Networks end the casting couch
THE largest US actors’ union and the four major television networks have agreed to limit auditions in private hotel rooms and homes, ratifying a guideline the screen actors’ guild had enacted on its own following the #MeToo uproar.
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing 160,000 actors, and management from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract that also includes an array of pay increases, the guild said in a statement yesterday.
The deal is subject to approval by the guild’s board of directors next month. The networks and union agreed to language similar to that from the union’s own Guideline No.1, issued in April, which called for an end to auditions, interviews and similar professional meetings in private hotel rooms or at private residences.
The so-called casting couch has long been used by men seeking sexual favours from actresses in exchange for parts.
The measures followed the industry outrage that resulted from reports that numerous women accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
Women told stories about how they had been harassed using the #MeToo hashtag on social media.