Equity Calls On Government Regulator To Punish Mad Dog Casting After Agency Collapsed Owing Creditors $2M

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE British actors’ union Equity has written to a government regulator urging it to take action against Mad Dog 2020 Casting, a 25-year-old UK agency that collapsed last month owing creditors more than £1.5M ($1.9M).

Paul W. Fleming called on Ben Bruten, boss of the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EASI), to exercise its powers against Mad Dog, which includes fines, prosecutions, and the ability to ban individuals from running agencies in the future.

Mad Dog’s parent company, Cinextra Limited, lists directors including CEO Graham Beswick. “Equity would like to ask … how the EASI intends to use its powers to ensure that the individuals behind Mad Dog are held accountable for systematic breaches of their statutory obligations and treatment of artists, and so that they cannot continue their behaviour,” Fleming said.

Deadline chronicled the issues at Mad Dog last year, with clients complaining that they were owed thousands by the agency that supplied background actors to productions including Call the Midwife and Doctor Who.