‘It’s like two divorcing parents’: how actors’ union Equity fell out with casting directory Spotlight

Many actors pay for membership of both Equity and Spotlight. Photograph: Sean Prior/Alamy

For almost a century it has been the casting directors’ bible, a shopfront for actors from Laurence Olivier, Olivia Colman and Daniel Craig to the 16-year-old Adolescence star Owen Cooper to help land their next theatre, film or TV role.

But now Spotlight is locked in a costly legal battle prompted by Equity, the equally venerable union that represents tens of thousands of performers that rely on the casting directory’s services, in an internecine conflict that could dramatically reshape the UK acting landscape.