Responding to today’s (Wednesday 3 September) judgment from the High Court which dismissed Equity’s challenge to Spotlight’s fees, Equity has released the following statement.
Equity statement
Today’s judgment from the High Court is disappointing for Equity’s 50,000 members.
Those members will perhaps be most surprised by the finding by the judge, Her Honourable Justice Howells, that Spotlight “does not provide services for the purposes of finding persons employment with employers, or of supplying employers with persons for employment by them.” The common sense understanding of Spotlight’s purpose is to provide services for the purposes of finding persons employment; any actor will tell you that they subscribe to Spotlight to find work.
The judgment states that Spotlight is “a marketing tool to promote the identity and skill set of the performer”, which, if correct, would leave the traditional assertion that they are the ‘home of casting’ in doubt. Casting is our industry’s term for the exchange and supply of labour for performing in productions, and this judgment finds that Spotlight’s role in that is, at best, incidental.
Equally worrying are the implications for working people across the UK, who may now be left unprotected from up front charges by similar platforms elsewhere in the growing gig economy.
Equity has a number of considerations following the ruling. The legal merits of appeal on the basis of the current legislation and regulations are under active consideration by our legal team. We have already made contact with the wider trades union movement and the Labour government today, both of whom were waiting on this judgment to consider their collective response. Equity Council meets next Tuesday, and a further update to members following their deliberations will follow.
We must also put on record our thanks to the claimants in this case, and to all the members who are backing this David versus Goliath campaign. It is incumbent on the union to be brave in challenging abuses of power in the industry where we see it, and this disappointing initial ruling will not deter us from continuing to take the fight to our industry’s gatekeepers.
Members will perhaps be most surprised by the finding by the judge, Her Honourable Justice Howells, that Spotlight “does not provide services for the purposes of finding persons employment with employers, or of supplying employers with persons for employment by them.” Any actor will tell you that they subscribe to Spotlight to find work.
Equity statement
