RTÉ have hit back at claims they are paying a photographer “€80,000 per year” for Fair City pictures, amid major backlash.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the state broadcaster were set to fork out €80k per year on a “dedicated photographer” who would be tasked with taking 16 still photographs a week on the set of the popular soap.
The report came just days after new documents revealed that some RTÉ staff are on as little as €24,000 gross salary per year – which is some €6,000 less than the living wage.
RTÉ have since released a statement addressing the backlash, insisting that the photographer would be paid “a maximum of €60,000 per annum, or €240,000 over four years”.
The statement read: “RTÉ, as part of a public tender process, is inviting submissions from suitably qualified photographers to provide official stills photography for the popular RTÉ drama, Fair City.”
“Fair City is Ireland’s most popular soap. In the first 8 months this year, Fair City has generated 4.07 million streams on RTÉ Player alone – up 40% year on year. The contract is guide price and is for a maximum of €60,000 per annum, or €240,000 over four years.”
The broadcaster said the successful photographer must deliver “a minimum of 16 approved photograph stills in both high and low resolution to Fair City each week, for 50 weeks per year, as specified by RTÉ.”
The photographer must also “be on set or on location an average of 20 hours per week over the course of three days. Occasional weekend and night shift work maybe required.”
Explaining the importance of the role, RTÉ continued: “Popular soaps, such as Fair City, with multiple characters and multiple unfolding storylines have a sustained need for high quality imagery across the year.”
“This imagery is then used across a variety of media outlets to help drive audiences to the show as viewers can now decide ‘what to watch’ based on the promotional image that appears on their platform.”
Executive Producer or Fair City, Brigie de Courcy said: “I cannot overstate the importance of high quality, highly curated photography in promoting Fair City in the busy landscape of press and digital publicity.”
“It is vital to have a skilled photographer to capture, in single frames, moments of drama that will intrigue our regular audience, and bring new viewers to Fair City.”
The statement explained that the usage includes weekly listings in print media, daily media and online media, imagery on TV guides, magazine cover imagery to accompany feature interviews with actors, and social media images.
RTÉ’s statement concluded with additional details, which are as follows:
- The contract is for professional photography services and associated image rights
- A contract awarded under tender represents better value to RTÉ than engaging professional photographers on an ad hoc basis.
- These services are currently being tendered for a four-year period on e-tenders to ensure that RTÉ is getting best value for money and in line with EU Procurement legislation and Irish Procurement Guidelines published by the Department of Finance.
- This tender is a repeat tender and these services and/or products have been purchased previously under other contracts.
