SDUK’s Launch in The Stage

SDUK officially launched 25th October 2014.  It was covered in The Stage.  Read the article below or on the stage website here. First industry body representing UK stage directors launched

by Matthew Hemley

  Leading theatre figures including Marianne Elliott, Matthew Warchus, Vicky Featherstone and Jeremy Herrin have launched the industry’s first body aimed at representing stage directors. Increasing fees in the sector is one of Stage Directors UK’s first priorities. It will also represent directors on issues such as royalties, contracts, digital rights and copyright, as well as leading on training initiatives. Directors can become members of Equity, but SDUK says the lack of an organisation dedicated to the needs of opera and theatre directors has “led to an increasing sense of anger and frustration” in the sector. “There has never been an organisation that fully represented UK stage directors, to their considerable cost,” the body claims, adding that agents have “found it hard to stand up for a new or unknown client, or argue for change in contractual practices, or for a rise in rates that have not increased for years”.