ITV and the BBC have been flouting the law and bypassing paid actors by calling for amateurs to work as unpaid extras on some productions, The Stage can reveal.
The Network’s production arm has sent requests to amateur dramatic sites www.amdram.co.uk and www.sedos.co.uk, appealing for members to appear in walk-on roles in forthcoming television shows, while the Corporation placed a similar appeal on online classified site www.gumtree.com.
These not only circumvent traditional casting agencies that find paid work for professional performers, but also contravene the National Minimum Wage Act and could leave the broadcasters open to employment tribunal claims.
One email from an ITV production offered “the opportunity to your performers to star as wedding guests at the reconstruction of a wedding reception… Of course we would like you to come dressed as you would for an actual wedding reception” with travel expenses, but no wage.
Another sought two people to play a pregnant woman and her partner - again unpaid. Meanwhile, the BBC posted a request for a male actor to perform in a show as a policeman, “unpaid but great fun and good exposure”.
After The Stage alerted the Department for Trade and Industry to the breaches, a spokesman warned that the law states that individuals “under any control or obligation to perform specific tasks and carry out work” must be paid, with the only exception being those employed by a charity or voluntary organisation.
He added: “The legislation and guidelines are very clear. There is a difference between work experience - where you are shadowing someone and being shown what to do - and being asked to perform specific jobs under direction. If you are going to ask someone to come in and do a specific job, then you have to pay them the minimum wage.”
According to the latest government figures, the lowest amount someone aged 22 or over can now legally be paid is £5.35 an hour, the rate for those between 18 and 21 is £4.45, while for 16 and 17-year-olds the figure is £3.30.
Equity says it is investigating the matter and insisted all performers must be paid in accordance with its existing union agreements.
A source at Bectu also warned that violations of the act could backfire on the companies if unpaid extras launched a retrospective legal bid for wages.
“Someone could willingly go along and spend the day for free on the production, but then later decide that they should be paid.
“They are within their legal rights to do so and have three months to make a claim to an employment tribunal,” said the source.
“It is also worth remembering that production companies normally suffer when they get large numbers of inexperienced people all working for almost nothing. We have examples of extras trying to take photos on their mobiles whilst the [lead] actor is attempting to learn his or her lines.”
The revelations come just as the DTI issued a new set of guidelines on work experience and the minimum wage in a bid to stamp out exploitation and following extensive discussions between key government departments and the television industry.
Both the BBC and ITV stressed that they took seriously their commitment to professional actors and walk-ons and responsibility to work within industry agreements. A spokesperson for the network said: “We will always investigate when there is any evidence that this is not the case.”
The Corporation blamed its request on an error by a new researcher, adding that it was now arranging payment for the artist involved.
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