I guess it's a sign of these economic times that production companies can get crew to work for a flat rate. But I tell you, I'm not sure it's entirely beneficial for them to do so.
I'm on the show right now that pays a flat daily rate, and I signed on because it's a good steady 3-4 months of work on a well-known show. But since they are not paying overtime, the crew and everybody gets very upset when we go into "overtime" or we incur "meal penalties" (which of course are not paid either).
This just adds to the stress of the show on everybody from the AC's to the Line Producer. The only people it doesn't hurt are the Executive Producers.
There's always that campaign promise before you sign on for a flat rate gig where they say, "oh we don't pay overtime, but don't worry, we'll be very good about not going past 12 hrs."
The problem is that once you sign on and you're working, they routinely go past 12 hours, have late meals, etc. etc. And all they say is "sorry, we're doing the best we can". And then everybody gets all upset at each other.
But I have a solution for this. I know a way where nobody on the crew will get upset even if we work all night and never stop for a meal - just pay the overtime! Then everybody's happy - the crew, the field producers, everybody except the executives.
So I guess it's one or the other. And since it's the EP's show, then that's just how it is.
I just need to come to terms with the fact that we all made bad deals by signing on for this show. Oh well. Live and learn. It's still 3-4 months of work that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Gotta count my blessings.
