would you sign this waiver?

MPB

MPB

Well-known member
leaving for 10 days tomorrow, shooting for a division of a major network in a remote and potentially hazardous environment, snow-mobiles, helicopters, boats, etc. and they send me this now.

you've been hired on the production of xxx project. you understand that you will not be an employee of xxx and other than rate agreed for services you are not entitled to any compensation of benefits of any nature from xxx or its successors including, but not limited to, medical or workers' compensation benefits.

you warrant and represent that you are informed about the conditions in which you will be working, have evaluated the risks, fully understand that your work may involve substantial danger and risks; acknowledge that xxx makes no representation or warranty with respect to the safety of your work; and agree that whatever risks are involved in your participation in the production you are assuming them voluntarily. you agree to release irrevocably xxx and it's ... subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, employees... waive all claims, damages, losses and liabilities resulting from your participation in production of the project....
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not asking for legal advice, but others' professional opinions. i've never been asked to sign something this . . . extensive before. it seems a little excessive to me. hypothetically, i couldn't see going after the employer for random acts of god, but i wouldn't hold them without responsibility for situations where they might normally be considered accountable. after all, it's their production, if anything happens it should go on their insurance.
 
I personally wouldn't sign that unless I had good coverage somewhere.
It would all depend on what my own travel insurance or travel insurance through your own company would or would not cover. If something happened out in the field how screwed would you be? For some it could be the thing that bankrupts you and your business. Its about the risk vs the reward.

A lot of reality programs have been making headlines lately for injured camera ops as budgets get tight and corners get cut to get the shots you want in time on budget. As a producer I have found that also a lot of large companies are cutting the amount of cash to pay fixers and for local payoffs to get things done smoothly and as securely as possible.


Here is a snow hill crash with Bear Grylls and his Cam Op.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8JKzhRsOOs
 
i carry basic equipment/production liability coverage, and i have health insurance. but i'm not being hired as a production company. it seems to me that a major network should have standard production insurance, and that doesn't usually exclude the freakin crew executing the production. putting all this under my own insurance, or alternatively, having to sue other individuals or contractors for damages or injuries i might suffer, seems like a bad business decision. not to mention, they send this to me for a signature the day before departure . . .

i guess i'm just wondering if this is common now. because if it isn't, handing it to me now seems really underhanded.
 
Technically what you would be signing is not a legal document because most likely you are classified as employee NOT independent contractor so as you are covered by workers comp. As independent contractor you are the one assessing the dangers and either go into it or not with whatever insurance you have. As employee (in most cases cameramen and often DPs on reality show fall into employee category) you are told what to do thus it's up to your employer to provide safety and insurance if shi* happens.

My friend got hit by a car on a job and of course the company - a meg corporation - refused to pay. He had to take them to court and even though he prevailed and got the money for his medical bills it was a long and eventful trek.
 
Yeah, this not a good position to be in. If an assistant puts up one of my lights and it falls on someone's head, they're coming after me. And I could decline to board a helicopter or a boat, but then what's the point in my being there?
 
MPB said:
leaving for 10 days tomorrow, shooting for a division of a major network in a remote and potentially hazardous environment, snow-mobiles, helicopters, boats, etc. and they send me this now.



not asking for legal advice, but others' professional opinions. i've never been asked to sign something this . . . extensive before. it seems a little excessive to me. hypothetically, i couldn't see going after the employer for random acts of god, but i wouldn't hold them without responsibility for situations where they might normally be considered accountable. after all, it's their production, if anything happens it should go on their insurance.
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Two things. First "you've been hired on the production of xxx project." says you're an employee. When they then say "you understand that you will not be an employee of xxx" it's time to pass this by your lawyer. They are giving you conflicting information.

Second, contracts are just ink on paper. I've learned the hard way that even if you have a contract, doesn't mean the other party is going to honor it. So if it's me in this situation (and it's not, so do with this what you will), I take this directly to my lawyer and a) get him to fix the language, in my favor, and b) get him to add a clause that says that if I have to sue the production company because of breach of contract, production company pays my legal fees. This takes away a huge amount of their incentive to screw you over by breaching the contract and telling you "so sue me" (I've actually had this happen). If the production company balks at this, you should too.

Remember, you don't have to work for a**h***s. And you do have to protect yourself, because no one else is going to. Just sayin'.
 
There was a incident where somebody signed something like this, ending up in a helicopter that was being flown by a pilot unused to video work who managed to crash, damaging the spine of the cameraman - who discovered that he had no protection at all from the production company, even though they engaged the pilot, hired the aircraft and employed the director - he was an unprotected contractor, expected to fund all the protection in the way of insurance and indemnities himself. If the fee allows you to cover yourself properly, then you can balance the risks before accepting, but if the fee is marginal, then run away.

I have signed plenty of contracts that spell out very clearly that you are not an employee, and state why - often also adding details about tax and National Insurance (hot topics in the UK). These can often be quite legal here. Other times, they are 100% NOT legal. Tricky to work them out.
 
MPB said:
not to mention, they send this to me for a signature the day before departure . . .
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Based on this alone I wouldn't sign it. Are they going to re-hire the day before departure? Usually these last minute waivers are calculated because if they gave you any more time your lawyer would amend it and send it back for revision. They are hoping in the rush you sign it and it gives them added leverage in case something happens.

I sure hope these types of waivers don't become standard because as I producer for a broadcaster I hate being asked to get people to sign douche corporate paperwork (more so then I have to already).
 
Thank you for your input, everyone, I appreciate it. My initial reply was simply to ask if they did not carry production insurance, and was told that they do not. I politely replied that I could not sign such a waiver without legal consultation and that it would be unlikely that I could obtain it before 10am tomorrow when I'm scheduled to leave for the airport.

I can't believe this. There have been hints of shoddy organization from the start, but this is beyond the pale. I can't stand being in the position of not just turning down the work but shutting down the production, but this can't be my responsibility to assume liability for a major network's production. This sucks.
 
MPB said:
I can't stand being in the position of not just turning down the work but shutting down the production.
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Remember... YOU didn't shut down the production. Shody producing caused the production to shut down. I have a feeling they will want to carry on without the signed waiver although I don't understand how they can run a production under a large broadcaster without production insurance. That in itself scares the living hell out of me.
 
RatLabProductions said:
Remember... YOU didn't shut down the production. Shody producing caused the production to shut down. I have a feeling they will want to carry on without the signed waiver although I don't understand how they can run a production under a large broadcaster without production insurance. That in itself scares the living hell out of me.
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It scares me too. At this point I'm not sure I could proceed even without the waiver.
 
Wait, they claim they have no insurance, at all? You should have no shame in not working with these people. This kind of production non-sense must be stopped. I would care not one bit about shutting down a production this shoddy. They need a wake up call.
 
Having pressed the matter, I'm being told that, of course they have production insurance. But it only covers "employees" and the concern is worker's comp. any injury to me is a matter of worker's comp and as they are hiring me as an independent contractor I'm expected to be responsible in that regard. But that isn't my primary concern. While I feel that production insurance should cover personal injury, my biggest concern is liability. I don't want to be needlessly cynical, but I have a hard time not seeing this as a shell game. I was told that they -may- be able to classify me as an employee instead and thereby cover me, but I've never had this issue before as an independent contractor.
 
They are fully capable of classifying you as an employee. And, without knowing any details, they likely should. There are a few criteria that must be met for someone to be a contractor. Basically what it comes down to is your level of independence. Are you capable of hiring your own assistants, or would they have to go through the company's HR? Does the production's management have direct control over what you do and how you do it? Does the production company provide any equipment (rented cameras, for example), or are you expected to provide all your own gear? Do you have any meaningful say in the way the business relationship works, such as how you're paid or who covers what expenses? If you don't have that much independence, you aren't an independent contractor.

On the other hand, if you do have that level of independence, you are an independent contractor and not an employee. And independent contractors are not covered by worker's comp, one of the biggest differences between the two, but they are often covered under production insurance plans. That isn't necessarily a legal requirement, and legally independent contractors are expected to carry their own insurance. But if you are independent, then that clause is not totally unreasonable. Just slightly unreasonable, since it looks like they also want to get out of negligence. Regardless, I would be really surprised if you are, considering how rarely I've encountered that on set. Crew doesn't count, and if something happens to a mis-classified employee, or the IRS checks in on it, that company could be in a really bad place. Any legitimate lawyer should have stopped them knowing that.
 
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after further conversation, i got confirmation that there is, of course, a general liability policy in place. it seems inconceivable that there wouldn't be, but i don't know why they were inclined to tell me there wasn't. when asked if that was sufficient, i said yes but that i couldn't sign the waiver. the response was that i would have to be classified as an employee, and as long as that means everything is covered, i'm perfectly happy with that.

i'd call it a good result. apparently the company is in the midst of some union/labor "changes" and i suspect that that is coloring people's responses and that maybe they haven't quite ironed out all the wrinkles in some new policies. but i really hate this aspect of the industry right now. i don't want to work a 9-5 so i know i have to accept the constant negotiation as part of the deal, but sometimes i really wish i could leave all the horse trading and legal stuff to someone else.
 
I have in writing that there is a general liability policy and that I am covered by it. My work permit for the country we're working in clearly declares that I am an employee of the network. In the event of any major mishaps they're clearly the liable party. Any minor issues or damaged/lost gear then worst case is I claim against my own insurance.
 
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