Supervisor’s Role in Audiovisual Productions from the Perspective of Authority and Responsibilities

Many kinds of people work in film and television productions: employees of the main production company, temporary agency workers, subcontractors who work as employers, self-employed people, trainees, and volunteers.

Everyone works for the good of the production, that is to say the completion of a film or a television programme, which means that they work, directly or indirectly, for the good of the production company. Although this does not officially make everyone the employer’s representatives, in working life, everyone represents the employer in one way or another.

Important terms for supervisory work include the employer and the employer’s representative, i.e. the employer’s substitute.

In general, employer refers to the employing company and employer’s representative refers to persons in an employment relationship with the employer to whom the employer has granted the right to supervise work. They include managers, supervisors and forepersons.

The supervision of work entails various forms of authority. Make sure to agree on the management relationships and ensure they are communicated clearly.

In a limited liability company, the highest decision-maker responsible for business activities is its board of directors. The board of directors may hire a CEO or managing director to manage the company’s operative activities. In a limited liability company, the managing director does not have an employment relationship with the company but is considered a governing body or organ. All other persons employed in the company are subject to the Employment Contracts Act.

In addition to the managing director, other managers may be hired to manage the company. They may be responsible for a specific part of the business, such as finances or development, or a specific project, as is usually the case with a producer.

A manager usually has all or some of these powers

• decision-making power to make business-related and operational policies and decisions
• right to hire and dismiss employees
• preference of interpretation in case of conflicts.

Differences in management roles

Managers have more authority than supervisors or forepersons, and there may be a hierarchy among managers. The roles of the manager, supervisor and foreperson are part of the hierarchical distribution of the right to supervise work. Each role has differing perspectives and responsibilities.

Lower management and supervisors implement decisions made by upper management. They focus on daily operational tasks. They are usually the people who communicate the upper management’s policies to the employees and bring employee feedback to the upper management’s attention.

The right to supervise work can also be distributed to, for example, a head of department (HOD), in which case they become the supervisor for their working group. The foreperson is a supervisory role, as they have the authority to, for example, determine how the work is carried out or to monitor the quality of the work. The roles of, for example, the second assistant director or best person have a supervisory element if they are authorised to give orders to other team members.

In film and television productions, roles can be multi-layered. The owner, managing director or other manager of the production company may also work in production. On the other hand, a person in an employee position may have a supervisory role towards other people, such as interns.

The distribution of decision-making authority and the right to supervise work varies from project to project and depends, among other things, on the size of the production. The employer grants extensive or narrow mandates to act as the employer’s representative in the production. It is important to determine how work is managed in the production in question and what are the limits of decision-making power in supervisory roles.

The employer decides what, how, where and when work is carried out. The employer’s representatives supervise the implementation of this. In other words, they exercise the right to supervise work in the production as distributed to them by the production company. The right to supervise work is subject to laws and contracts.

The right to supervise work refers to the right of the employer or their representative, such as a supervisor, to give employees instructions and orders on the performance of work and working hours. They may also have the right to monitor the quality of the work.

The right to supervise work includes, for example, the following areas

1. Assigning tasks: Within the framework of the employment contract and applicable legislation, the supervisor can decide what tasks the employee performs as well as how and where the tasks are carried out
2. Working time management: The supervisor can control working hours, such as the planning of shifts and compliance with set working hours.
3. Occupational safety: The supervisor may issue regulations to ensure safety and health at the workplace. The supervisor cannot neglect their occupational safety duties.
4. Disciplinary action: The supervisor may have the authority to intervene when an employee violates rules set for them, such as being late, inappropriate behaviour, or neglecting occupational safety.

The right to supervise work is restricted by labour legislation, collective agreements and the internal rules of the organisation. For example, terms agreed in an employment contract, so-called essential terms of employment, cannot be changed unilaterally on the basis of supervisory rights.

Neither can the employer order the employee to act in violation of the law or good practice. In film and television productions, this means, for example, that an employee cannot be ordered to violate the Road Traffic Act in tasks related to traffic control or vehicles or to carry out work that is hazardous to health and safety.

The requirement for equal treatment of employees and the prohibition of discrimination also restrict the employer’s right to supervise work.

Impact of the employment or commission relationship on supervisory work

When it comes to the right to supervise work, there is a difference between a supervisor acting as an entrepreneur or subcontractor and a supervisor employed by the employer company.

In an employment relationship, the supervisory role is based on an employment contract. An employment relationship is a legal relationship between an employer and an employee. A supervisor employed by an employer company exercises supervisory authority as the employer’s representative. Their decisions are based on labour legislation, collective agreements, and the company’s internal guidelines. They have the right to give instructions to the employees, supervise the performance of the work and intervene in the quality of the work as the employer’s substitute.

In a commission relationship, supervisory tasks are agreed upon in the commission agreement between the production company and the service provider. The commission relationship is a legal relationship between the commissioning company and the service provider. The supervisory authority is based on a contractual relationship, and the service provider is responsible for the risks of its own business activities. In the production, they may give instructions and supervise work within the framework of the agreement, but these instructions are not based on an employment relationship but on a subcontracting or service agreement.

Supervisors include all those who have been given power over others by an employer or commissioning company. In other words, the supervisor has authority at the workplace.

A supervisor

• is responsible, on the one hand, for ensuring that the employee’s rights are realised and, on the other hand, that the employee complies with the obligations set for them.
• exercises the right to supervise work as the employer’s representative.

In film and television productions, the employer’s representatives might include producers, production managers, heads of department, and other supervisors. The supervisor acts as the employer’s representative in the daily life of their working group. They are often an employee’s closest contact to the employer.

You might be a supervisor in the production if your job description includes any of these roles

1. You have decision-making authority distributed by the employer to resolve work-related issues within the team and make decisions on them.
2. You have authority distributed by the employer to prioritize tasks and provide instructions to others on how to perform their work.
3. You have responsibility for the performance of your team and the results of the team’s work.
4. You have a role in resolving conflicts.
5. You have a role in assessing and ensuring safe and healthy work.
6. You develop and support the competence of team members.
7. You ensure for your part that the team’s activities are in line with the organisation’s objectives.
8. You manage schedules, budgets, or resources.
9. You monitor the progress of production.
10. You ensure that everything goes according to plan at the filming location.
11. You give and receive feedback and pass it on to management.

The members of the team are informed of who is in charge of practical work supervision and within what limits as well as who is the supervisor based on each employee’s employment relationship, with whom matters related to working hours, pay or absences are agreed.

With regard to subcontracting, it is also a good idea to agree on who supervises and manages the work of the self-employed service provider on behalf of the commissioning company (such as the production company). In a production, the supervision of a self-employed person’s or other subcontractor’s work may be part of the job description of, for example, a producer who is in an employment relationship.

With regard to supervisory work, it is a good idea to define how to deal with, for example, problems arising at the workplace.

It is a good idea to agree in advance on who the supervisor is, for example, if

• intervention is required when, for example, a team member is repeatedly late for their shifts
• a team member who is in an employment relationship behaves inappropriately
• a self-employed freelancer behaves inappropriately.

If the production team consists only of self-employed persons, they agree on their roles, responsibilities and obligations in their own contracts. It is always a good idea to make such a contract even in small independent productions. This clarifies the division of work and responsibilities and reduces possible disputes between the working group’s members.

The supervisory position involves a lot of responsibilities. The supervisor is responsible, for example, for ensuring that there is a suitable number of employees in relation to the work at hand. In addition, as the employer’s representative, the supervisor is obligated to intervene and solve problems related to the work, occupational well-being and working environment of the working group’s members.

The supervisor’s responsibilities and obligations are extensively related to ensuring the smoothness and safety of the work as well as the fulfilment of set objectives.

The supervisor’s most important areas of responsibility are

1. Organising work: the supervisor is responsible for the distribution and prioritisation of tasks and managing related resources so that the team can achieve the objectives set to it.
2. Occupational safety: the supervisor has a legal obligation to ensure that the working environment is healthy and safe and that occupational safety and health regulations are complied with. This includes, for example, risk assessment and accident prevention.
3. Employees’ well-being: The supervisor monitors the coping of the team members and intervenes if problems, such as burnout or conflicts, arise.
4. Compliance with legislation and agreements: The supervisor monitors that the workplace complies with labour legislation, collective agreements, and the organisation’s internal guidelines.
5. Feedback: The supervisor gives and takes continuous feedback to keep the team motivated.
6. Reporting: The supervisor reports on the activities, results and possible challenges of their team to upper management.