Spotlight's 'two-tier' casting membership paused after backlash

Actress and singer Tiffany Clark said the proposed membership divided performers into "the haves and have nots"

A casting agency has U-turned on plans for a more expensive membership option for performers looking for work.

Spotlight, which claims to have helped cast 99% of the UK's productions this year, announced the £294 a year Premiere option last week.

But members criticised the move saying it risked creating a "two-tier system" and thousands signed a petition calling for it to be scrapped.

The company says it heard the feedback and that the rollout was "paused".

More than 90,000 performers, such as actors, singers and dancers, are registered with Spotlight.

The platform works like a directory, allowing users to upload a CV and matching them with jobs.

The more expensive package had offered improved wellbeing support and help landing gigs. It cost about £100 more a year more than its "classic" option, which is priced at £183.60 a year.

A petition launched on Tuesday by a group of casting directors said the package "only increases the divide" between performers from different backgrounds.

Siobhán McSweeney, who played Sister Michael in Derry Girls, was among those supporting the petition saying Spotlight were creating a "two-tier system".

It attracted almost 4,000 signatures before the company announced plans for the membership option were on hold.

Performers union Equity had also urged members not to subscribe after criticism some could be priced out of opportunities.

Siobhán McSweeney won a Bafta for her role as Sister Michael in Derry Girls

Tiffany Clark is an actress and singer from Worthing in West Sussex - she tells BBC Newsbeat the plans for a price hike risked making the entertainment industry "unsustainable" for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Last year, analysis by The Guardian newspaper suggested that the number of people with working class backgrounds in entertainment industries had shrunk by half in about 50 years.

"It really just makes the website go into the haves and have nots," says Tiffany, who is registered with Spotlight.

"Which means that for working class actors like myself, it's just another indication that we don't really belong."

Tiffany adds that the timing of the announcement - during a cost of living crisis and an actors' strike - was also "really crass".

'Really short-sighted'

Before the rollout was paused, Spotlight had said paying extra does not change how members appear to casting directors.

But acting is a competitive field, Tiffany says, and she worries people starting in their careers may have felt pressure to spend more to stand out.

"There'll be so many people who will think, 'I need to pay it because I won't be taken seriously - I'll be looked down on,' and I think that's the real danger of this, and the unfairness of it, really."

Spotlight is the biggest platform of its kind in the UK and Tiffany says its "monopoly" on casting opportunities makes it harder for performers to simply cancel their memberships.

"If you're an actor or performer and you want to be taken seriously in the industry, you have to be on it," she says.

"I can't leave, because if I leave then my credibility has gone down."

Louis Stannett has been trying to get a break as an actor for five years and says the industry has an issue with "gatekeeping"

Louis Stannett has been trying to make it as an actor since finishing drama school about five years ago, appearing in shows like Doctors and some independent films.

The 26-year-old from Hastings is also registered with Spotlight and agrees with Tiffany that the Premiere option risked deepening divides.

"It's a well-known fact in the industry that we've got an issue with gatekeeping and a bit of elitism," he says.

"Actors like myself are living hand to mouth trying to afford rent, trying to afford access to classes so they can be ready for an audition," says Louis.

"So to ask them to pay a premium of an extra £110 to gain a little bit of an advantage, I just think it's really short-sighted."

He says he was particularly shocked by the proposals that Premiere members would have round-the-clock access to wellbeing support. "It shouldn't come at a premium," he says.

He's relieved Spotlight has decided to pause the scheme but is cautious, saying: "They haven't got rid of it yet".

Responding to the reaction, Spotlight said it's "in listening mode".

It has offered a refund to anyone who subscribed to a Premiere membership while the rollout is paused.

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