The Stage

Up-front fees debate goes to Westminster

Published Tuesday 15 January 2008 at 17:05 by Matthew Hemley

Government proposals aimed at cracking down on rogue agencies charging up-front fees are to be scrutinised by leading legitimate agents and trade unions Equity and Bectu at a debate at the Houses of Parliament later this month.

Organised by shadow minister for enterprise Mark Prisk, the round table event is being held in response to the government’s plans to ban the taking of up-front fees on the day of a casting and instead give aspiring performers a seven-day period in which to consider their options.

Prisk has claimed the proposals do not go far enough and hopes that a meeting of key industry players will provide a “working set of proposals” that can be taken to government in a bid to stamp out the problem permanently.

He said: “I wanted to organise this because I remain unhappy with the approach the government is taking. I recognise there are a number of different views on this and I thought it would be useful to get all the key players around the table to see if there are alternatives we can develop. The government has dragged its heels over this for some time and I really don’t think this cooling-off period addresses the central issue. They [the government] don’t seem to be committed to the subject.”

Prisk said it was important the matter of up-front fees was dealt with to prevent “lots of other hopefuls” being ripped off and to protect “the image of the industry”.

He added: “I want to make sure that we don’t find in two or three years’ time hundreds more have been defrauded because the government’s solution does not work.”

Under the proposed legislation, which is expected to come into force in April, an agency will be required to tell applicants what their charges are when an initial audition or casting session is held, but will not be allowed to take any money. A cooling-off period of a week will then have to be provided and a fee can only be requested once that time has elapsed.

The round table event to debate the proposals will be held on January 29.