Without going into detail. Equity's "step" was the worst possible step there could have been and will result in far less work for actors. They could have listened to their members and come up with something that would have worked - most people would like some adjustments, but the actors WERE getting paid, not a lot, but no one ever worked for free. And most producers ended up paying well above the mandated stipend, and that includes our Inside Out actors - in fact, they got more than they would have under the new plan. Where the new plan will kill intimate theater in LA is paying minimum wage for the rehearsal period. It's just not possible on most theater's budgets - we could never have done What If under the plan, or Deceit, or Inside Out. What reasonable people were suggesting was a tiered system based on the budget of a show. Reasonable and doable. When asked who these actors were that the big, bad producers were taking advantage of, not one could be found. On the referendum vote, two-thirds of the people voting voted it down and Equity pushed it through anyway - good job ignoring the wishes of the members. In the end they will lose this just as they lost it thirty years ago and life will go on. The plan will have some changes and that will be good, too. This was shoved through by a handful of actors who happen to get the handful of paltry and paltry-paying contract jobs in LA.
