Payment for auditions?
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Yesterday an acting acquaintance told me he got paid for auditions he had attended and he claimed this is an equity ruling. He said this only applies to T.V. castings but every casting he had been to via spotlight he was then able to claim £50. I had an audition for The Bill recently which was via spotlight so according to him I can now write to them and claim £50. Has anybody else heard of this because it's news to me?
I'm sorry to say, Jonathan, that there is no agreement in place with television companies to pay anything for auditions. The only agreement is for second recalls for theatre.
I've checked this with my Area Organiser. Your friend may have made special arrangements or maybe his agent has. But there is no formal arrangement in place.
I agree with Alan.
There are RECALL fees which your agent can claim via the casting director (who will normally give a reference/claim number and the address for them to write to.)for commercial castings.
The only other company that I know pays EXPENSES but not audition fees is -Granada (normally because they only see two or three for the role), I have been seen several times by them and have been paid CASH whilst I am waiting to be seen. I don't know if this is still the case but if it is - GOOD ON THEM !!!
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Thought it sounded too good to be true. And there was me planning what to do with the £50.
I known about this for ages- its actually recall fees. And maainly for muscials as you can get up to five to nine recalls.
i have been paid for auditions. . but i didn't get the money until i got (and did) the part.. . i have also been up for auditions where my agent has told me that i would get paid (if and when i did the part). . but i didn't get them :-(
so some companies DO offer it i guess.. shame all don't! that would be ace! LOL
It would also show some commitment to actors and the professionalism of casting directors too!
I'm talking about the 'cattle call' auditions where even no-hopers are attending to make the day 'look' busier.
Casting from thousands sounds better for some of them than a 'select' group.
I don't know if this is anything the same, but I have an audition for a tv project from lime pictures (who produce hollyoaks in liverpool) And they're reimbursing my train/cab fair on the same day... Maybe that's what happened with him?
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Basically he just told me he'd had a few auditions through spotlight and said for each of them he'd written to spotlight after and a cheque for £50 was sent to him. He said one of the auditions had been for talkback Thames who I also auditioned for recently. He said this was definitely first time auditions (and T.V. only) as the recall rate is apparently higher.
I'm gobsmacked! Well done him! I am interested to know if this is a general arrangement or how it comes about. However I'm also a little concerned that if I dig too deeply I may end up finding that whatever arrangement your friend has may be compromised and stopped if too many people 'demand' parity with him!
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You can negotiate upwards of £24 for a recall for commercials. My agent always asks for, and gets, £50 for a commercial recall. This is not an Equity rate but a guideline as there is no agreement in force currently for commercials.
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I'm gobsmacked too. He's not actually a friend but somebody I met yesterday through another acting friend of mine who had trained at the same drama school as me. He could have just been making the whole thing up but I can't possibly see what he would gain from that.
It would appear, from other comments, that others have benefitted too.
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It would be such a stress relieving thing to know that you will get paid for an audition especially when haveing to travel long distances. I no longer apply for anything down south now as the bus journey can be about 11 hours long and when you get there your just to tierd to audition so it then becomes pointless, but with being paid for it i would get a train.
Heres hopeing one day
At a guess, it may simply be that high profile production companies (who have, I am sure, money to burn, but are reluctant to ever trumpet that fact too loudly) will be happy to reimburse necessary expenses...provided that a good case is made to them as to why they should. They will not do anything to encourage the actual reimbursement as a matter of course, but they always have a fund for such contingencies that can be dipped into if any member of the cast proves to be particularly obstreperous about monies owing.
As Alan said, if *everyone* started to claim these costs back tomorrow, then I have no doubt the practice would stop.
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Yup I guess that's the case. In fact I remember asking him why there was nothing on the Spotlight website about it and he did say "they're not exactly going to advertise it".
I did Well, I recently auditioned for and got the part from TalkBack TV but I didn't get an audition fee. I didn't even get travel expenses.
Gobsmacked? No! Everyday in this business you'll meet someone who likes to spin a yarn to make you think they are doing better than you are!
The only time you get paid for auditions EVER is the recall fee!
Huge pinch of salt is required with this guy I suspect!
My husband gets a small fee every time he attends a casting - through an extras agency.
forebsk, that's not 100% true, Limepictures are paying for my audition which is a costy 79.50 in total from london to liverpool.
To sum this up, It depend's who the production company are, someone mentioned earlier companies with money to burn will be more than willing to pay for you're audition but it usally happens when they are the one's offering this option or you're agent has done a very good job getting them to reimburse you!
I think i mis understood, if you're saying your friend is just being paid 50 pounds for every audition, that's a complete lie.. I dont believe that for a second, but for travling expenses to the audition that happens alot if its far!
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