John Cronin has been an actor on stage and screen in Ireland for 30 years, having made his professional debut in The Commitments at the age of 12! Since that time John has built a theatre career that has taken him to the West End, the Edinburgh festival and to America via the Gate and the Abbey. He has worked for Livin’ Dred, Prime Cut, Loose Canon, Anu Productions, Theatre Club, Collapsing Horse, Second Age and Rough Magic and is due to appear in the latter’s Dublin Theatre Festival production of GLUE in October 2021. He also has an extensive career on screen in Ireland and beyond appearing in series for RTE, BBC and Sky as well as feature films with actors such as Jackie Chan and Hugo Weaving. Most recently he is to be found in Carrigstown playing the villainous Will Casey in Fair City. He also has a degree in English and History from UCD and a Diploma in Marketing and Advertising from the Fitzwilliam Institute. John is very pleased to be joining the Equity Executive at such an important time.
Dorothy Grace Laity
While pantomime and comedy are her specialist areas and first love, Dorothy has also performed in a wide variety of other disciplines at home and abroad. Highlights have included playing as Colin in Mother Goose, Hermia & Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Griffon in Alice the Musical and Yvette in ‘Allo, ‘Allo. [Read more…]
Read the Labour Court Recommendation December 2014
Read the full text of the Labour Court Recommendation on contracts for Equity members [Read more…]
Membership Benefits for Equity members
Membership Services are continuing to offer great value to members across a wide and varied range of products and services. Read the latest newsletter
‘Lights, camera and action’ for the homeless
Following the tragic death of John Corrie on a Dublin street recently, film industry members have rallied to raise funds for the homeless charity Focus Ireland. An Oscar© qualified short film “Whatever Turns You On” will be made available online for the first time. As well as carrying a text number through which people can donate to the charity the film seeks to humanise the plight of homeless people.
“The central character in the film is a homeless guy who simply wants to belong,” explained the film maker Declan Cassidy. “That point seems to get through to audiences no matter where the film is shown so I felt that working with Focus Ireland would be the way to go. Their work is so very important as tragically demonstrated by the death of Mr Corrie.
“When we shot the film in Dublin City centre the actor, Luke Cameron, had to sit still for a long time in the freezing cold of winter and he was in a bad way by the time we’d finished. It struck us at the time how terrible it must be for homeless people who can’t take off their costumes and go home to a hot shower and a warm bed.”
The launch of the film is being facilitated by The Attic Studio – a community of actors, writers and directors which has been running for over 12 years www.theatticstudio.net
“For the past five years The Attic Studio has fund-raised for Focus Ireland at Christmas-time,” explained chairperson Camille Donegan. “so this was an obvious fit for us.”
It’s just four-minutes long but the film has charmed audiences all around the world, screening at over 100 festivals and scooping a host of awards. It qualified for Oscar© consideration in 2010 after winning the prestigious Aspen Shortsfest. It has had cinema releases in Ireland and Germany, has featured on the inflight services of airlines and has been snapped up by many tv stations around the globe including RTE, Channel 4 and national channels in France, Poland and Australia.
John Carney, director of the Oscar© winning Glen Hansard film Once said of Whatever Turns You On: “It’s a wonderfully sweet film, brilliantly acted and the ending left me with a lump in my throat. Great cast and fantastically directed.”
The film will be available to view for free online from 9pm on December 17 at www.tiny.cc/homeless
Irish Equity warns members of unscrupulous activities of film companies
Irish Equity has called on members to display caution before committing to projects due to the unscrupulous activities of some production companies which include false claims about the other actors involved and the underpayment or non-payment of fees.
The call follows reports to Irish Equity over the weekend relating to the activities of a production company.
SIPTU Arts and Culture Sector Organiser, Karan O’Loughlin, said: “I have received a number of complaints over the weekend from Equity members, concerning misleading advertisements for a casting.
“Irish Equity has also received complaints about the production company involved in relation to the underpayment and nonpayment of fees. This is unacceptable behaviour and an example of the exploitation of actors. Our members have reported that there is increased pressure within the industry on them to work for very low pay and even for free. This is particularly worrying where younger actors are involved as they often don’t have the industry experience to recognise the obvious pitfalls”.
She added: “The State financed funding bodies for the industry need to have closer scrutiny of how production companies operate. The Irish Film Board, the Arts Council and Revenue need to take measures to ensure that the substantial investment made by the State flows down to actors in the way it is meant to. It is high time that the exploitation by actors ceased and production companies were called to account for their behaviour. Equity also urges actors to be cautious and to ensure that they find out all they can about productions before committing themselves to any particular project”.
Gabrielle Mary Reidy, actor, born 23 July 1960; died 13 October 2014
Irish actor Gabrielle Reidy, has died of cancer aged 54. Gabrielle was a member of Irish Equity and was active with British Equity during her time in residence in England. Over the course of her career Gabrielle made regular appearances at the Abbey although her career spanned across the TV, film and stage platforms. Padraig Murray, Irish Equity President fondly remembers Gabrielle as a strong and talented woman. “I have known Gabrielle for many many years since we were young actors finding our way in the industry. She was a fantastic person and hugely talented actor. We are saddened by her loss and she will be missed,” he said..
The youngest of three daughters Gabrielle is survived by her sisters, by Gary, and their teenage son, Finn.
Contracts
Irish Equity are offering 4 workshops over a 2 day period on Contracts and understanding the Pact/Equity Agreement.
This is important as UK co-productions undertaken in the Republic of Ireland are done on the Pact/Equity. :
Wednesday, 22nd October 2014 – 10.30am to 1pm or 2pm to 4.30pm
Thursday, 23rd October 2014 – 10.30am to 1pm or 2pm to 4.30pm
Irish Equity and Equity members may attend any one of these. Admission is free but places must be booked in advance. John Barclay, Equity Head of Recorded Media and Drew McFarlane, Scotland and Northern Ireland Regional Officer Equity will be presenting these workshops.
If you wish to attend please email us at equity@siptu.ie or phone (01) 858 6403, stating which workshop you wish to attend.
Educational & Development Support Scheme
Applications are now being invited from interested members in respect of the academic year 2014/2015, closing date is 30th September 2014.
Please note that that applicants must be in membership for one year on the closing date for receipt of applications. Applications can be submitted by email to irishequity@siptu.ie or to Aileen Graham, Irish Equity, 7th Floor, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1.
