Britain clamps down on fringe and profit share theatre.

Fri, 3 July 2009, 09:48 am

grantwatson34 posts in thread

There's a bit of a ruckus in the UK at the moment, due to Equity campaigning to force a national minimum wage for actors onto all fringe and profit share theatre productions. They argue any companies or performance groups who can't afford the thousands of pounds per week in wages most shows would require is to (a) magically source government funding and sponsorship, or (b) become amateur companies. More info here (assuming this link works better than the last one).

Interesting

Fri, 3 July 2009, 10:06 am

Labrug

Good read. Rather troubling. While I have often been a vocal supporter for Know You Rights and all that, I still understand the value of Fringe and Profit Share elements. Sure Know Your Rights, but if you are OK with doing something even though it does not pay Minimum Wage, then that should be the educated choice of the actor.

“You can either stay at home and wait for a call from EastEnders, or get off your butt and do a musical that you might not get paid a lot of money for, but that leads to something else,” she said. "She" being Penny Horner, general manager of Off-West End venue Jermyn Street Theatre.

In a way, this sort of "clamping" down may be seen as a removal of choice. Getting funding for Full-paying productions is extremely difficult and enforcing such a policy would force many Pro-Am/Fringe groups into the void. Bad idea. The alternative is not much better which is to split Theatre into two distinct groups - Pro and Am with no shades of grey. It makes it far more difficult to progress from one community to the other.

Plus the point about obtaining rights for shows, porbably not a MAJOR point yet still an important one.

Thanks for the link Grant. Great read. Troubling...

Absit invidia (and DFT :nono:)

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Thread (34 posts)

Threaded Flat

Britain clamps down on fringe and profit share theatre.— grantwatson3 July 2009

Interesting— Labrug3 July 2009
- Penny— Leon Ousby4 July 2009
Fringe in the UK— Walter Plinge3 July 2009
contracts— mike raine3 July 2009
- Expanding on a Contract— crgwllms5 July 2009
  - Well— Logos5 July 2009
    - Read the original article. — crgwllms5 July 2009
      - ···
        Voice of Reason— Labrug5 July 2009
      - ···
        Well— Logos5 July 2009
        ···
        Running the co-op— crgwllms5 July 2009
After ten years in the— Logos3 July 2009
Ah, the fringe.— Leon Ousby4 July 2009
Not fair!— Rebecca Jo5 July 2009
- Agree— Leon Ousby5 July 2009
IF we're not getting— Rebecca Jo5 July 2009
- Of course the problem with— grantwatson6 July 2009
  - Absolutely— Logos6 July 2009
My wife did 3 Shakespeares— Logos5 July 2009
What annoys me IS Profit— Rebecca Jo5 July 2009
No More Broken Promises — Walter Plinge5 July 2009
Rebecca (and the Michael— Na5 July 2009
Irate about rates— crgwllms8 July 2009
- Oh...— Labrug8 July 2009
Agreed— Walter Plinge9 July 2009
fringe, profit share, the grey area— Helen Brett11 July 2009
- All good points,— crgwllms12 July 2009
  - Guilt As Charged— Labrug12 July 2009
  - fringe— mike raine13 July 2009
    - Cringe— crgwllms14 July 2009
Agreement— Logos13 July 2009
Amateur and professional... a definition— Walter Plinge27 July 2009
- Yes, it is....but it's not that simple.— crgwllms28 July 2009
  - Analysis in Theatre— Labrug28 July 2009

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