EXCLUSIVE: The UK association of child actor agents has blasted the Equity union for refusing to prioritize or fight for the next generation, especially those from under-privileged backgrounds.
The Agents of Young Performers Association (AYPA) sent a statement brimming with frustration to Deadline after saying it had “met with [actors union] Equity on numerous occasions in an effort to improve pay and working conditions for young performers across both theatrical and BBC in-house production contracts.”
“Despite sustained dialogue, these efforts have produced little tangible change,” said the statement.
The AYPA sprung up earlier this decade to fight for the rights of actors under 18 and its members have repped actors from Harry Potter and House of the Dragon, along with Adolescence lead Owen Cooper. The group, which comprises agencies including Ardent Talent, Goldmans and PD Management, was motivated to contact Deadline after several meetings with Equity and following the union’s decision to publish an article titled “Arts cannot be the preserve of the elite”.
The AYPA deemed the article hypocritical given what the body believed was a lack of engagement or help on improving pay and conditions for child actors that come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Having provided research to the actors union showing poorer child actors were being shut out, the AYPA said this feeling of hypocrisy was buttressed by the “irony” of one of the worst offending examples being a theater production of Oliver, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel.
“The irony is hard to ignore: a story centred on the exploitation and mistreatment of children is being revived under contractual terms that mirror the very issues it portrays,” added the AYPA. “When agents approached Equity for support, the lack of a timely response spoke volumes. The uncomfortable truth is that young performers are simply not a priority for Equity.”
The AYPA cited BBC in-house TV shows and the theater as the main cause for concern, pointing out that bigger budget series and movies especially for the American streamers tend to pay at much higher rates. The AYPA believes Equity can negotiate better rates for child actors and argues that parents should receive reimbursement of costs to subsidise their children’s participation in projects, covering essential expenses such as travel, accommodation, and any associated losses of earnings. Furthermore, recent AYPA research found that only two West End theater productions were paying children a fixed weekly fee for rehearsing for and appearing in a play. For comparison, adult actors still receive a full weeks pay even if they are not called to every session during a rehearsal week.
Compounding the situation is the fact that Equity members have to be over the age of 10, but many child actors are younger, such as some of the leads in plays like Matilda the Musical.
“If Equity is genuinely committed to tackling inequality, it must extend its focus to include the youngest members of our industry,” added the statement. “Addressing systemic barriers for adult artists while leaving children unsupported is not only inconsistent – it perpetuates the very inequities the union claims to challenge.”
An Equity spokeswoman said the union “works to improve the pay and working conditions for young performers through our collective agreements,” citing the example of an updated Equity-BBC agreement that requires rates of pay no less than half the adult rates and an entitlement to residuals for child actors.
The union added: “While Equity works to secure improvements for young workers, it’s important to recognise that the rights that child performers have at work take a far different form from the employment rights of adults. It is within this framework that Equity operates. Equity’s collective agreements set out clearly the minimum rates on which child performers may be engaged and other protections, such as minimum notice periods. Where an engager breaches these terms, members are encouraged to raise this with Equity in the normal way and the union will investigate fully.”
The AYPA is not the first in recent months to do battle with Equity. Equity took casting directory Spotlight to court and lost over an attempt to force Spotlight to lower its fees by having it classed as an employment agency. That legal fight is ongoing as it heads to the appeals court. Meanwhile, Equity’s long-running negotiation with producer trade body Pact over new contracts rumbles on, with sticking points remaining over artificial intelligence as the negotiations near the two-year mark.
On the AYPA criticisms, Equity said it is “proud to campaign on the issue of inequalities in the arts.” “We have a strong record of calling out barriers to drama training and education and successfully campaigning for the abolition of audition fees for courses.”
Harry Potter places conditions in spotlight
The AYPA was formed after a group of agents became frustrated at a lack of colllective problem-solving in the child acting space. Initially, it focused on the thorny issue of local authority licensing but it has expanded, and its work has arguably grown in importance since the HBO Harry Potter series, which saw 30,000 British child actors audition for the three leads alone.
The AYPA is fighting on behalf of child actors in an era of social media, online comments and heightened concerns around wellbeing. It supplied a rough duty of care blueprint to Harry Potter casting agent Lucy Bevan and its members said it has been pleased with duty of care standards on the HBO tentpole since cameras rolled.
The AYPA is fighting for additional wellbeing measures in a world of social media trolling. The group agreed with Ariana Grande’s recent call for therapy to be mandatory for child actors on set, which came after the Quiet on Set allegations about Nickelodeon, the network that gave the Wicked star her first gig.
“Someone needs to sit down with the parents of a child who is taking a lead role in Harry Potter or Game of Thrones for that general duty of care and to discuss therapy and media training,” the AYPA said. “These children, especially those in Harry Potter, their whole childhoods change. They can’t just nip to McDonald’s with their friends.”
Other sources of frustration for the group stem from occasions when child actors attend the premiere of a big movie they have been cast in only to find out on the day that their scenes were cut. They argue it should be the duty of the producer to inform child actors if this is the case.
“For children who filmed a role in Barbie to go to the premiere, do the red carpet, have their picture taken, sit through the whole film and it’s not until those end credits roll they realize they’re not in the film,” the AYPA said. “You’d be outraged if that was an adult actor. So why are they doing that to children?”
If issues like this start to be eliminated, and Equity listens to demands, the AYPA believes that the industry can better grant child actors the same respect it affords adults.
“[Adolescence star] Owen Cooper came from one of our members and he’s gone out and won an Emmy,” added the AYPA. “So children are really important in this industry, and it’s about time that that was recognized and they were treated as you’d expect them to be treated. If they’re not properly taken care of, they’re not going to want to stay in the industry as adults.”
