Lights, camera, action!

On Wednesday, those three magic words went missing as a number of television shoots across Tollygunge studio floors came to a stop.

The no-shoot-show lasted throughout the day and into the evening until a round of meetings between the producers and representatives of the Federation of Cine Technicians And Workers of Eastern India led to a breakthrough.

Final call: Shooting will resume on Thursday, and the way forward will be decided through another meeting on July 19.

Metro shoots at site...

What is the problem?

The shooting of serials takes place in accordance with an arrangement between production houses and the federation. Technicians get OT (overtime) when they work beyond 10-hour shifts. Assistant production managers, though, don't get OT since, producers claim, their remuneration is higher than technicians. That's how the money slab has worked for some time now.

A dispute arose between producers and the assistant production managers when they started demanding OT. On Monday and Tuesday, many assistant production managers left their shoots after doing a 10-hour shift.

On Wednesday, producers didn't give out a call time, leading to the shoots of several megas like Potol Kumar Gaanwala, Bedeni Moluar Kotha and Ma Durga coming to a halt.

What are the two sides saying?

"Why should I give in to these demands? If we do, we'll have to fork out huge amounts of money. A channel gives us a certain budget on which we try to make a show and meet expenses. If we suddenly start giving out OTs to everyone, then budgets will shoot up. Our point is that one shouldn't disturb the shoot. Both sides should come to an understanding and talk it out," a producer who didn't want to be named said around 5pm. A round of meetings followed after this.

"We would like to maintain status quo and start work from tomorrow. If producers give a call time, we'll work. A meeting will be held on July 19 to decide on a policy," said a representative of the federation around 8pm.

Channelspeak: "Whatever decision comes out has to be in an amicable manner, so that both the parties involved should be in a comfortable position," said a channel representative.

Channels have a limited number of episodes in stock, so they'll be badly hit if shoot stops suddenly.