Three Production Sdn Bhd, which won acclaim for its box office hit production "The Kid from the Big Apple", is now embroiled in a labour dispute over back pay to crew members that is in arrears.

More than 100 crew members of the firm's other production, "Come Play with Us", are claiming that the company has held back their salaries since five months ago, collectively amounting to RM500,000.

However, Three Production's founder Stanley Law appealed to the crew members to be patient, claiming that the company itself was also a victim and is forced to hold back from paying crew members their due salaries.

Law told Malaysiakini that one of the Singaporean investors of the movie "Come Play with Us" is facing difficulties as his funds are being held by the Singapore regulatory authorities, and thus is unable to transfer the agreed funds for the movie.

"We are also a victim as we did not receive the investment funds. We plan to take legal action against the Singaporean investor to get the promised investment money," Law said.

Shooting for "Come Play WIth Us" took place between Dec 16 last year and Jan 16 this year, and it ended nearly five months ago,

"Come Play with Us" production crew members said in a statement on Thursday that they have lodged a report with the Malaysian Video Staff Union (Profima) to help pressure for the release of their salaries.

According to the contract between the production crew and the company, crew members should have received their last full payment on the third day after the completion of shooting, which was on Jan 18.

"However, Stanley Law told the crew members that they will get their salaries by Jan 28 and promised to pay an extra 15 percent as compensation.

"Unfortunately, the crew members have still not been paid, after five months have passed, and they kept breaking their promises and lied to us about the payment date," the statement said.

Cheques bounced

During shooting, the crew members said that were not even paid their first payment as scheduled and on two occasions, the cheques issued by the company to them bounced.

"The props department was owed more than RM50,000, and a number of department heads, such as the make-up department, were forced to use their own money to pay crew members.

"They could not even pay for the daily catering as scheduled," complained the crew members.

According to the Profima report viewed by Malaysiakini, the total amount owed by Three Production amounted to RM496,401.62.

The report also noted that one of Three Production's other movies, "The Kid from the Big Apple", which was just taken out of theatres last month, made more than RM6 million from cinema takings and even got a rebate from national film company Finas.

A source familiar with the dispute said that crew members questioned why the company could not pay them, despite "The Kid from the Big Apple" having earn the company big bucks from the box office.

Replying to them, Law explained that "The Kid from the Big Apple" and "Come Play with Us" are two different productions, with separate accounting, and the firm could not mix them up.

"Moreover, 'The Kid from the Big Apple' movie needed up to half a year to recoup its expenditure. Even so, this was a different movie, with different investors, and cannot be mixed with the other production," Law said.

He said Finas has sent its staff to his company to obtain more information on this matter.

"We are dealing with Finas currently and we have asked them give us some time to settle the problem," said Law.

Meanwhile, Profima president Khir Mohd Noor confirmed to Malaysiakini that the crew members have lodged a report and the union would help to investigate the matter.

"We will either send representatives or call them to come and explain to us about it.

"We need to get both sides of the story and make sure the crew members are paid their salaries at the end," Khir said.

He added that Finas provided incentives in the form of rebates to local movies, but if there was a labour dispute, then it may hold it until the production company pays the crew members their salaries.