LookAtVietnam – Professional stuntmen in the city are forming their own professional organisation as a branch of the HCM City Cinema Association.

Insurance plan: Stuntmen act in a dangerous movie scene. A stuntmen’s organisation is being formed to help professionals obtain proper equipment as well as gain more serious recognition from the cinema community.

According to Nguyen Van Day, deputy head of HCM City Cinema Association’s inspection unit, the stuntman’s profession has been in considerable disarray in Viet Nam over the years. In the past, each group of stuntmen decided on its own fee in playing dangerous scenes, resulting in fierce competition among groups, including efforts to undercut other groups’ fees.

“Many film producers have taken advantage of this situation to cut their costs for dangerous stunts,” he said. “This is not a healthy competition, because it harms the profession and affects the workers’ rights of stuntmen.”

Professional stuntman Anh Tuan said that the pay stunt persons received relative to the danger they faced was very low.

“There’s also no life insurance for stuntmen as the profession is not listed among insured professions,” Tuan said. “Insurance companies often sign a general insurance contract with an entire film company, but it doesn’t specifically cover any particularly hazardous roles.”

Stuntmen on movie sets also lacked proper safety equipment and specialists to properly gauge the hazardousness of stunts, Tuan said.

“The stuntmen themselves figure out the stunt and what’s acceptable,” he added.

The establishment of a professional organisation for stunt persons would help them obtain proper equipment, as well as be more seriously recognised by the cinema community, said Day.

Day, who is a likely candidate to head the new branch of the cinema association when it is formally established next month, has been active in drafting the organisation’s charter and regulations, which would establish professional pay scales for stunt performers.

Under the regulations, the new organisation would classify stunt performers into classes A, B or C and issue membership cards. An A- or B-class membership card holder would have to perform in at least three film productions over a five-year period, with A-class stunt persons qualified to do the most elaborate or hazardous stunts. A-, C-class cardholder would be a novice, qualified only to perform in group stunts.

Stuntmen’s groups throughout the city have been reviewing and commenting on the draft regulations, including adding some details to insurance provisions. Day affirmed that at least one insurance company had agreed to sell insurance to association members according to their class of membership.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News