About Actor’s Equity Association

Equity has a contract to cover professional theatre large and small, wherever it might be happening in the United States. Equity negotiates and administers multi-employer national and regional collective bargaining agreements, as well as single-employer agreements with theatrical employers. These agreements provide minimum salaries, benefits, job security and numerous other provisions to ensure safe working conditions and a work environment where actors and stage managers are protected.

There are limited circumstances where Equity members may perform without benefit of an Equity contract. Those exceptions are sometimes referred to as “codes,” “guidelines” or “rules.” Unlike standard Equity contracts, these rules are designed to ensure that where members intend to hone their skills and “showcase” themselves in the hope of securing future employment, that certain basic conditions are in place. There are no minimum salaries, there is no obligation to remain in a production and none of the regular benefits or protections of standard agreements apply. Actors and stage managers who are participating in projects that do not meet the criteria established in the applicable code, guideline or rule must discontinue their participation and notify the nearest Equity office immediately.

Hollywood Fringe Festival shows with actors and/or stage managers who are members of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) might be able to apply for these are codes and western agreements:

Los Angeles 99-Seat Theatre Agreement: This agreement is for use in the county of Los Angeles in theatres of 99 seats or fewer. Salaries are based on minimum wage, and there are no restrictions on ticket prices, the number of performances or the number of rehearsals.

Hollywood Area Theatre (HAT) Agreement: This agreement is used in theatres with 599 seats or fewer, presenting productions in the county of Los Angeles. There are three categories based on seating capacity.

Los Angeles Self-Produced Project Code (LASPPC): is an internal union membership rule that permits members to work without the benefit of a contract in member-produced theatrical productions in Los Angeles County in theaters of 99 seats or fewer. The members working on the project are part of a collaborating group and are not employed by any producing entity.

Los Angeles 50-Seat Showcase Code: This an internal union membership rule that permits Equity members to work without the benefit of a contract in theatrical productions in Los Angeles County in theaters of 50 seats or fewer for the purpose of presenting plays and/or scenes in limited performances.

To include union members in your project, you need to prepare the relevant paperwork and submit to AEA for approval ASAP.

If you would like to read a particular Equity agreement, learn more about the requirements for producers, or get the answer to other AEA related questions email [email protected] or call the Western Region Office at 323-978-8080.

On the last day of the festival (June 26th) we host our Award Ceremony and Closing Night Party. We hand out two types of awards: the Community Awards (top shows by category and also the all-around “Top of the Fringe” award), which are determined by votes from Fringers; and Sponsored Awards, which are awarded by organizations outside of the Fringe. Check out last year’s award winners here. In order to sponsor an award, you must meet a number of requirements, including the following:

• Naming requirements (no fringe-specific superlatives)
• Requirement to provide a physical award to the winner at the Fringe Award Ceremony
• Details on eligibility and how the winner will be selected
• You may present ONE award (if presenting to multiple awardees, they must all be called to the stage at the same time).
• Presenting organization must be incorporated 

And perhaps most importantly, Sponsored Award applications must be submitted by May 1st. Check out the full list of requirements and a link to the proposal form here.

If you have a business located in the Hollywood area, consider participating in our Hot Spot program. Businesses involved in this program are able to gain access to Festival participants through discounts and special offers. The benefits of being a Hot Spot include social media mentions to Hollywood Fringe’s 2K+ Twitter followers and 8K+ Facebook followers. You will also be included on the Fringe website and in the Fringe guide.

Click here to see a list of the 2015 Festival Hot Spots. Have questions about this special program please contact Sponsorship Manager, Lois Neville at [email protected]. 

The sponsored drinks program is back for its sixth year, allowing you to feature a drink themed after your show, business or organization at the infamous Bryan’s Bar at Fringe Central. For $100, you provide the name, your base alcohol choice and other information about your show and our bartenders will create a hand-crafted beverage to promote your product, cause or production! You will also receive an official #hff16 social media mention, a newsletter shout-out and printed signage at the bar. All proceeds from sponsored drink sales go to the Fringe. If interested, please complete this form.

From time to time, our Festival Director Ben Hill will share some stories about how the Fringe began as well as some insight into the direction and mission of our little festival. This is his first post. Enjoy!

__

Every organization has its founding story.

Ours started in one of those crappy Hollywood apartments at the corner of Wilcox and Homewood. Anyone who lives in LA knows the scene I am setting: old carpets, ambitious roaches, curious smells, crumbling ceilings, bathrooms the size of linen closets.

Our little palace amongst the stars was our welcome mat when I moved to LA in 2007 with Fringe co-founder Stacy Jones (Hill) - my then-girlfriend, now-wife, forever soulmate.

I had come to LA as many do, eyes wide with ambitions of becoming a working actor in the city where actors worked. That ambition lasted about a week.

One ambition wouldn’t die so easily: starting a theatre festival in LA. But what kind of festival?

Our producing director and co-founder Dave McKeever and I had produced a festival in the past. It was a wonderful little event called “The Hatchery Festival” – three plays, three directors, three dramaturges, three weeks. There is nothing so pure as a festival of new works. As one actor put it, “I just love the way  the new words feel in my mouth”.

Still, it wasn’t enough. Even then I longed for artistic chaos framed in a well organized event. This couldn’t be achieved in the scope of a small festival of new plays, as noble and wonderful as it was.

Having witnessed first-hand the success of the Capital Fringe in my hometown of Washington DC not to mention that wonder-of-the-world that is Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I remember the first time I heard myself say it (it was in New Hampshire for the lore-curious): “Maybe we could do a Fringe in LA. They don’t have one right?”

And so there we were, drinking as we do in a shitty Hollywood apartment, no cares, no kids, no money; weeks into our LA experience and our lives gloriously changing all around us. We were happy as hell. 

I remember reaching for my laptop (half drunk). 

Browsing to GoDaddy.com. 

Seeing the words hollywoodfringe.org scrawl across the page as I typed

Clicking search. 

That infinite moment of quiet anticipation. The great wait.

“Hollywoodfringe.org is available, purchase now?”

Money was tight, but yes – I think we will purchase now. I like the way those new words feel in my mouth.

The date was October 10, 2007. For all intents and purposes, the Fringe was conceived in that moment. 

Things became a little more complicated after that. The shows, the artists, the tickets. Dreams born and crashed. Friends made, friends lost. That spirit conceived on a day in October – it was like a life placed in our hands that needed nurture. A calling, a responsibility, a joyful struggle. 

It all rose from that one pure moment where a magical name was shot into the universe: Hollywood Fringe.