Deborah Hadfield, Derby University and unpaid workers.

An unseemly tale has just emerged from the groves of academe - of Film and TV students being used as unpaid workers on a film being made by an alumnus of the University of Derby.

The film in question goes by the name of Chinese Whispers, being produced by Deborah Hadfield with the help of Tom Craig, a lecturer at the University who offered up his students to take various roles on the production, all of which were completely unpaid.

It is of course the case that students are just as entitled to be paid for their work as anyone else. Many students do day jobs behind bars and at Tesco and the like, and they rightly expect to get remunerated for the hours they put in.

Working on a Film or TV set is no exception in this regard, even if the students in question are studying for media degrees. The only exemption to the Minimum Wage regulations being where the students in question are doing work experience as part of their degree, something which is not the case for these individuals, many of whom write in to complain about the lack of pay on offer.

When asked why he was not insisting his students be paid for their work, Tom Craig had no comment to make. Up to the Vice Chancellor’s office then, who maintained that this was all a terrible misunderstanding and that these students weren’t being expected to do real work at all but that these were actually “opportunities that have been shared with students…of gaining experience work-shadowing and observational experience on set during a live production” and that “students will be mentored by an industry professional to ensure they have the maximum learning opportunity to complement their studies”.

No problem then, that would be very different, and clearly a very good thing. Opportunities like that on a professional film set are few and far between and would be of huge value to a Film or TV student, especially if there is a well constructed plan for mentoring by working professionals.

When it was reported back to the students however, they dismissed this version of events as a cmplete fantasy and that they were indeed being expected to fill proper jobs of work on the production. Who to believe?

It didn’t take long for the truth to emerge as, only hours after Derby University’s response, these “work experience opportunities” suddenly vanished into thin air and the students were told that they were not needed after all, almost as if, having found she could not take advantage of them, they were now an unnecessary inconvenience to this Producer who duly waved them away like the nuisances they had now become.

A cynic might conclude that this was never the “work experience and mentoring” opportunity that was being claimed, just a chance for a Producer to make a film on the cheap, facilitated by the University to which these students pay £9,250 per year. Pretty unseemly all round.

Deborah Hadfield, when asked, had nothing to say on the subject. She will no doubt be on the hunt for more workers elsewhere so if anyone does get offered unpaid work on this production, do feel free to get in touch for help with a minimum wage claim.

And in terms of The University of Derby, they would do much better to be encouraging their students to regard their skills and abilities as having an economic worth, instead of shovelling them towards unpaid work with such disregard for their value.