NonProfit Actors get Raise
From Variety:
Thesp union Actors' Equity and the Assn. of Non-Profit Theater Companies have struck a new three-year deal that ups both salaries and health insurance payments for actors.Effective today, the deal raises minimum weekly salaries (currently pegged between $265 and $441, depending on a theater's category) by 4% in year one and by 3% each year over the subsequent two years. Stage managers and their assistants will receive the same increases.
Weekly payments made by producers into the Equity-League Health Trust Fund also will increase incrementally, from the current $155 to $193 by the end of the third year.
Meanwhile, average weekly box office ranges, which determine a theater's category for the agreement, were raised by 5%.
Off Broadway orgs that use the ANTC agreement include the Atlantic, Classic Stage, MCC, the New Group, Primary Stages, Signature, the Vineyard and the Women's Project. The York Theater also has recently been approved for the agreement.
Of course, the actual amounts actors will get will still depend so much on the theatre's LORT tier (the "category" referred to) which, as you can see, are now being adjusted to give smaller theatres a break, acknowledging that, say, $100,000 in annual box office intake ain't what it used to be.
Sorry, I stand corrected. Actually has nothing to do with LORT. (See COMMENTS)
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2 comments:
This contract actually does not reference LORT. It started as an adaptation of the commercial Off-Broadway rulebook with reference to individual theatre's LOA. There is a tier structure within the contract in order to determine salary. Theatre's tier status is determined by a season's intake of cash sales. within the agreement, theatres are not allowed to move up or down more than one tier from one season to the next, so if the theatre produced a flop season, they may be reduced one tier, even if their actual sales would move them down as many as 3. I'm sure that Signature Theatre company is still in the top tier, even with $15 tickets, because they are receiving that subsidy from Time Warner on a per-ticket basis - I'm sure AEA forces them to report this as income.
this was long and probably confusing - I'm extremely familiar with this rulebook so if you are genuinely interested let me know and I can answer any specific questions.
Oh - and I meant to answer your question.
The significance of this announcement is just the first renewal of the agreement, suggesting that both the unions and the theatres are satisfied with the terms that were negotiated 3 years ago (with some revisions, but still). So, basically, not really big news, but encouraging that ANTC theatres can continue to produce on this generous contract.
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