A B.C. film company has been ordered to pay an actor wages he said he hadn’t received.
According to the May 2 decision from the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal, Amir Gill claimed he acted in a film produced by Hunter Village Films Inc. and had not been paid for his work or expenses to attend the film shoots. He claimed $1,893 for his acting services and accommodation expenses.
Hunter Village agreed it had not paid Gill for two days of work, but said the other amounts he claimed were unreasonable and it did not agree to pay them.
The tribunal's Alison Wake said Gill undisputedly attended two film shoots for Hunter Village, one on Vancouver Island and one in the Lower Mainland.
In an email to Hunter Village in evidence, Gill said the amounts owing from the two shoots included:
• $650 for 13 nights’ accommodation on Vancouver Island, at $50 per night;
• $50 for an unpaid per diem for the Vancouver Island shoot;
• $200 for ferry expenses; and,
• $493 for three nights’ accommodation in the Lower Mainland.
Hunter Village acknowledged it owed Gill $200 plus a $50 per diem per day for his last two days of work, which Gill said was for the Lower Mainland shoot.
“I find Hunter Village agrees to pay Mr. Gill the claimed $500 for the two days of shooting, and I order it to pay this amount,” Wake said.
Wake found Hunter Village agreed to pay for Gill’s Lower Mainland accommodation. But the company did not agree to pay Gill for claimed expenses, she said.
The tribunal said the burden was on Gill to prove that Hunter Village agreed to pay the amounts he was claiming. Wake found he did not and dismissed that part of the claim.
She said Gill provided no evidence the company agreed to pay ferry costs.
Gill also claimed $650 for accommodation on Vancouver Island.
“He says that Hunter Village promised him $50 per day for accommodation, and he stayed on Vancouver Island for 13 nights. Again, given Hunter Village’s denial that it agreed to pay for Mr. Gill’s claimed expenses, the burden is on Mr. Gill to prove that it did.”
She said he provided none and dismissed that claim as unproven.
Wake ordered Hunter Village to pay Gill a total of $1,123.
