Literature Review.
The piece I am reviewing is a journalistic
piece written by a theatre critic Matt Trueman, in December 2013, for The
Guardian. The content of the piece is
about the rise in unpaid/ low paid work for actors. I feel that this piece really reflects and
establishes the need for the research I am carrying out in my professional
inquiry. I believe that the intended
audience for the piece are those who have an interest in the theatre and Arts.
The first thing that caught my attention in this
article was its title, ‘Half of Equity performers earn less than £5,000 a year’. Knowing that national minimum wage sits at
around £15,000, I automatically found this figure appalling and wanted to go on
to read the rest of the article. I don’t
feel that Trueman takes a very biased approach to the subject he is addressing,
as he doesn’t ever express his opinion throughout the article. Trueman uses a lot of statistics and I feel
that this gives the reader more trust in his findings, ‘Since November 2012,
almost half said they had worked for no pay, while a further 51.9%
were not reimbursed for expenses.’ This is something I wish to
reflect in my own inquiry.
Although I feel that Trueman doesn’t express any personal opinion, I do
feel that he wants the audience of the article to realise how poor pay
conditions are for performers. Trueman
doesn’t write anything about any good paying jobs for performers and his
approach to the subject is very much aimed at the negative side of no pay for
performers. Although I want to gather
statistical data through my research, I want to be able to compare benefits and
drawbacks of no paid/ low paid jobs for performers.
Trueman also touches lightly on how, ‘Low-paid work has been a significant point of conflict this
year, with a number of campaigns targeting the practice of unpaid acting jobs.’ He goes on to state that rulings from Courts
supporting actors under Employment Law will begin to affect the Fringe theatre
and how it works on profit share and artist collaboration. This is something I would like to explore
further, as I believe there is a difference between artists coming together to
create artistic development and directors employing performers for free and
making a profit on ticket sales etc.
In conclusion, I feel that the statistics
in this piece will really help me to compare my own data to data that already
exists. I believe that the context of
the piece is very similar to what I wish to explore and will be a great
stepping stone for me to start from.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA few random questions that spring to mind.
ReplyDeleteHow much profit is made from sales? What other costs does a theatre have to pay for? How often do they use performers without paying them? And how many at once? How can a performer build on the experience to get paid work? Can performers get working tax credits to build up their money when they first start out? How does performing get recorded? Does the new Tax credit system effect performers? Do you belong to an agency?
I think your inquiry is really interesting and your literature review has helped me get a better picture of your inquiry, so hopefully I will be able to give more constructive feedback in the future.
ReplyDeleteProfit from sales can fluctuate depending on the type of show etc. A theatre has to pay bills, like everybody, but it says something when Front Of House Staff are being paid more than the actors themselves, doesn't it? Sometimes a whole show is profit share so everybody is doing it for free, on the understanding they only make money if the show does well, which in this economy is quite rare at the moment. Performers are not entitled to any benefits as they are not seen as workers under the legislation system. They are self employed and so therefore come under the category 'non workers'. I do belong to an agency yes, and even agents I have had in he past have sent for auditions for non paid work. How that works, I dont know, as they only get paid when performers do!!
ReplyDeleteHi Lizzy, this is very relevant to my inquiry also and was really interesting to read! Are you looking at all performers i.e.. actors, dancers, singers, musicians etc? Its crazy how its almost a necessity for performers to have a second job to make money- we should definitely catch up at some point to talk about this! Are you coming to the University at any point this month?
ReplyDelete