Øigarden in court: – Cut out the stupid contracts! – VG
COPENHAGEN (VG) A determined and annoyed Jon Øigarden met his ex-agents from the Danish Panorama Agency in the courtroom on Wednesday.
Last summer, Øigarden – and fellow actors Nicolai Cleve Broch and Agnes Kittelsen – were sued by their agent company, Panorama Agency (PA), for alleged breach of contract.
The three stand to warn the entire industry about what they believe is a culture at the agent giant PA, which among other things a contract point is that PA can collect commission for several years after the contract is terminated, a so-called “severance pay”.
On Wednesday afternoon, Jon Øigarden was the first of the three to testify in the case, after the morning had been spent on a detailed review of the disagreements over the contract.
The case of the Norwegian actors is led by Secretary General Anders Bredmose of the Norwegian Actors’ Association and their lawyer Sven Gert Hougaard.
PA is represented by the top management, founder Lene Seested, partner Martin Jensen and their lawyer, Bjarke Vejby.
During his explanation, Jon Øigarden described how he believes PA contributes to creating a culture in the industry through the mentioned «severance pay», and how PA uses its reputation to lure the actor profiles in their stable and keep them.
In Øigarden’s case, he called PA both «inaccessible» and «absent».
– This culture concerns the whole industry. But now we are here, Nicolai, Agnes and I, and we must try and be such good defenders of this that we can be heard and get an end to this – give a message to Panorama that; cut out the stupid contracts!
– What was it like to meet the top management of Panorama Agency again?
– It went just fine, that. These are nice people, they are not. But it’s a way of trying to achieve things that I feel are wrong. When I sit here, I just want to look them straight in the eye and talk to them. I liked to do that, Jon Øigarden told VG afterwards.
Anders Bredmose, Secretary General of the Norwegian Actors’ Association, told VG earlier Wednesday that “Panorama’s contract terms are in conflict with both the Norwegian Actors’ Association and the Danish Actors’ Association’s guidelines for good agency practice.”
– The contract term is completely unheard of in Scandinavia, Bredmose said about the severance pay.
VG has submitted PA’s lawyer, Bjarke Vejby, today’s allegations from Jon Øigarden in court. He still does not want to comment on this while the case is being processed in the court system.
– In Denmark, it is simply not a good tone to speak to the media while the trial is going on, he writes in an email to VG.
On Thursday, it is Nicolai Cleve Broch and Agnes Kittelsen’s turn to take the witness box in Copenhagen City Court. The same goes for PA founder Lene Seested.
The trial is set to end on Friday. Judgment in the case can take up to four weeks.