Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 10
1
2 Q. Was it after that that you actually started working,
3 actually worked shifts in the store?
4 A. Yes. Just before the filming, I mean, to get a real
5 feel of it, it was agreed that I should work three shifts
6 at the Strand store and two shifts at the Croydon store.
7
8 Q. We will come to your working experience in a minute. Then
9 how did the filming actually -- describe how the filming
10 was organised?
11 A. The filming was kind of split over various days,
12 because the idea was to produce this 24 hours in the life
13 of a McDonald's store. But we were filming at two stores,
14 and so we would do -- I mean, from memory, I think we kind
15 of started off at the Hamburger University on a Monday
16 morning and then I think we went to the Strand. But we
17 would have spent a couple of days at the Strand store
18 during the day, and then we went and spent some time at the
19 Croydon store during the weekday. We specifically went to
20 the Croydon store on the Saturday to film the Saturday,
21 because that is their busiest day there. We then stayed at
22 the Strand store to film through the night close period.
23 So we arrived at the Strand and filmed it when they were
24 closing down for the night, went through the whole process
25 of that, and were there again for the breakfast the
26 following morning. But it was kind of split over --
27 I mean, it was like, you know, a five day filming schedule
28 split over ten days, or something like that.
29
30 Q. Right. Now, just taking these three periods, the
31 observation periods, was there any -- well, the film was
32 agreed with McDonald's, obviously; yes?
33 A. Yes.
34
35 Q. Sorry, not the film; the whole process was in co-operation
36 with -----
37 A. McDonald's had given full agreement and access into the
38 -- I mean, that was how we were able to get in the stores
39 and film it. We could not have done that, obviously,
40 without McDonald's giving permission to do so.
41
42 Q. Did they make any limitation on what you could do?
43 A. It is my understanding, as told by the producer, that
44 we were not allowed to raise directly with the crew trade
45 union rights or whether they wanted a trade union. That is
46 the only one that I knew about, because that clearly
47 indicated how I talked to the crew, what I was talking to
48 the crew about. So, they might raise it directly with me,
49 but I would then say that we were not going to discuss that
50 subject in the film at all.
51
52 Q. That was a precondition?
53 A. As I understand it, it was a precondition. I was
54 researcher, so I was not privy to what arrangements were
55 made, but that was what I was told by the producer, that
56 that was a precondition of filming.
57
58 Q. When you were working, were there any limitations on the
59 working?
60 A. During the observation period and the shift patterns,
