How the U.K. Film and TV Industry Could Get Closer to Hair and Makeup Equality Through Upcoming Equity-Pact Contract Negotiations
Alex Ritman In the coming months, British actors’ union Equity and producer trade body Pact are expected to kick off negotiations to thrash out new contracts that will cover the vast majority of U.K.
TV and indie film. There’s going to be several major sticking points on the table, many that are near-identical to those that dominated the lengthy and fraught talks between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP in the U.S.
last year, not least secondary payments and the hot-button topic of AI. But while these may be the headline grabbers up for discussion, a group of actors have been campaigning for another issue to be part of the negotiations: hair and makeup equality.
In her 2023 documentary “Untold Stories: Hair on Set,” British actress and filmmaker Fola Evans-Akingbola (“The Night Agent,” “Black Mirror”) brought to light how Afro hair had been shockingly overlooked by the U.K.
