Equity's TV agreement may or may not reach a vertical series

The figure or the record

Equity, the UK performers' union, publishes a standing 'Rates and agreements' page describing collective agreements it holds 'across TV, film, opera, ballet and theatre,' while noting the union is still 'fighting for union contracts in gaming, audio and commercials.' Producers' body Pact, which co-negotiates the television agreements, gives the clearest published account of scope in its own summary of collective agreements: the Pact/Equity TV Agreement, dated 2019, 'covers engagements of actors, dancers, stunt coordinators and stunt performers on TV productions,' where 'the TV production must have a linear transmission or transmission on an SVOD platform.'

What the documents establish

Pact's summary also names the Pact/Equity Supporting Artist Agreement, dated 2019, covering background performers 'within a 40-mile radius outside of Charing Cross' across TV, SVOD and feature films, and the Pact/Equity Cinema Film Agreement, dated 2021, for theatrically released features. No agreement in Pact's list is named for online-only, mobile-app or vertical-format content. Equity's own rates page confirms the same picture from the union side: it directs members to a search tool by industry and production type, and its industry options run to 'TV, Film, Theatre, Audio, Singers & Video Games, Variety, Commercials' — none named 'online' or 'short-form.'

Scope and caveats

The determining word in the TV Agreement's own description is 'SVOD' — a subscription video-on-demand platform. Whether a coin-unlock vertical drama app counts as an SVOD platform for this purpose is not answered in either document; it hinges on a definition neither text spells out. Where no collective agreement applies, Equity says it supplies 'recommended minimum rates and template contracts' rather than an enforceable floor, and non-members can legally work on Equity-negotiated terms without the union having any bargaining leverage over that specific engagement.

What to watch

Editorially, the fact to track is whether Equity or Pact issues guidance that explicitly names vertical or short-form drama, resolving the SVOD classification question these two documents currently leave open.

• Does the platform distributing a given UK vertical series meet a workable definition of 'SVOD' for the TV Agreement's purposes?
• Is a UK vertical shoot signing the TV Agreement, the Supporting Artist Agreement, or working outside any collective agreement altogether?
• Has Equity published a recommended minimum rate specifically for short-form or vertical work, distinct from its general template contracts?

Two trade bodies' own summaries agree on what exists — a 2019 TV agreement and its supporting-artist companion — and agree, by omission, that a dedicated vertical category does not yet exist in either document.