Very clever of Spotlight to say they were offering everyone a payment holiday this year but saying not to contact them yet (March 21st), then quietly allowing only a 1 WEEK window later for people to opt-in. Should surely have been an opt-out. True colours showing again. 1/5

The fact is that Spotlight is a parasitic organisation, it offers very little to the industry and instead exists for the purpose of fleecing already-stretched actors. Most grads don’t have money to spend on anything, but their agents insist they join Spotlight so they do. 2/5

Imagine if instead there was an @EquityUK directory and agents decided that that was the one everyone ought to be on? Get everyone to join the union, then it would be stronger and we’d all benefit. Get your profile page free with your membership. 3/5

Instead, young actors have to choose which they can afford, and Spotlight wins. Spotlight membership costs £27 more a year than Equity yet comes with none of the benefits. It’s a private company with no interest in your welfare. 4/5

They gross £9.5m a year from performers for running a basic website, and for the vast majority of members that’s it. Spotlight has nearly 20,000 members more than Equity, because that’s what the industry expects. It’s time that changed. 5/5