Casual Rate of Pay

[Stu]

Ello

 

I've been wondering how much of late how much other venues pay their cassies, and what they are expected to do for their moolah.

 

So, my questions are

 

A) How much do you get paid as a Casual / How much does your venue pay Casuals?

B1) What are you/they expected to do for the cash?

B2) What you actually do for the cash?

C) Is there a tiered system for Newbies, Basic Skills, Well Skilled etc?

D) Do you think it's a fair wage for what you do?

 

*Added Questions from Tom*

 

E) Do you get paid overtime and if so under what conditions (after a given number of hours / before or after certain times)?

F) Do you get paid a special rate for get-outs? (TMA / automatic overtime / OT after a certain time)

 

No need to name venues, or even if the precise sum (so you could say between £5 and £6 an hour say) if you don't want too.

 

And obviously this info isn't going to be used for any market researchy type thing!

 

I'll start us off.

 

A) £4.50

B1) Hump, Dump (Official Line)

B2) Everything LX wise - Rig, Focus (Overhead/FOH etc), Plot, Senior Roles, Run Smaller Spaces

C) No

D) No - £4.50p/h for a skilled job - I don't think so!

E) Various pay increase for Overnight / 6th Day / Sunday etc

F) TMA

 

I feel perhaps this might be a bit contraversal (altho not really sure how) but I do think this kind of thread is something we should do...

 

Stu

PS. I'd ideally like feedback here from current experience etc - and not "Oh I heard this might be the case at a venue 100 miles away, Possibly" (unless you actually do know and not pretending too :P )

[Rachel]

A) £4.65 p/h

B1) Usually f/spot a show. So 4 hour call. Plus rehearsals etc.

B2) Whatever needs doing. Might be my own fault for being so willing to help with anything that needs doing, but I'll take all the experience I can get!

C) Not as far as I know. But then the theatre in question has only just started building up a cassie list.

D) No, but I like the venue and the staff and I learn a lot when I'm there. Plus I'm a student so this is only part-time work anyway. I wouldn't/couldn't work there full time on what they're paying me. One of the resident technicians found out how much I was getting paid a few weeks ago (which was less than £20 for an evening's work), and couldn't believe that I'd said yes. But I figure as long as this is just funding my student lifestyle, I may as well get paid very little and learn as much as I can!

 

Sorry Stu, I don't know how useful this was. I should probably reiterate that this is only a part time job, and that I wouldn't find it acceptable for them to pay me that little if I was there all the time.

 

Edited to answer additional questions..:

 

E) Only overtime I've ever had to work was on Panto, which had different rates anyway, so it worked out as show rate + £4.65p/h for any additional time.

F) I'm usually only expected to work get-outs if they fit into the 4 hour call, but no extra money involved. (Get outs are usually quite small anyway). If I am called for a get-out the next day, it's just normal rate.

 

And yep, my theatre works on 4 hour calls.

[Tom]

can I add a couple of questions please:

 

E) Do you get paid overtime and if so under what conditions (after a given number of hours / before or after certain times)?

F) Do you get paid a special rate for get-outs? (TMA / automatic overtime / OT after a certain time)

[Stu]

Questions also added to the original post.

 

Stu

[Jon T]

Nope, no pay for overtime, although I havent been needed to work longer.** laughs out loud **

[gareth]

As I am only 15 I get £20 a day. 9am-6/7pm. Jobs including patching, rigging, colour call, loading/unloading trucks and a few other basic jobs.

That's taking the p*ss! OK, so you're only 15 - but does that mean the work that you do is worth so much less than if you were a year older?! Out of interest, how much will they be paying you when you turn 16?

[paulears]

£20 may not be much for that many hours, but amateur groups expect people to do it for free. It seems to me that as working there is illegal anyway, any attempt to get more money just leads to the sack - so, I guess if everyone is happy, why worry.

 

off topic, but I've just found a letter from the first venue I worked at, to a customer asking them to contact me about the hire of some Patt. 123's - 30p per day! (mind you, it was 1974)

[Ike]

A) £5.50 (including holiday pay)

B1) Keep busy! If your not doing anything find something to do. There will always be something. Anything from bits of installation work to flying and rigging (depending on competence of course).

B2) As above.

C) Nope

D) Yes

E) Double pay for anything more than 12 hours in one 24 hour period.

F) Usually this is arranged with visiting company and can be basic pay or more depending on amount of work involved.

[gareth]

The answers for my local theatre, where I do the occassional bit of casual work to fill out the quiet periods ...

 

A) £7.96/hr

B1) Anything that the full-time electricians are expected to do.

B2) See B1.

C) Yes.

D) For a casual, yes.

E) Yes, according to the usual agreement (before 8am, after 11pm, more than 37 hours in a week, Sundays, missed breaks, etc.)

F) Yes - TMA rates paid for touring shows, or in-house productions that are transferring elsewhere when they close.

 

However, the above only applies to some of the work that I do there - it's not always paid hourly. Other times, they pay normal freelance day rates (depends on what the work involves and where it is ...).

[sam.henderson]

In regards to F) The show I worked on paid £150 as Get Out fee to all the technciains supplied by the theatre (in other words all the casual staff)

 

Sam

[Ike]

D) No - £4.50p/h for a skilled job - I don't think so!

Thats the same as I would get for glass colecting in the pub where I work!

[la grande homme]

A:8.51, 13.60 on sundays / BH / after 11.30pm and before 7.30am

 

B: Short of direct responsibility for things and organisation, what the full timers do.

 

B2: depends on the show... for some shows (not performances but the whole project) you never stop, some you spend sat on your bum in the office 'standing by', tends to depend on how organised the incoming company are.

 

C: no tiering although it is possible to be given a temporary contract at a higher rate of weekly pay if someone is needed for a long period because someone is ill / maternity leave / unexpectedly left or whatever.

 

D: Yes, looking at the posts on this thread its one of the higher rates, there are other venues that pay more (at least two of whom I work for) but they can't provide the sustained work that this one does.

 

E: Overtime as answer A.

 

F: no special rate for Get outs, although these tend not to be monstrously big and often take an hour or less.

[Bryson]

A) £12.50ph

B1) Babysit amdrams/focus/stage manage/bit of troubleshooting

B2) What it says on the tin.

C) Hired according to skills needed - don't use newbies

D) Yup

E) Nope (But look at the basic rate!)

F) Nope (Again, look at the basic rate!)

 

Another question - we have a 4-hour minimum call. Is that what everyone else does?

[Ike]

Another question - we have a 4-hour minimum call.  Is that what everyone else does?

We don't have an official minimum call however I can't remember ever working less than 6 hours.

[Rob]

This is relevant to the last show I worked on as a Caual, and is based on a west end fit-up.

 

A. £8 per hour for first 8 hours £12 p/h after that. £16 p/h Sundays

B. Anything the full time Sparks would be expected to do

C. Don't think so, but don't really know

D. Not sure, Looks good on paper, but comparing it to freelance rates... :P

E. As above

F. Don't think so, but again, don't really know