Production Value

Working Conditions in Sweden

Permits:

Sweden is a full member of the EU.

Working hours and wages:

For feature films your pay is usually based on a monthly salary. To get the daily pay of a monthly salary you divide the total amount with 21 working days.

The working day in Sweden is 8 hours. A shooting day has normal hours between 08.00 – 17.00 including a one hour lunch break.
Working hours starts and ends at the production office.
A working week consists of 40 hours and is usually divided on 5 days but can consist of as much as six.
If you prefer/need to work 10-hour days, you are allowed to plan your shooting days as 4x 10 10-hour days per week as well and by that borrow time from other days of the week.
You either work with 1-week planning or with 2-week planning. The 2-week planning means that you can borrow and use 2-weeks working hours (80 hours) when you plan your shooting schedule. However if you need to do that as compensation the working week in a 2-week plan will be reduced to 39 hours per week in average.

Overtime is paid in three different rates depending on the circumstances.

Rate 1: 1/106 of the monthly pay 1/5 of daily pay. Weekdays 07-21
Rate 2: 1/82 of the monthly pay ¼ of daily pay. All other times and weekends.
Rate 3: 1/75 of the monthly pay 1/3 of daily pay. Overtime not notified in time, due to unforeseen events.

Overtime can be negotiated to be included in the monthly salary for heads of departments.
For all other of your crewmembers you have to pay overtime.

Working on weekends/nights is allowed but you need to pay an additional pay for the following hours due to working during inconvenient hours:

OB1 Saturdays between 7-21 31,50 SEK/hour
OB2 Evenings between 21-24 50,50 SEK/hour
OB3 Nights between 24 – 07 and Sundays 101 SEK/hour

The day before a work free day all work must be finished well before midnight.

Turnaround time between work shifts is 11 hours.
Weekend rest is 36 hours of coherent rest as a minimum every week.
You are allowed to work a maximum of time of 48 hours / week, including overtime counted in average counted over a four week period.

You are required to encourage your team to choose a union representative and a Safety representative where the crew can go with concerns and complaints and forward it to the production management or to the producers.

Per Diem, Living arrangements and Travels

The place where you work most part of your contract is considered as the working place no matter where in Sweden your crew normally lives in. Therefore no per diem needs to be paid for the place where you shoot most of your film. Should your film be shooting in more than one town you will need to pay for the rest of the time.

It is custom to pay for hotel/apartment for team members and actors if they work away from home. Also to pay for one travel to and from the place of work (work start and finish).
Everything else is optional for the producer and you need to be careful since being “too kind” might lead to costs and extra taxes for both producer and employee.

Actors & Extras

> Rates for minimum wages.
Actors working days are also 8 hours (wardrobe and makeup time excluded) per day after that they are entitled to overtime of their pay is below 7000 SEK/day.

Extras are paid for number of shooting days. Normally between 350 – 1’500 SEK.

Shooting with Children

If working with minors is required you need a special permit. The rules for working with children are very strict! You apply for your permit at Arbetsmiljöverket.
www.arbetsmiljoverket.se

Fringes

58,5 % of the total amount to be added on all wages. This is a rough number that includes social fees, holiday payment, pension, basic insurance and so on. The exact percentage might vary a bit but this is a good number for counting a relevant budget.

Locations

Permits from the Police and from Gatu Fastighetskontoret of the town where who owns the land. As soon as you need to do more than just take the camera out you need a permit.

VAT

Most VAT is refundable for film companies. But one exception is for rental cars where only half of the VAT is refundable.

Rates + more on Per Diems, VAT and Locations are here.

Useful links and sources of Information:

Swedish Film & TV producers Association: www.filmtvp.se
Actors and Film crews Union, Teaterförbundet: www.teaterforbundet.se
Information on Taxlaws and regulations: www.skatteverket.se
Swedish Filminstitute: www.sfi.se
Information on working laws and application for working with minors, Arbetsmiljöverket: www.arbetsmiljoverket.se

There are a number of Filmpools in Sweden when working if different regions of Sweden these might come in handy. Here is a sample you will find them all on Swedish Film & TV producers website: