A petition calling for better terms and conditions for Irish actors will be handed to the Government at Leinster House tomorrow.
Irish Equity president, Gerry O'Brien, will submit the petition signed by 3,700 actors in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the US, including a number of Oscar nominees and other award winners.
Actors Cillian Murphy, Ruth Negga, Colin Farrell, Siobhán McSweeney, David Morrissey, Jonathan Frakes and Adrian Dunbar are among those who signed the petition which is supported by British Equity, the International Federation of Actors (FIA) and US trade union SAG/AFRA.
The petition calls for the implementation of the recommendations of an Oireachtas report on the operation of the Section 481 tax credit for film makers.
Recommendations published
The recommendations of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight 'Report on Section 481 – Film Tax Credit', were published in May 2023.
They propose that Irish performers will not be subject to lesser terms and conditions regarding their intellectual property rights than international performers in similar roles when employed on the same project receiving Section 481 funding.
The Committee recommended that compliance with the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, as well as the EU Copyright Directive, should be a specified requirement in order to avail of the Section 481 credit.
The Committee committed to writing to the EU Commission requesting an examination of the use of 'buy-out' contracts in the Irish film production sector as a standard practice, as it represents a breach of the rights of performers and artists under the EU copyright directive.
"For decades, Irish actors living in Ireland have been offered contracts by Irish production companies with lesser terms and conditions than those offered to their international colleagues working on the same productions," Gerry O’Brien said.
"These contracts have ignored the protections offered to Irish actors by national and international copyright law, denying them access to potential future earnings," Mr O'Brien said.
