The new subs rate of £18/month will kick in with the New Year (January 2017). To greet this increase the office is looking to consolidate the administrative help that Dee Edwards can call-on into one permanent and possibly fulltime assistant. For years the guild has been trying to recover its financial stability and has not been able to afford the luxury of a permanent post in the office. Assistance was shared among several occasional, ad hoc helpers with the talents to cover the office’s various needs. Over the eight years that she has been overseeing the office operations, Dee has worked hard to improve the services we offer while acting prudently to re-build the finances. We are now seeing the benefits of this and, with the help of the increased subs, can now contemplate returning to a staffing level that the guild has not enjoyed for many years.

The consolidated and increased service in the office is to be backed up with a streamlined and improved office IT package with improved accounting software, a revamped website and database. The board has drawn up its requirements and will be putting this into action over the remainder of the year. Members are encouraged to send in photographs of their activities so that we can show the breadth and depth of the talent we represent.

One of the remits we gave to Dee was to increase the profile and reputation of the Guild. We are now active in many areas of the infrastructure of the film and television industry. We run training courses in many areas. After a run of bad luck with several printers going out of business at just the wrong moment, we will again be publishing a hardcopy version of our directory of members which will be sent to all top production companies, producers and production managers, so that they will have at hand a source of the top camera talent. Quietly, over some years, the office has been making itself the go-to place for productions looking for camera technicians in an emergency at any time of the day or night. Knowing that there will be someone there to find top quality camera technicians when all other sources are closed has proved to be a great boost for the Guild’s reputation.

The Welfare Fund continues to look after the interests of members who have fallen on hard times. Its services are most often called on to help with funeral costs for those of us who have found ourselves in the genteel poverty that an inadequate pension has left us (a topic for another time).

The improved dynamic service that the office will be offering makes it now a great time for the Guild to make a greater mark on the industry, both as the voice of camera technicians and as the foremost provider of top quality camera training.

Tim Potter
Chair
GBCT