What you’ll learn
- Know what the minimum wage is for your age and how to work out whether a day rate meets it.
- Know the four situations where unpaid work experience is lawful, and be able to spot an offer that is none of them.
- Understand where an unpaid short film stands, and what to ask before you agree to one.
- Know exactly what to do, and who to tell, if you have worked and not been paid.
Where this leads
By the end you will have written your own Stage 1 plan, checked yourself against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements, and know exactly what to do next: a mentor clinic, an Academy workshop, and Stage 2, the HotList.
What the law actually says
8 minOne question decides everything, and it is not what the job is called.
- readWorker, volunteer, student: the word that decides everything3 min
- readThe rates, and the maths of a twelve-hour day3 min
- checkCheck: who gets the minimum wage2 min
Unpaid work experience and internships
8 minFour exceptions, and the offers that pretend to be one of them.
- readWhen unpaid work experience is lawful3 min
- readWhat it looks like when it is not3 min
- checkCheck: work experience and internships2 min
Unpaid short films
8 minThe honest position on the offer that almost every new entrant gets.
- readThe no-budget short: where it actually stands3 min
- readDeferred pay, profit share, expenses and a credit3 min
- taskTask: the five questions before you say yes2 min
If you have not been paid
6 minFive steps, in order, starting with the one that usually works.
- readRaising it, and reporting it3 min
- resourcesCheck any of this yourself3 min
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Sources and references
Where this course comes from. Open any of them yourself.
What this course was written from
- GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates the rates in this course; they change on 1 April every year
- GOV.UK: Employment rights for interns the four situations where the minimum wage does not apply
- GOV.UK: Volunteering - pay and expenses what a volunteer can be given before they become a worker
- GOV.UK: Calculating the minimum wage - working hours that must be paid standby, travel and training time
- GOV.UK: Worker disputes over the minimum wage who enforces it and what happens next
- GOV.UK: Complain about pay and work rights the complaint form named in Module 4
Check it yourself
This course is written from our own experience of the industry. These are the authorities that set the rules, so you can check anything here for yourself.
- Acas: National Minimum Wage entitlement free, confidential advice, and the helpline number
- BECTU, the union for people who work in film and television rate cards, and the people who take unpaid work on as an industry issue
Every link checked 19 September 2026. The rules or figures in this course change on 1 April 2027. We check it again then.
