Showbiz in the grip of the rich, say MPs

THERE is a ‘diversity crisis’ in Britain’s showbusiness sector with some actors not even receiving the minimum wage, a report warns.

performing arts in the UK is dominated by those from ‘well-off backgrounds’ and has a ‘class- shaped hole’, Mps said.

It will add pressure to reform the sector after the BBC published the pay of its top talent, highlighting a lack of women and those from ethnic minorities.

labour Mps including Tracy Brabin, an ex-coronation Street actress, and former ITV journalist Gloria De piero, contributed to the report.

It demanded action by Government, drama colleges, HMRC, broadcasters, film companies and theatres and called for a more comprehensive approach to collecting data across film, TV, theatre and drama schools to form a clearer picture of the sector’s make-up.

It asks the Government to address a drop in the number of GCSE stu- dents studying drama and urges the Arts council to stop funding projects which pay ‘poverty wages’.

It also calls for the minimum wage to be paid after labour party research, Acting up, heard reports it was not being enforced.

Miss De piero and Miss Brabin said the report shows the arts are ‘increasingly dominated by a narrow set of people from well- off backgrounds’.

The research, commissioned by laboour’s deputy leader and shadow culture secretary, Tom Watson, found an example of the Arts council funding a project which paid workers or performers as little as £100 a week for eight weeks’ full-time work.

In the report, Miss Brabin and Miss De piero, said: ‘As women from northern working class backgrounds who went on to work in TV we know what it’s like to have people sneer at your accent and struggle to pay your way.’