The Stage

Unfounded claims

Published Monday 23 November 2009 at 16:25

With reference to the article regarding the “Lukewarm response for law to ban up-front fees for walk-ons and extras”, (November 19, page 2). It was claimed that the government will stop background agencies “from taking any form of up-front fee from walks-ons and extras”. This is not actually true.

Certainly the big agencies in London will still be able to charge up-front fees. All they will do is just change the name of the up-front fee from casting directory fee to photography fee. Everything remains the same - it is business as usual as far as these agencies are concerned. Nothing has changed. Should we really be surprised?

In the government’s report/announcement dated November 12, page 30, Employment Agency Standards actually claimed that: “Policy Objective 2: Fees payable by entertainers and models - anecdotal evidence suggests that around 10,000 people per year join these agencies.”

There was no government explanation of how the figures were arrived at, or even what the figures were supposed to represent/mean. The figures were just plucked out of the air. Typical. When I later questioned the EAS, it could not give a single piece of hard evidence to back its ridiculous claim.

Minister Pat McFadden claimed on BBC TV on November 12 that the department had only received about 300 complaints “over the last year or so”. Now, over the last few months alone, I have passed over to the EAS approximately 60 complaints against one single scam agency. That leaves only 240 supposed complaints. Many made by me.

On November 27, 2003 the department claimed that from April 6, 2004 “agencies placing actors, models and extras no longer being allowed to charge up-front fees before they find them work”.

I did not believe the EAS then and I still do not believe it now.

Clive Hurst

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