The Producers Guild of America unveiled a plan to guarantee health insurance benefits for all eligible full-time producers in the film and television industries on Sunday at the 35th annual PGA Awards.
Producers do not have guaranteed health insurance coverage, in contrast to other creative professionals in the sector who are unionized. Nobody ought to be without these necessary advantages. PGA presidents Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line said in a statement that producing is difficult enough without having to worry about how you’re going to pay for health insurance for you and your family.
The Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan for eligible producers on qualifying productions is one way that the guild is requesting that all production companies, including studios and streamers, provide health benefits for qualified producers with credits recognized by the PGA who are working full-time on their eligible projects. For all other producers who are unable to access benefits through an existing industry plan or union contract, the guild is asking that all companies include a direct payment line item in their production budgets that allows producers to purchase their own health insurance.
The first companies to support this initiative are Blumhouse, Legendary, MACRO, and Berlanti Productions. They have committed to include in their production budgets contributions for health insurance to support eligible producers through the MPI’s Health Plan, as well as a direct contribution to producers for open market health insurance purchases if they are full-time and not eligible for coverage through MPI or a union agreement. According to PGA, production companies that offer a production budget line item contribution should pledge to set aside at least $3.33 per hour for each qualifying full-time producer. This money should then be utilized to pay for health insurance.
“Producers are the only group of creative professionals without a union on set, so we have to look out for each other. Taking care of our own is good business, good for families and good for our industry, and I’m proud to be part of the group leading this initiative,” Blumhouse’s Jason Blum said in a statement.