Sunday Times August 2008
Equity Vice-President Jean Rogers has criticised commercial drama for the invisibility of women over 50.
In a letter to the Sunday Times headlined "Golden girls should be able to act their age" Jean wrote: "Those of us female and over 50 know only too well the feelings of invisibility and impotence India Knight so eloquently describes (Sunday Times, In praise of older women, News Review, 22 July 2008), and nowhere is this more apparent than in the portrayal of older women in the majority of commercial drama on offer."
Visit the Equity Website to read the full article and view the accompanying cartoon
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The Stage April 2008
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April 2008
Dear Fellow Performers,
I want to tell you about a new Questionnaire you MUST take part in.
As Equity's VP and a member of the EuroFIA Steering Group I have just returned from Riga in Latvia where FIA (Federation of International Artists) launched it. It is vital that you do so before 31st May and Equity wants as many as possible to do so to make the data relevant.
Here is the information:-
WORKING AS A PERFORMER
A European survey by the International Federation of Actors (FIA)
Through this EuroFIA questionnaire Equity's aim is to change gender portrayal and the survey will give the first and maybe the only opportunity to view and understand the work and career patterns of performers across Europe. It is very exciting! The closing date is the 31st May so please urge everyone to fill it in straight away! There is the opportunity in the last question to comment ,and I would suggest, if at the beginning you do not describe yourself as an actor or actress and have ticked the "performers" box, that you specify in that question at the end your specialism i.e. dancer, singer, voice over artist, variety, circus etc. I urge you to fill it in NOW. This data is essential if we are to alter perceptions and understand the problems performers face.
So visit this website:-
https://www.quadresearch.co.uk/onlinesurvey/performersurvey/index.htm
Now tell all your performer friends to do the same before the end of May! Scour your email address book.
Best wishes,
Jean
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29.01.2008
Dear Friends,
My first Blog.
Forgive my ignorance as I'm such a novice, but an
article on Friday 25th January in the Telegraph prompted me to write
to the editor and so I thought I'd share it with you.
You will see from my Equity Page that legible Television Credits has
long been a campaign issue for me. When Nicole Martin (Digital and
Media Correspondent) wrote an article last Friday 25th Jan in the
Telegraph entitled "BBC - Actors & Crew get rightful recognition" you
could forgive anyone from thinking it was good news.
However, I have
my doubts so please share the article and my letter below and see
what you think.
BBC pledges to change on-screen TV credits - Click to read the article
Here is my comment.
Dear Sir,
I read with interest Nicole Martin’s article on on-screen credits (25th Jan), and in particular Roly Keating’s comment on behalf of the BBC intimating how sensitive the corporation was to the problem of illegibility.
I regret to say his seemingly hopeful words sound very hollow. As a performer and elected Council member of my union Equity I have been involved in several meetings with the BBC over the speed and size of end credits since the latter part of the 1990’s, and despite murmurings of sympathy, the situation has got progressively worse.
It would seem that the marketing and presentation departments of the BBC have more power than the programme makers and the concerns of audience and creative talent take second place. Time and again I was told that audiences are not interested in credits and so it would seem any protests to the contrary by them are politely ignored. Indeed, one BBC employee was quoted in the press as saying, a couple of years ago when there was yet another outcry, that the only people interested in credits were actors’ mothers! There was a hasty and embarrassed apology from her employers yet nothing has changed.
Yes, actors in particular, but production teams too, need credits to advertise their work and get their next job. No television company airs their programme without their logo prominently displayed at the end. This is not for vanity, it is for commercial reasons, and for the BBC in particular, by the terms of their charter, it is their public duty to inform the audience they serve with up-to-date information. However, it is not just for that purpose. The closing credits are still a part of the programme and music and style are chosen carefully to reflect the experience both have shared. To intrude on this, by announcements, graphics or squashing it up into moving dots in the corner of the screen is an act of Philistine proportions and insensitive in the extreme. If there is a viewing public who zap away with total disinterest, and I don’t believe that is the majority, then the BBC have created it.
Throughout my conversations it has been suggested that viewers can go to the internet for the information. Mr. Keating, they don’t want to! Don’t bow to Marketing and Presentation’s desire at all costs to stop their audience zapping around the hundreds of television channels on offer. If they go off to the Net they are lost for good any way. What happened to quality? Programme makers strive despite increasing cuts in budgets and work schedules to produce excellent drama and they should not be insulted in this way.
Please Mr, Keating put your money where your mouth is. Change the guidelines and give us legible on-screen credits. The public demand it. Don’t patronise, listen to them.
Yours faithfully,
Jean Rogers Equity Vice President |
