We represent stage managers in Equity.
We as the Stage Management Committee advise the Equity Stage Committee and take approved action on any matters relevant to the professional employment of Equity members who work as stage management anywhere in the entertainment industry. We submit industrial claims to relevant employers and agree settlements of claims.
Our priorities
Act as champions to bring a cultural shift to the work of SMs so that SMs working under boy-outs get exactly what they are entitled.
Combat the misuse of combined and acting roles and missed break provisions by:
- Working with and encouraging others to report to Equity Officials that lead on the collective agreements to ensure that they are being properly adhered to and met and focus on there being more clarity in agreements around missed breaks.
- Encouraging SM members through advice and guidance to feel empowered to push back on work or tasks that seeks for them to do what would normally be multiple jobs in a manner which is untenable an/or exploitative and to actively seek support from their union on workplace issues.
- Working with and encouraging others to report to Equity Officials that lead on the collective agreements to ensure that collective agreements do not in any way allow for the agreements to go against the spirit of the existence of missed break provisions so that they are properly used as an exception to the rule, rather than an endemic issue, and actively seek support and encourage others to seek support from their union, ensuring on endemic breaches of break provisions for advice and guidance.
Pro-actively listen to SMs in the industry and ensure an evidence-based response, as a committee, to encapsulate their priorities and concerns into our work.
Who we are
Equity West End Stage Management Buy-Out Tracker
Equity has created a buy-out tracker for Stage Management members working on SOLT/Equity West End contracts.
The tracker is an important part of the union's work to ensure that producers implement buy-outs correctly without undermining minimum rates of pay, and to ensure that you are able to track any payments owed to you should the overtime you work overtake the value of your buy-out.
The tracker itself is an Excel file which you can download below and input information specific to your contract into. Before using the tracker for the first time please watch our explainer video.
If you have any questions - about the tracker or your buy-out - please email Hannah Plant, Equity Official with responsibility for the West End, on hplant@equity.org.uk.
Equity intend to also produce Buy-Out Trackers for both the UK Theatre/Equity Collective Agreement and UK Theatre/Equity Sub-rep Agreement.
SOLT / Equity buy-out tracker
NOTES ON CHANGES TO TRACKER VERSION A4 - updated 20 Mar 2024
- "MASTER TIMESHEET" tab - IMPORTANT - You must correctly write Monday's date in the cell at the top of each timesheet to ensure the rates are correct within that particular timesheet tab, particularly around April when the rates increase, otherwise it may be calculating the incorrect rate.
- "MASTER TIMESHEET" tab - Updated with the option to select missed tea breaks in each weekly timesheet. Please note this means the "MASTER TIMESHEET" tab will look a little different from the one in the instruction video, but it remains the same, with an option to select if you missed your 15-minute tea break for that session.
- "MASTER TIMESHEET" tab - New colours for missed meal breaks and missed tea breaks to make timesheet easier to scan.
- "BUYOUT TRACKER - Start Here" tab - Corrected the tax year dates to be correct with SOLT/Equity increase dates (increase to minimums takes effect on 1st April 2024).
- "SOLT RATES SHEET" - to make the tracker be able to predict buyouts past April 2025, we have made an assumption that CPI will be 2% as of February 2025. This will need adjusting in the SOLT RATES sheet (cell M2) once the actual CPI rates are announced next February.
- Some minor formatting tweaks.