EXCLUSIVE British actors’ union Equity has written to a government regulator urging it to take action against Mad Dog 2020 Casting, a 25-year-old UK agency that collapsed last month owing creditors more than £1.5M ($1.9M).
Paul W. Fleming called on Ben Bruten, boss of the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EASI), to exercise its powers against Mad Dog, which includes fines, prosecutions, and the ability to ban individuals from running agencies in the future. Mad Dog’s parent company, Cinextra Limited, lists directors including CEO Graham Beswick.
“Equity would like to ask … how the EASI intends to use its powers to ensure that the individuals behind Mad Dog are held accountable for systematic breaches of their statutory obligations and treatment of artists, and so that they cannot continue their behaviour,” Fleming said.
Deadline chronicled the issues at Mad Dog last year, with clients complaining that they were owed thousands by the agency that supplied background actors to productions including Call the Midwife and Doctor Who. Mad Dog continued to trade despite failing to observe multiple county court judgments in favor of supporting artists owed money.
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Fleming told Deadline that the company’s collapse had been “horrendous” for Equity members, adding that the “scale [of damage] is extraordinary for people with precarious incomes.” He acknowledged that it was unlikely that actors would be paid money they are owed, but said this will not stop Equity fighting for justice. “If we can’t get a pound in cash, we can get a pound in flesh,” he added.
Mad Dog filed for liquidation in February. MHA, the accountancy company, is overseeing the process and has called a meeting of creditors on Friday morning. A statement of Mad Dog’s affairs, seen by Deadline, shows the agency owes £1.66M ($2.1M) to creditors, including £1.3M to trade and expense creditors and £67,400 to employees. MHA said there was a “large number of creditors.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade, which oversees the EASI, said: “We take all relevant complaints about agencies seriously and ensure they are thoroughly investigated.” The spokesperson declined to comment on the EASI’s industry-wide investigation into agencies in the entertainment space.
Last year, Mad Dog apologized to clients and stressed that it was committed to clearing its backlog of payments. The agency blamed the twin U.S. writer and actors’ strikes for its financial issues. Under UK regulations, it is unlawful for an agency to withhold payment from clients for more than 10 days after receiving funds from a producer, broadcaster, or streamer.
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