I know MRE (more renumerative employment) has been discussed in the past, but I discovered something off-putting in a recent reading of the Off-Broadway rulebook that I wanted to share / discuss with the boards:
Under the Off-Broadway contract, the MRE clause can be invoked 12 weeks from the first day of rehearsal (see pg 42, rule 39D). Presumably, if a show doesn't run long enough to reach that 12 week mark, than MRE can not be invoked at all in that production.
I checked a couple of the other contracts with MRE (SPT & HAT), and Off-Broadway is the only one I found with this limitation. In my mind, this rule is really tilted in the favor of the producers. A lot of Off-Broadway companies simply don't have runs that exceed 5-7 weeks, so there's never even a chance to get near that 12 week mark where an MRE could be legitimately claimed. In fact, I venture to guess (with no data to back this up) that category A, with the lowest salary and therefore the highest potential use of MRE, rarely breaks that ceiling. And remember, this also applies to any (even lower-paying) NYC-LOAs floating out there. Sidenote: the Mini contract seems to allow for MRE more in line with the SPT / HAT model.
This limitation does not seem to acknowledge the financial & salary limitations Equity members are willing to make in order to work in NYC. The MRE clause had, to me, always seems like a nice little trick to keep in my back pocket to use "one day". Now I'm doubtful it could apply to the work I do. And I'm not ignoring the implications for a producing entity if an actor were allowed to claim MRE in limited runs - cost of understudy rehearsals, show cancellations, possibly screwing up preview rehearsals in new works. I get all that. But in this case, I sort of feel like Equity is helping the other side. Thoughts?
Anyone have a sense of if the rule has always been written this way or if its a recent change? This is one I'm tempted to write into the Council about for the next round of negotiations.