‘Dune’ VFX Outfit DNEG to Pay Enhanced Overtime to U.K. Employees

COMPENSATION

Visual effects and animation studio DNEG, whose credits include “Dune” and “No Time to Die,” will pay enhanced overtime to its U.K. employees.

From October, DNEG will pay overtime at 1.5x rate to all U.K. staff in non-management positions for all incremental time that they are asked to work beyond the standard 40-hour week. The move will bring DNEG’s U.K. overtime policy in line with its studios in North America and applies across its film and episodic visual effects, DNEG Animation and ReDefine operations, including its artist, production, technology and support teams.

The decision is a departure from the existing U.K. industry norm, where employees are compensated for overtime with paid time off after a project is completed.

DNEG has won multiple awards over the years. In 2021 alone, the company won the visual effects BAFTA and Oscar for Christopher Nolan‘s “Tenet.”

Novator Capital Advisers recently invested $250 million in subsidiaries of Prime Focus Limited, DNEG’s parent company.

CASTING

The new season of BBC’s BAFTA winning genealogy show “Who Do You Think You Are?” produced by Wall To Wall Media, will feature a host of British celebrities who will unravel their family histories. In the seven-part season, which commences in October, Oscar and BAFTA winning actor Judi Dench

will unearth Danish roots and some Shakespearean connections, while former Labour party politician and presenter Ed Balls uncovers great bravery and some less admirable conduct. Singer-songwriter Pixie Lott discovers a musical legacy three-generations strong, while comedian Joe Lycett discovers a darker side to his family history. Former soccer player Alex Scott learns about her Jewish and Jamaican heritage, YouTuber Joe Sugg explores his family history as far back as the Great Fire of London, and comedian Josh Widdicombe traces his lineage back to the Elizabethan and Tudor Courts.

Meanwhile, Cat White (“Threesome”) will star in the mental health short “Fifty-Four Days” alongside revered actor Celia Imrie (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”). The cast also includes Juliet Cowan (“Back To Life”), Delroy Brown (“It’s A Sin”) and Josh Williams (“Mayday”).

Written by White and inspired by true events, the film follows the journey of a girl who starts wild swimming in the wake of her father taking his own life. By swimming each day at dawn and forming an unlikely friendship, she learns to accept her grief and the grief of those around her.

Phoebe Torrance is directing and Ella Greenwood is producing. Ellie Gibbons and Sam Cryer serve as executive producers alongside BAFTA Nominated Manon Ardisson, Chiara Ventura and Karina Michel. Casting is by Nathan Toth at Julie Harkin Casting.

The film is a co-production between Kusini Productions, a company working to champion the voices of Black women and girls, creative agency Intermission Film and Broken Flames Productions, a company with a focus on mental health-based projects. It will have a dedicated mental health co-ordinator on set, something not yet standard in U.K. shoots.

The film is being made in partnership with PAPYRUS, the U.K. charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide.

REPRESENTATION

Pulse Films has signed Oscar, BAFTA, Grierson, and Grammy winning film director, writer, and producer Asif Kapadia for global commercial representation.

Kapadia is best known for documentaries “Senna,” “Amy” and “Diego Maradona.” Between his features and TV work, Kapadia continues to direct commercials, including “The Tale of Thomas Burberry” for fashion brand Burberry, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Lily James, Dominic West, and Sienna Miller.

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