The Case for Overtime Pay in Live Production

When it comes to overtime, Nashville isn’t fully on board yet. In some ways, it’s understandable – overtime wasn’t a common practice here before, and folks have every right to be suspicious.

Once Nashville gets comfortable with the overtime structure, we know it will be hugely beneficial for everyone, especially audio, video, and lighting technicians and engineers. Read on to find out why.

Overtime Streamlines Corporate and Touring Jobs

Touring gigs are far different from corporate events, in part because they involve more downtime throughout the day. In both instances, AVL technicians don’t operate with the same “clock-in, clock-out” mentality that someone with an office job would.

Live production technicians working corporate events always have to be on. During an event, they do not have time to pause or take a mental break. They must remain in the room from load-in to load-out. The specialized nature of their work and the lack of downtime is one of the driving factors in Nashville adopting overtime to ensure these skilled techs are compensated fairly.

People with touring jobs must be available for long hours but will often see intense bursts of work followed by down periods. This is why they are typically compensated with a day or weekly rate as opposed to an hourly rate.

As a company that works in both corporate and touring, we straddle a unique line. Because our versatile clients have distinct production needs, we have to assemble technical teams that can execute each unique event well. The skills and proficiencies of a concert tour crew are not the same as a corporate conference crew – and the personnel are not transferrable. We have to pay our teams according to the specific scale of the event and the skills required to operate the event flawlessly. As a result, corporate and touring techs simply don’t get compensated the same.

Overtime Boosts Efficiency

Clients are more likely to spend their time and money purposefully if they are worried about racking up overtime costs. In other words, though it may sound contradictory, overtime actually increases efficiency.

Additionally, enlisting a crew for your event means you are paying specialists. Not only do they know how to get your event up and running, they are skilled at managing their time and producing error-free work. Because they are so good at what they do, it is important to compensate them fairly. Trust us, it is worth it.

Overtime Allows Flexibility

There are many unknowns when coordinating a large-scale event, which makes flexibility all the more important, especially when negotiating rates. It’s always good to buffer for the unknown, allowing for more flexibility with your show’s budget.

Comparatively, Overtime Isn’t Expensive

There’s no way around it – a large-scale event costs money. When factoring in the cost of transportation, employee entertainment, lodging and so on, paying AVL technicians a few hours more is comparatively pretty trivial.

How Do Companies Arrange for Overtime?

Simple: by pre-billing for it, estimating overtime, and building it into the quote. With the help of a project manager, this process can be quite straightforward.

Improve Your Event By Paying Overtime

At CTS, we care about fairly compensating our live production teams of audio, video, and lighting technicians. We also want our clients to have exceptional AVL at every event. Contact us today to plan Nashville events that are executed at a high level.