions that look after the interests of Supporting Artistes, the FAA (part of BECTU the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematographic and Theatre Union) and Equity.

Working as a Supporting Artiste used to be a fairly closed shop and it was rare for non-union members to be offered work. Nowadays you do not have to belong to any union to work as a Supporting Artiste; however there certainly are advantages.

Unions are important because they protect your pay and your rights when you work on any production. It is their job to negotiate agreements setting out the terms and conditions of your employment, so joining one will help protect you and your earnings. Without them Artistes would be pushed into working longer and longer hours for less and less money. In addition, a union will look after your welfare, for example, helping in the event of a dispute or injury.

For more information on joining please visit: www.bectu.org.uk or www.equity.org.uk