LA actors fight minimum wage increase for local theaters
It doesn’t get much more rich than this. It’s almost as amazing as the left suddenly discovering the principle of limited government as they contemplate a soon-to-be President Trump inheriting Obama’s NSA, Guantanamo Bay and ongoing wars in the Middle East—No, he didn’t actually end any wars.
LOS ANGELES—Actors in this city’s small-theater scene got a raise this month—to the minimum wage. But some performers aren’t happy about it.
The rift started last year, when a new Actors’ Equity Association contract required members be paid minimum wage, currently $10 an hour in California, for work in small venues, commonly referred to as “99-seat” theaters. Until then, actors in Los Angeles had typically received daily stipends for such work—sometimes as little as $7 a day.
But a group of vocal supporters or veterans of 99-seat theaters, including area theater owners and actors Ed Asner and Ed Harris, sued Actors’ Equity this year, saying the minimum-wage requirement would force small theaters to close. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit on Dec. 8, and the new requirements went into effect on Dec. 15, but the plaintiffs said their fight isn’t over. “We’re not finished,” said Gary Grossman, one of the plaintiffs and the artistic director of the Skylight Theatre Company. Appealing the judge’s decision is one option on the table, he said…
More: http://www.wsj.com/articles/actors-pay-dispute-spotlights-small-los-angeles-theaters-1482784879
Rich.
This had me thinking about my favorite locations in my little town, Bloomington, IN. I doubt many of these locations could survive with a minimum wage increase. One of my favorite places is actually run by volunteers…freedom is scary.
Let’s get into this…
This story is propaganda and nonsense. The views expressed by the individuals claiming to be actors in this story do not represent the opinions of those actors who struggle everyday to make a living for substandard wages, pecifically background actors. The mythical idealogs portrayed in this story are unrealistic.
Alec342 doesn’t understand that entry-level acting positions aren’t supposed to pay a living wage. If actors are acting at small seat theaters, they are usually hoping to get experience (something college students pay for) and hoping to get exposure (which you really can’t put a price on).