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Up-front fees face full ban

Published Thursday 22 January 2009 at 12:55 by Matthew Hemley

Up-front fee regulations are facing yet another major overhaul that could see a complete ban on all agencies and casting companies making charges ahead of finding performers work.

The move follows an admission by the government that measures it introduced last year to crack down on bogus agencies have failed to prevent performers being defrauded with the promise of work.

Over the last decade, various government initiatives have attempted to combat rogue companies, particularly those which hold casting sessions in hotels and persuade vulnerable people - often young performers - to part with hundreds of pounds, despite there being little chance of securing work.

The latest proposal for an outright ban on work-finding services taking money up front is being put forward by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform as part of a consultation being launched next month.

It comes less than a year after new legislation was introduced that banned casting companies and agents from taking money for including performers’ details in a publication or website immediately, instead allowing performers a seven-day cooling-off period, during which they have the right to ask for their money back.

However, in an email seen by The Stage from DBERR, addressed to interested parties who could be affected by the proposed changes, the government admits the legislation has failed. It states: “Despite the introduction of a cooling-off period last year, there continues to be abuse of the up-front fee provision in this sector.”

The DBERR outlines two proposals to tackle the problem - an outright ban, or a tightening of existing regulations.

This would include requiring all agencies to notify new clients in writing that there is a cooling-off period, and workers being entitled to a refund if no publication is ever produced or circulated within a specified time frame.

However, the proposals have raised concerns that directories such as Spotlight and The Stage’s Showcall, which do not charge commission or purport to provide work-finding services, may be unintentionally affected.

Spotlight managing partner Ben Seale warned that the long-established publication could even be forced out of business by a complete ban on up-front fees.

“If Spotlight’s membership fees are termed as up-front fees, which obviously we disagree with, then Spotlight and all other similar directory publishers and casting services working in the same industry - such as Castnet and Casting Call Pro - will no longer be able to operate, which would be to the enormous detriment of the industry as a whole,” he said.

Even if existing laws are tightened, Seale said this could have “major logistical implications”.

“It will overly complicate what should be a very straightforward process for an actor - advertising yourself in a directory, just like you might advertise yourself in the Yellow Pages,” he said.

“Honest businesses should not be required to alter their business models because of a small minority of agencies who are abusing the system.”

In 2004, the government banned agents from charging registration fees, but made an exception for charges in advance to cover the cost of including someone in a casting publication provided by an agency, where that fee is no more than a reasonable estimate of the cost of production and circulation of the publication concerned.

However, Matt Payton, Equity research and parliamentary affairs officer, said this created a loophole that allowed unscrupulous agents to charge extortionate amounts for including performers in publications that were unlikely to get them any work.

The seven-day cooling-off period was designed to clamp down on these bogus agencies, but Payton said the DBERR’s new consultation was a “stark admission” of its failure.

He said the government should now be making a distinction between agents and directories such as Spotlight before implementing any more changes. “It should not be beyond the capability of the government to separate the services of agencies and publishing services,” he added.

Meanwhile, Conservative shadow minister for business Mark Prisk, who has previously criticised the effectiveness of the cooling-off period, said he was glad the government had finally “seen sense” after years of campaigning by both himself and The Stage. However, he said he was disappointed that so many people had already lost money because of the government’s “failings”.

The severity of the problem was highlighted in a survey completed by more than 700 Stage readers in 2006, which revealed half of respondents were still being charged a fee when they joined an agency.

A spokesman for the DBERR said the department remained “committed to ensuring that up-front fees cannot be used to exploit potentially vulnerable workers”.

“We plan to publish a consultation in February, which will seek views on any further steps that might be needed to protect vulnerable workers,” he added.

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