In October last year, the casting directory Spotlight launched a ‘Premiere’ tier of membership, offering additional services at an increased fee for Spotlight members. Equity opposed that plan, and following opposition from the union, our members, and others across our industry, Spotlight cancelled those plans.
This proposal, although new, highlighted a longstanding but growing concern from Equity members that Spotlight exploits its monopoly position in the industry to charge subscription rates which are unfair. This concern has grown since they were acquired by US-based ‘Global Talent Systems’. The necessity of a Spotlight profile for most artists in the industry has led to their subscriptions being called a ‘Tax on Hope’.
In the UK, the practice of charging work seekers to join a directory such as Spotlight is illegal in most sectors, but the performing arts and entertainment industries are expressly exempted from this law. Historically Equity has been neutral on this exemption or supported it, but the current Council have been discussing the legitimacy of this policy since they were elected in 2022. In November of last year, Council changed Equity’s position: we believe that the exemption for our industries should be ended.
We are pleased to have had constructive discussions with the Labour Party who are open to this change, and we hope that the ‘New Deal for Working People’ element of their manifesto will include a commitment to scrap this regressive exemption. The costs of casting should be borne by the producers who are seeking artists, not the artists who are seeking work.
However, the current exemption is not a carte blanche to charge Equity members any fee Spotlight chooses. The law expressly states that subscriptions to a service like Spotlight should be: ‘no more than a reasonable estimate of the cost of production and circulation of the publication attributable to the inclusion of information about that work-seeker in the publication’. Simply put, the members of the directory cannot have their subscriptions used for profit, or to subside activities beyond their share of the maintenance of the directory. There are other restrictions too, but Equity believes that Spotlight may be in breach of this key requirement, amongst others.
We have offered to work with Spotlight to examine their costs during a continuation of the service whilst ensuring that our members are only paying for those reasonable costs as permitted by the Regulations.
Based on Spotlight’s own claimed membership figure of 90,000, their income from performers alone is in excess of £1.25 million a month. To Equity, it seems implausible that this figure represents a reasonable estimate of the costs of production and circulation of the directory. It is certainly incomparable with charges to use other casting platforms in the UK, Europe, and United States.
Today (Monday 29 January), Equity’s lawyers wrote to Spotlight giving them a deadline to provide clear evidence as to how they have come to the current rates of Spotlight subscription. Our lawyers have also asked that Spotlight immediately alter access to their website so all members of Spotlight can see all profiles within the directory; another requirement of the regulations which allow Spotlight to charge work seekers a fee. We have offered to work with Spotlight to examine their costs during a continuation of the service whilst ensuring that our members are only paying for those reasonable costs as permitted by the Regulations.
The letter from our lawyers is formally called a ‘Letter Before Action’. This is because if Spotlight do not comply, or provide clear evidence that the subscription of Spotlight members is not being exploited beyond what the regulations allow, then Equity will take class action at the High Court to enforce a reduction in fees to a reasonable level.
Equity members will be kept fully updated on developments.
