What is equity for actors?

Equity is governed by its own members through an elected Council, representing principal actors, chorus actors and stage managers living in three regions: Eastern, Central and Western. Members at large participate in Equity’s governance through a system of regional Boards and Committees. Equity has 28 designated liaison areas, metropolitan areas with a concentration of more than 100 members. Download Equity's Constitution and By-Laws.

President: Kate Shindle Executive Director: Alvin Vincent, Jr.

Membership: Over 51,000 members, including singers, actors, dancers, stage managers

Founded: May 26, 1913, in New York City

Offices: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando

Among the benefits that may be included in Equity contracts are:

Contracts: Equity negotiates and promulgates over 40 national and local contracts including Production (Broadway and touring), LORT (League of Resident Theatres), Stock, Small Professional Theatre (SPT), Western Civic Light Opera (WCLO), Dinner Theatre, Theatre for Young Audiences, Live Corporate Communications, Off-Broadway, Chicago and Hollywood Area Theatres, and numerous agreements for developing not-for-profit theatres.

Additional benefits afforded to members include:

Membership is available by virtue of employment under an Equity contract. According to AEA’s website, “certain contract types also have a length-of-employment requirement before a membership application becomes valid; the Membership Department will advise you at the time of joining.”

If a theater offers an non-equity actor their card, this is what that means!

The four A’s, Associated Actors and Artistes of America Affiliation, include

AEA: Actors’ Equity Association

SAG-AFTRA:  Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

AGMA: American Guild of Musical Artists

AGVA: American Guild of Variety Artists

According to Actors’ Equity, membership is available by virtue of prior membership in a performing arts sister union.

So if you’re already a member of SAG, AGMA, or AGVA, you may be eligible to join Equity!

Applicants of a sister union must be a member of good standing for at least one year and must have worked as a performer under the union's jurisdiction on a principal or "under-five" contract or at least three days of extra ("background") work.

Description The Actors' Equity Association, commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book or through-storyline may be represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists. Wikipedia

• Equity-only Auditions via Casting Call and Equity Hotlines.
• Agency Regulations.
• Member Discounts.
• Equity News magazine.
• Member Portal website.
• Seminars and Special Events.
• Professional Name Protection.
• Tax Assistance through VITA.

The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book or through-storyline (vaudeville, cabarets, circuses) may be represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). The AEA works to negotiate quality living conditions, livable wages, and benefits for performers and stage managers.[1] A theater or production that is not produced and performed by AEA members may be called "non-Equity".[2]

Leading up to the Actors' and Producers' strike of 1929, Hollywood and California in general had a series of workers' equality battles that directly influenced the film industry. The films The Passaic Textile Strike (1926), The Miners' Strike (1928) and The Gastonia Textile Strike (1929) gave audience and producers insight into the effect and accomplishments of labor unions and striking.[3] These films were set apart by being current documentaries, not merely melodramas produced for glamor.

In 1896, the first Actors Union Charter was recognized by the American Federation of Labor as an attempt to create a minimum wage for actors being exploited. It was not until January 13, 1913, that the Union Charter failed. It later reemerged as the Actors Equity Association, with more than 111 actors and Francis Wilson as its founding board president.[3]

At a meeting held at the Pabst Grand Circle Hotel in New York City, on May 26, 1913, Actors' Equity was founded by 112 professional theater actors, who established its constitution and elected Francis Wilson as president.[4][5]

Leading up to the association's establishment, a handful of influential actors—known as The Players—held secret organizational meetings at Edwin Booth's The Players at its Gramercy Park mansion. A bronze plaque commemorates the room in which The Players met to establish Actors' Equity. Members included Frank Gillmore, who from was the executive secretary of Actors' Equity from 1918 to 1929 and president from 1929 to 1937.[6]

Actors' Equity joined the American Federation of Labor in 1919, and called a strike seeking recognition as a labor union.[4] The strike ended the dominance of the Producing Managers' Association, including theater owners and producers like Abe Erlanger and his partner, Mark Klaw. The strike increased membership from under 3,000 to approximately 14,000. The Chorus Equity Association, which merged with Actors' Equity in 1955, was founded during the strike.[7]

Equity represented directors and choreographers until 1959, when they broke away and formed their own union.

The Actors Equality Strike was a series of walkouts that started in 1927 in local theaters in Los Angeles and quickly grew to the motion picture stage.[9] During the nationwide walkouts, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started issuing contracts to freelance film actors, which led Hollywood's actors and actresses to fear the loss of their jobs. The theater strikes combined with freelance contracts fueled the need for actors and stagehands to strike for better working conditions and pay.[9]

Frank Gillmore, the head and treasurer of the Actor's Equity Association, understood that he would need multiple unions across the country to make a change not only in proper representation and pay, but in actors' ability to negotiate any contract a studio would put out worldwide. On July 20, 1929, the AEA gained its first victory, which gave producers and actors a leg to stand on in their battle for equality. Over 30 days (up to August 20, 1929), Gillmore fought to give the AEA the ability to represent all actors, producers, radio personality, vaudeville performers, and agents in the country. This would also give all power and representation to one organization in order to create a more organized equality strike.[10]

Starting on June 5, 1929, Gillmore attended several meetings in New York with the heads of Broadway. After the meeting, he notified the AEA that appearances in sound and talking motion pictures had been suspended until the outcome of the meetings with the international Studio Crafts Union.[11]

Due to the negotiations and the suspension of contracts through the AEA, studios were desperate for actors to speed up production, which had dropped significantly. The New York Times wrote, "It was pointed out that while the Equality regulations were in effect, about 2000 motion picture contracts, involving salaries said to amount to $500,000 were offered to actors in New York."[11] Any actor who entered into a contract not approved by the AEA would be banished from the union and have to reapply for admission after negotiations were finished.[11]

By December 1929, the AEA was negotiating terms to reset the movie stage under better conditions, but this was the least of its problems. In late December, groups of theater owners and non-represented producers filed lawsuits to claim damages from the AEA's contract holdout. "The plaintiffs not only seek a temporary injunction against the defendants, pending trial on an order to show cause why a permanent injunction should not be granted, but also ask damages of $100,000."[12]

The AEA allowed small numbers of contracts to be negotiated over the next few years. In 1933, the Screen Actors Guild was created and took the AEA's place as the main representative for movie actors and producers. This allowed the AEA to focus on live productions, such as theatrical performances, while the Screen Actors Guild focused on movie production and non-scripted live performances, such as minstrel, vaudeville, and live radio shows.[13]

In the 1940s, the AEA stood against segregation.[4] When actors were losing jobs through 1950s McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklist, the AEA refused to participate. Although its constitution guaranteed its members the right to refuse to work alongside Communists, or a member of a Communist front organization, the AEA did not ban any members. At a 1997 ceremony commemorating the blacklist's 50th anniversary, Richard Masur, then president of the Screen Actors Guild, apologized for its participation in the ban, saying: "Only our sister union, Actors' Equity Association, had the courage to stand behind its members and help them continue their creative lives in the theater. For that, we honor Actors' Equity tonight."[14]

In the 1960s, the AEA played a role in gaining public funding for the arts, including the founding of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

The AEA fought the destruction of historic Broadway theaters.[4] It played a major role in the recognition of the impact the AIDS epidemic on the world of theater, co-founding Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

There are three ways to become a member of Equity: an AEA contract, Equity Membership Candidacy (EMC) points, or a sister union. If someone is offered a position under an AEA contract, they may join for the term of that contract. Alternatively, one can become a member by generating a number of EMC points. This is done by securing a position at an EMC-participating theater and then registering as a candidate for Equity. For every week one works at a participating theater, one gets a point. Performers are required to earn a minimum of 25 weeks of EMC work along with a $400 initial payment to become official AEA members. One can also become a member by virtue of prior membership in a sister performing arts union: SAG-AFTRA, AGMA, AGVA or GIAA. To qualify that way, one must have been a member of the sister union for at least a year, be a member in good standing of that union, and have worked as a performer under its jurisdiction on a principal or "under-five" contract or at least three days of extra ("background") work.[15]

The AEA has several different types of contract, with different rules associated with them. Each contract type deals with a specific type of theater venue or production type.[16] These include, but are not limited to: Council of Resident Stock Theatres (CORST), Guest Artist, Letters of Agreement (LoA), League of Resident Theatres (LoRT) Small Professional Theatres (SPT), & Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA).

AEA actors and stage managers are not allowed to work in non-Equity houses or on any productions in which an Equity Agreement has not been signed anywhere within the AEA's jurisdiction.[17]

Media related to Actors' Equity Association at Wikimedia Commons

Just like with majority of other professions, British actors in the UK also have their own union. That union is called Equity.

Joining Equity – UK actors union – is one of the first steps an aspiring professional actor should take. Even though it’s not essential, there are several reasons you must do this, and I will outline those below.

But first, what is Equity and what does it do for British actors in the UK?

Equity is a trade union in the UK. It represents not only British actors, but all types of professional performers and creatives in the entertainment industry all across the United Kingdom.

The UK Equity union was formed long time ago back in 1929 to protect lesser known actors and other artists in the vastly growing show business. The organization has worked steadily ever since, making sure that every artist trying to make a living would be treated equally.

In the most basic sense, what Equity does is campaign on behalf of British actors and bring all sorts of issues to the UK’s government, parliament, and other places of influence. The union also protects your rights as a professional performer when you’re looking for, applying for and working with other industry professionals.

When it comes to private sector, Equity is the place you go to about unfair treatment of actors or unreasonable payment structure. They oversee that British actors get paid a reasonable rate and that other rules of fair treatment are followed.

How big is UK Equity? Here’s a quote directly from their website:

Yes, and no. Equity is the same in a sense that it’s a trade union that includes actors. However, while the description of their job may be similar to that of SAG-AFTRA, what UK Equity has the power to do differs from American actors union(s).

Even though Equity’s function touches upon a much broader audience of working performers than America’s SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild joint venture with American Federation of Television and Radio Artists as of 2013) who’s primary objective is to look out for actors working with cameras, Equity seems slightly less powerful in the showbiz of the United Kingdom.

Equity’s principal function is to negotiate minimum pay and conditions for its member actors, and make sure that everybody gets paid or receives the material that was promised to them.

Becoming a member of UK Equity and receiving your Equity card is easy for most aspiring British actors.

Compared to SAG-AFTRA in the US, where you need to work harder, longer and pay more to get in, with Equity almost any actor can become a member, which naturally reduces the value of the membership.

As soon as you get into any drama school or even any kind of performance-related course in the university, you can become a Student Member of the UK Equity union. That’s your first step towards becoming a full member should you choose to go with formal acting training.

Once you apply to Equity online and pay the dues (£18.25 for Student Membership), you will receive your membership card, and stay a student member until you graduate drama school.

Upon graduation from a drama school, you can (and should) transfer to a Full Membership status.

If you haven’t got into any performance-related course in a drama school or university in the UK, then you only need a few performance credits on your resume and you can join too as a Full Member.

On paper, quite a lot. In reality? Not so much other than make you look more professional. It’s like insurance; it’s better to have it but you don’t want a reason to use it.

With Equity’s help, it’s potentially easier for actors to negotiate and re-negotiate pays for professional work. Employees also treat actors financial side with more care, knowing that if an actor gets underpaid, it will be taken up with the union.

Ultimately, Equity works more behind the scenes and on the bigger picture to improve the state of the arts professions in the UK. Equity is very proactive at various campaigns for saving theatres and getting better funding.

Finally, Equity often seems to actors like a big brother that you have who’s never around. People know about him, so they won’t mess with you. But he’s not always there when you actually need him.

Now aside from that, UK actors Equity provides job information services, special legal aid, advice on benefits and taxes, insurance services and some other stuff. All of this is quite useful for those who are just starting out.

It’s best if you look it up on their website, as the details of their system are too complex to start explaining here. If you’re confused, then call them up and you’ll get your answer in full detail very quickly.

The bottom line here is that if you’re trying to pursue a career as a professional actor in the UK, you have to be a member of Equity.

Even though getting your Equity card won’t guarantee you any work, nor do they help you find any, that Equity card you receive with your stage name attached will at the very least give you a feeling of being a professional actor when you’re starting out.

Majority of casting call websites allow you to list yourself as an Equity member. If your profile says no, it may or may not affect how casting directors see you.

Even though it’s generally assumed that almost all British actors with just a few credits are members of UK Equity, agents, managers, casting directors and other industry folks still pay attention to that. Students, on the other hand, can weigh pros and cons, with the only con being the cost of joining.

When you’re a student on any acting related course getting your degree, I would say it’s worth getting your Equity membership as soon as you can.

You want to do this for three reasons:

Many students consider it unnecessary joining UK Equity while they’re studying because they’re aren’t working during their training. As a result, they miss the opportunity to become an older member of the union and reserve their screen/stage name for their future careers.

At £18.25 annual fee for Student Membership, this is less than you spend when going out on a Friday evening, unless you live on a very tight budget.

Just keep in mind that Equity’s Student Membership does not provide you with all the advantages of Full Membership. However, you don’t necessarily need them while you’re training.

The amount you pay for your Equity membership card will depend on your annual gross income. For full pricing broken down by income, see this section of their website.

Here’s a quick screenshot:

Don’t be misguided though. If for some reason, financial or other, you cannot join UK Equity, you can still get acting work, both in professional and amateur league. Being a member does give you a minimal boost in credibility, but it’s not significant when you’re just starting.