Handbook

[Killer]

Can someone tell me if it's possible to get a copy of the Equity handbook if you're not Equity?  I've been on the website & found the SM packet, which is just a packet of forms. 

I'm currently a senior undergrad, & although I'm not AEA or EMC, I'd like to have some knowledge of Equity rules before I graduate (I've seen many non-AEA job postings that request knowledge of Equity rules).  Unfortunatly, no one at my university is AEA or knows much about it. 

Sidenote -- I saw the posting about what universities DON'T tell you about unions ... mine is definately one of those & I feel like I'm at a huge disadvantage.  I'm worried about graduating & not knowing enough about the business side of theatre. 

[Scott]

Can someone tell me if it's possible to get a copy of the Equity handbook if you're not Equity?  I've been on the website & found the SM packet, which is just a packet of forms. 

Most, of not all, of the Equity agreements ("rule books") can be found on the document library section of the Equity website and is available to non-members.

My understanding is that the other contracts are in a sense negotiated down after the Production Contract so that might be the most comprehensive agreement to look at if you are just looking for an understanding of general Equity rules.  Might be interesting to compare and contrast that with a smaller contract and/or even the Showcase Agreement (which is not a contract at all but does provide the minimun protection for Union members.)

[VSM]

Thanks Scott, for answering this question.
I have just a little tweak of opinion...

I feel each contract is constructed to meet the specific needs of a certain arena of theatre.
Each rulebook is individually negotiated with a specific group of producers (for the most part; some are simply written by Equity and are concessioned as needed) and therefore each is a bit different from the other. Sometimes Equity is successful in it's proposals for change and sometimes we are not. The variance in rulebook to rulebook is an example of each negotiation.

By all means, go to the Equity website's document library and you can spend literally hundreds of hours reading each individual rulebook. Thanks for your interest in the Union and please check out previous threads in this forum about Equity's Outreach program to the schools.

[nmno]

My suggestion would be to start with the LORT contract.  There are a lot of theatres that use it, or have an LOA ("Letter of Agreement") to it, meaning, they use it as a base and then make adjustments/concessions from there.  The likelyhood that just out of college you'll be working on a show under a production contract is not high, but a gig as a PA at a LORT theatre is quite possible.

Don't stress about knowing all the rules right now.  As you read more on this website, you'll see that there are SM's here who've been Equity for years who need clarifications on rules.  Read the rulebook to become familiar but be forwarned, it is quite dry (it's a contract after all).

The best way to learn a contract is to work under it; even as a non-Eq ASM or a PA, you can pay attention to how the rules are used and which rules are really important for an SM to know (you really don't need to know ALL of them off the top of your head, just know that they exist).

[Killer]

Thanks so much for your replies.  You've all been very helpful!

[fuzzy_7]

I've got one for you. I'll give it to you today, hopefully.

[Killer]

Derek you're amazing!  I should've guessed you'd have one ...

[Hannabeth1001]

Is there anyway to acquire a hard copy of the handbook? I work with a local non-profit theatre company but we have an equity actor from the ASC coming to work with us. I'd prefer to not have to print the entire handbook out and to have a copy to reference. Thanks in advance.

[smejs]

Is there anyway to acquire a hard copy of the handbook? I work with a local non-profit theatre company but we have an equity actor from the ASC coming to work with us. I'd prefer to not have to print the entire handbook out and to have a copy to reference. Thanks in advance.

Actually, I rather love having it in PDF version, so you can search for things by word instead of trying to figure what category a rule fits under, or what handful of keywords they chose to put in the back index. Very easily accessible on my computer.