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New Deal Ends Bdwy Show Strike; Producers to Pay Percentage of Profits to Actors

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According to a new deal that was announced last week, producers who fund Broadway’s major shows will pay a percentage of their profits to actors.

The new understanding, the result of negotiations between Actors’ Equity and the Broadway League, is said to be the first time financiers have acknowledged that performers do more than just act, but proffer their creative ideas for shows.

According to the New York Daily News, “The revolutionary idea is to provide workers with increasing access to the capital their labor both produces and sustains. And the fight for that principle is now raging on Broadway after the musical “Hamilton” decided to give its workers a share in the production’s massive cash windfall. Now the national labor union Actors Equity is demanding that all Broadway performers and producers get a share of the spoils.”

“Creating a new show is hard,” said Mary McColl, the union’s executive director, in an interview with the New York Times. “If we’re along for that ride at the beginning, for not much money, we think we should be able to share in the success once it has recouped its expenses.”

The agreement effectively ends the five-week-long strike that saw Actor’s Equity keep union members from taking part in shows in commercial development. According to the union, the deal divides one percent of show profits among actors and stage managers who took part in it. It also includes a salary increase for actors and stage managers.

“We are happy that we were able to successfully restructure the previous pre-production agreements,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of the Broadway League, in a prepared statement. “We are thrilled that our producers can now go back to the important work of developing the best theatre in the world.”

Actors’ Equity Association had called the strike in early January. “Projects from members of the Broadway League under Lab, Workshop, and Staged Reading contracts will be placed on Equity’s “Do Not Work” list following Equity and the League’s failed ongoing negotiations,” reported Playbill. “Equity announced its “#NotALabRat” campaign in November of last year, highlighting the lack of pay increase from producers under Lab Agreements in the 11 years since that developmental presentation contract was created.”

American Theatre, a publication of Theatre Communications Group, noted that the new agreement will be applicable for AEA’s lab agreement, workshop, and stage reading contract. “The highlights from the new agreement includes a five-year term for salaries, with three increases over five years; profit sharing after a show recoups its initial investment; triggers that will result in an additional assistant stage manager contract; a minimum guarantee of five weeks of rehearsal time for a Broadway musical (four weeks for a play).”

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