Equity (UK)

Overview

Equity is the UK trade union representing professional performers and creative practitioners working in theatre, film, television, radio, music, opera, ballet, variety, and circus. Founded in 1930, Equity covers more than 47,000 members and is the primary union for on-screen and on-stage talent in the United Kingdom, performing a role equivalent to SAG-AFTRA in the US entertainment industry. The union negotiates collective agreements with producers, broadcasters, and production companies, establishing minimum rates, working conditions, and residual structures for covered performers.

Equity's membership spans the full range of performance professions: stage actors, screen actors, voice-over artists, dancers, opera singers, circus performers, and variety artists all fall within its jurisdiction. This breadth of coverage -- encompassing live performance alongside recorded media -- distinguishes Equity from its American counterpart, which focuses more narrowly on recorded media.

Equity Agreements for Film and Television

Equity negotiates several film and television agreements covering different production categories. The Equity/PACT Film Agreement covers theatrical features. Separate BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 agreements cover television performers working for those broadcasters. Low-budget independent film agreements with modified minimum rates are available for qualifying productions.

Equity minimums establish the starting point for performer negotiations on any signatory production. Most professional performers in the UK negotiate rates above Equity minimums, but the minimums provide a floor below which no Equity member can be employed and no signatory production can offer. For independent films using Equity talent, understanding the applicable minimum for the production's budget tier is essential pre-production planning.

Equity Minimum Rates and Buy-Outs

UK film agreements typically structure performer compensation differently from the US model. Many UK film agreements operate on a buy-out basis -- a single fee that covers all uses of the performance within a defined territory and for a defined period -- rather than the residual-on-reuse model standard in SAG-AFTRA agreements. Understanding this structural difference is important for international co-productions that may need to navigate both Equity and SAG-AFTRA obligations depending on the production's financing and distribution footprint.

What Filmmakers Should Know

UK productions casting Equity members must be signed to the relevant Equity agreement for the production type. International productions shooting in the UK that cast UK Equity members are expected to comply with Equity minimum terms, particularly when the production accesses UK tax relief incentives that require compliance with standard industry agreements.

For performers, Equity membership provides minimum rate protection, legal advice, health and safety advocacy, and the collective bargaining infrastructure that protects individual performers in negotiations with production companies.

See Also

For the UK crew union operating alongside Equity, see BECTU in this directory. For the UK producers association that negotiates with Equity, see PACT in this directory.