Power in numbers. Shared resources. Normalized working conditions. LML is building a different kind of production company — one where the crew owns what they build and sets the standard for how this industry should work.
Before we talk about where we're going, we need to be honest about where we are. The live event production industry is built on the labor of highly skilled freelance technicians. And for most of its history, that relationship has been extractive — take what you can get, show up when called, and don't expect anyone to look out for you.
Our industry runs on 10-hour minimum day rates. This isn't greed — it's math. Because clients aren't paying for full-time employees, freelance technicians absorb all the risk: no benefits, no sick days, no guaranteed work, no unemployment when the show cancels. The day rate exists to make the economics of freelance life workable. A half-day call at an hourly rate doesn't cover rent in New York City.
Clients don't always understand this. They see a day rate and think they're paying for 8 hours. They're not. They're paying for availability, expertise, and the decades of experience it took to get qualified for this work.
The traditional freelance model is a race to the bottom. Production companies call down a list. The first person to say yes at the right price gets the call. There's no collective negotiating power, no standard rates, no solidarity. Technicians undercut each other to stay busy. Companies exploit that competition to drive rates down.
When workers are isolated, they're vulnerable. When they're organized, they're powerful. That's not a political statement — it's just true. And it's the entire reason unions exist in this industry.
When a client buys freelance labor for a day, they're buying a result — the show goes on. What happens to the people producing that show is often an afterthought. Meal breaks get skipped. Load-in runs 14 hours. The schedule changes at 11pm and everyone just absorbs it because that's "how it works."
It doesn't have to work that way. But without collective leverage, individual technicians can't push back without risking the call — or the next one.
The difference is stark. On union jobs — IATSE, Teamsters, wherever union labor is present — the rules are enforced. Meal breaks happen. Overtime kicks in after 10 hours. Double time after 12 or 14 (depending on jurisdiction). The client doesn't get a choice. The contract is the contract.
Non-union freelancers working alongside union crews benefit from those protections by proximity. The client is forced to comply with union rules for everyone on the floor. That's what fair working conditions look like. The question is why it should take union presence to make basic labor standards apply.
— Kaplan Akıncılar, Founder, LML
This is what changes when freelance technicians stop competing against each other and start operating as a unified organization.
— Kaplan Akıncılar, Founder, LML
A collective isn't just a feel-good concept. It's a structural shift in how leverage works. When 27 specialist technicians operate as a unified organization rather than 27 individuals competing for the same calls, everything changes.
Clients who want access to the best crew in New York City deal with LML as an organization — not individual workers who can be picked off one at a time. That's leverage. And leverage is what sets working conditions.
When one member is unavailable, another covers. When a call comes in bigger than expected, the collective scales. No single technician is alone in absorbing the unpredictability of freelance work.
Meal breaks aren't optional. Overtime after 10 hours. Double time after 12. These aren't requests — they're the terms under which LML crew works. Every client, every show, every time.
Crew knows what clients pay. There are no mystery markups. Rates reflect genuine expertise — a seasoned Analog Way operator earns differently than a utility position, and that's reflected honestly.
No individual technician can tell a major corporate client their working conditions aren't acceptable — not without losing the call. A collective of 27 specialists can. That's the difference.
The collective surfaces what individual freelancing buries: who's actually qualified for what. Clients get the right person for the right role. Specialists aren't treated like generalists.
Long-term contributors don't just get more calls — they get equity. The LLC structure is being built with membership stakes for senior crew as an explicit goal, not a distant promise.
These aren't aspirations. They are the operating standards of LML, enforced today, on every call.
You will receive overtime after 10 hours and double time after 12 — on every show, regardless of whether union labor is present. Meal breaks are not optional. Your expertise will be matched to the right role and compensated accordingly. Your tenure with LML builds toward something — not just more calls, but ownership.
You will receive the most qualified specialists in New York City for every position you book. You will receive transparency about how we staff and what you're paying for. And you will be expected to treat our crew with the same professional standards that union contracts require — because we require them too.
We believe the live event production industry can operate differently. Fair wages, enforced breaks, and dignified working conditions are not incompatible with excellent work — they're what makes excellent work sustainable. LML intends to demonstrate that.
Kaplan Akıncılar has spent nearly 20 years as a production technician in New York City — running video systems, operating media servers, managing complex broadcast setups at some of the city's largest corporate events. He's worked the peak seasons. He's skipped the meal breaks. He's absorbed the unpaid overtime.
LML was built because he decided the next 20 years should work differently — for himself and for every technician who shows up and makes the show happen.
"The industry runs on our expertise. We should run the industry."
"We are building a production company where the crew is the company. The people who show up and make the event happen deserve more than a day rate. They deserve ownership, fair conditions, and a voice in how this business runs. That is what LML is building toward — and we're not waiting until it's perfect to start."