Surprising it might seem but in 2022 it appears there is at least one employer working in the production industry (or claims to be) who has yet to catch up on a piece of legislation that was passed some twenty five years ago.

It’s the one that says that you really must pay the people who work for you and is called The National Minimum Wage Act which – to save anyone having to trawl through and parse the stiflingly dull legal language therein – basically says that if you take on someone and expect them to do work for you, that person does have to be paid a minimum amount for their time and labour.

The individual in question is called Rick Taylor, a self-described “Sports TV entrepreneur and Fashion Show personality” and also sometime alumnus of the University of Hertfordshire and former employee of British Sky Broadcasting.

Lately Rick has taken to wandering around industry employment pages on Facebook touting for workers, but not ones he would actually like to pay thank you very much:

When asked how he might legitimately be able to avoid having to pay these Runners, Rick said “like most new shows they have no/little budget none of my crew is getting paid at the moment until sponsors start paying me which won’t be until September/October (this is normal for the entertainment business)” . When the folly of this was pointed out, he responded with:

Not wishing to challenge the superior knowledge of someone who has worked for BOTH Sky AND Channel 5 (as well as being a “fashion show personality”), it may benefit Rick to check out some of what has happened over the past twenty years in terms of what TV production employers now do if they want to take on Runners (ie treat them like human beings and pay them for their work). And he might consider stopping being such an arse too obviously.

Anyone who has the misfortune of working for this individual on one of his sports shows and who finds they aren’t being paid for their work, do get in touch about how to make a claim for that pay.

But meanwhile: Rick Taylor: Freelancers beware!