Eight actors from the Equity union have filed a High Court case against casting website Spotlight, claiming it is charging unfair fees.
Spotlight charges performers to appear in its directory, which it says was used to cast 99% of productions in the UK in 2023.
But Equity says the fees, which were recently increased to £216 a year for actors on a monthly tariff, are “above what the law reasonably allows”.
Spotlight denies that and says the union has been waging “a campaign of deliberate misinformation”.
Jassa Ahluwalia, an actor and Equity councillor, who was among those who filed the High Court papers on Thursday, said: “We believe that actors are essentially being exploited.
“They have a monopoly in the market, and we believe they’re exploiting that position to overcharge.”
The Equity members are asking a judge to rule on whether Spotlight is subject to a legal requirement that it cannot charge more than a “reasonable estimate” of the cost of producing and circulating its directory of actors.
Equity says Spotlight’s income from subscriptions has risen by more than 180% in the past seven years – but it “seems unlikely” that the website’s costs have risen by the same amount.
“Back in the day, you could understand the cost, because they were producing these massive directory books that had to be printed, and there were costs associated with that,” Ahluwalia said.
“But this is now a digital-only service, and they stopped producing the physical directories in 2016.”
Many actors struggle to afford the fees, he said.
“Working in the industry as somebody from a working-class background is almost impossible anyway. So to have a £200 cost as another barrier for even the chance to get into an audition room is incredibly prohibitive.”
Spotlight says it offers performers “the most efficient and cost-effective means of advertising your skills and availability in the market”, and that actors are “entirely free” to advertise their services elsewhere.
The company also says it is not classed as an employment agency and therefore is not covered by the legal regulation as claimed by Equity’s “false assertions”.