It was meant to be an expose of the exploitation of lowly paid gig workers by “a multinational food delivery behemoth”. But now the makers of the upcoming SBS On Demand series Appetite have been called out for their own alleged underpayment.

On June 9, a production assistant for the low-budget series being made for the streamer by independent production company Fell Swoop Pictures posted a Facebook call for “bike riders (with own bike) to ‘BE AN EXTRA for SBS on Demand series!’”

The gig would demand being available for one to two days between June 16 and July 1 in inner-city Sydney. International students were welcome. In return they would get a feed – and nothing else.

“Volunteer-basis,” the ad read. “Catered.”

Apparently it was an offer too lousy not to refuse because the ad was posted again on Friday, with only the dates altered. Now bike-owning international students were invited to work without being paid from June 27 to 30.

Under the industry-wide agreement administered by the Equity branch of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), extras are to be paid a day rate of $211.63. If employed by the hour the rate is $28.79, but they must be paid for a minimum of four hours ($115.16).

Under the terms of the Actors’ Television Programs Agreement, if the producer requests that an artist uses their own transport, they are also entitled to an allowance (96 cents per kilometre for cars and 46 cents for motorcycles). Travel time each way is counted as time worked.

Appetite was announced in February, when it received Screen Australia funding under the Digital Originals program, a joint initiative of the screen agency, SBS and NITV.

The program aims to “support screen creatives currently under-represented in the sector, including people who identify as culturally and linguistically diverse, First Nations Australians, people with disability, female and gender diverse, LGBTIQ+ and those who are located in regional and remote areas”.