Tag Archives: Actors’ Equity

Back in October 2015, when a group of LA actors served a lawsuit on their own Union, Actors’ Equity, veteran actor and scholar Dakin Matthews was there to give a layman’s analysis of the legal text.  Now that Equity has filed a motion to dismiss the case, Dakin is back to scrutinize the new document: Again, I’m not a lawyer or a judge, and I ...

PRESS RELEASE LOS ANGELES (July 27, 2016) — Members of Los Angeles’ “Pro99” movement, including actors Frances Fisher and Alfred Molina, spoke out today about recent attacks leveled by Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional stage actors and stage managers, against its own Los Angeles members who are part of the movement. After ending talks to forestall a lawsuit brought by Los Angeles actors ...

PRESS RELEASE From Lawsuit Plaintiffs LOS ANGELES (July 25, 2016) — As expected, Equity filed a motion to dismiss our lawsuit. We stand behind our claims and are going to file our response with the federal court. We are confident the court to see the validity of our lawsuit. Equity clearly violated the terms of our 1989 settlement agreement that established the Review Committee, refused to ...

Following the LA actors serving a lawsuit on their union (Actor’s Equity), the Union has countered with a motion to dismiss that lawsuit.  The complete text of the motion can be found here in PDF format.  (It’s a 45 MB file.  A lighter, text-version of the primary document appears below.) Lawsuits are often about the rules of the conflict – and how they apply to ...

Footlights originally published this letter from actress and producer Vanessa Stewart on March 25, 2016. Vanessa has since updated her database making it even more accurate and a more valuable tool for the theater community. She explains her update in an addendum which follows her original letter below: I just spent about a year of researching 99-Seat productions that moved to contracts. And here’s what ...

BREAKING: LOS ANGELES (July 14, 2016) — Actors and other members of the Los Angeles theatrical community (Ed Asner, Tom Bower, Gregg Daniel, John Flynn, Maria Gobetti, Gary Grossman, Ed Harris, Salome Jens, Veralyn Jones, Karen Kondazian, Simon Levy, Amy Madigan, Tom Ormeny, Lawrence Pressman, Michael Shepperd, Joseph Stern, French Stewart, and Vanessa Stewart) have served the lawsuit they filed against Actors’ Equity Association on ...

The War of Words between Actors’ Equity and Los Angeles Actors has heated up since the breakdown of mediated talks between the two groups.  First, on June 28, Equity sent out an unsigned email to its entire national membership explaining its version of events.  In response, the Plaintiffs of the lawsuit that has been filed but not yet served on Equity put out their own ...

Actors’ Equity Association has repeatedly expressed concern that the Los Angeles 99-Seat Plan has impeded paid opportunities for actors in the region. Equity President Kate Shindle made remarks along these lines in March of this year: …the idea that a mid-sized theater could open at this point, or even a smallish theater, could open at this point in Los Angeles when they had to compete ...

As if their press release earlier in the week wasn’t enough, Actor’s Equity has distributed another  press release today in a reaction to the Plaintiffs’ Statement published yesterday.  Some context and analysis follow after the Union’s official statement: Actors’ Equity Association Executive Director Mary McColl issued the following statement: Actors’ Equity Association (Equity) remains disappointed that the facilitated discussions with the plaintiffs in the Asner ...

Footlights has received this letter from the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Actor’s Equity. It is their response to the announcements Equity made on June 28th, 2016 regarding its ending the 99-Seat Plan: Dear Equity Member and Los Angeles Theatre Community – By now you have seen Equity’s Press Release and letter to their members attacking actors for their efforts to preserve intimate theatre in ...