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Headline, Industry News
ACTRA and producers reach tentative agreement
Saturday February 17th 2007TORONTO (CP) _ Canadian actors and producers reached a tentative agreement Friday to end a bitter labour dispute that some feared would bring down the country’s once-thriving film industry.
"Canadian actors are big winners in the deal we reached today," Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s chief negotiator, said in a release late Friday.
Members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists walked off the job in January, largely over wages and a dispute over how they were to be paid for work in new media such as broadcasts for Internet and mobile phones.
Under the terms of the tentative deal, actors will get a 10 per cent wage increase over three years plus residuals on Internet use. The deal still has to be ratified.
A leading supplier of film services and equipment in Canada and abroad said he was pleased to hear of a deal but wondered what kind of legacy the labour woes would leave.
"The fact that it went on for six weeks is ridiculous, and now the challenge is to undo the very serious damage that’s been done," said Paul Bronfman, president and CEO of Comweb Group.
"It’s going to take several weeks, if not months, to get things back on track. Production is not going to start flowing back here immediately."
Actors went on strike in Ontario on Jan. 8 and later extended their protest to Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but no actual picket signs were ever seen.
ACTRA, which represents 21,000 members across Canada, said it made sure current productions such as "Deal or No Deal," "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and the upcoming season of "Canadian Idol" were not affected by the dispute by signing special deals with individual producers.
But the producers association complained that the strike significantly hurt potential projects, pointing to prospective U.S. movie deals that have been scuttled by the labour woes.
Earlier Friday, Bronfman called for an immediate end to the standoff, warning that continued strife would jeopardize the country’s film industry.
The strike cost the city of Toronto at least two feature movies and as much as $400 million in lost production, while film revenues so far this year are significantly lower than those of last year.
The country’s film industry has already been struggling in the aftermath of 9-11, SARS, the surging Canada loonie against the U.S. dollar and growing international competition.
Bronfman said news of a deal doesn’t assure him that dwindling business would be restored.
"It still doesn’t solve the problem of Canada’s lack of a competitive edge," he said. "We have completely lost many of the competitive advantages we used to have, and people are out-hustling us from other jurisdictions all the time. Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call to the film industry that we have a lot of work to do to get back to where we used to be."
Unionized actors complained of being asked to work for free on Internet and cellphone broadcasts, with "Corner Gas" star Eric Peterson, comedian Colin Mochrie and actress Wendy Crewson among the Canadian performers leading the charge.
Headline, Industry News
ACTRA and producers reach tentative agreement
Saturday February 17th 2007TORONTO (CP) _ Canadian actors and producers reached a tentative agreement Friday to end a bitter labour dispute that some feared would bring down the country’s once-thriving film industry.
"Canadian actors are big winners in the deal we reached today," Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s chief negotiator, said in a release late Friday.
Members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists walked off the job in January, largely over wages and a dispute over how they were to be paid for work in new media such as broadcasts for Internet and mobile phones.
Under the terms of the tentative deal, actors will get a 10 per cent wage increase over three years plus residuals on Internet use. The deal still has to be ratified.
A leading supplier of film services and equipment in Canada and abroad said he was pleased to hear of a deal but wondered what kind of legacy the labour woes would leave.
"The fact that it went on for six weeks is ridiculous, and now the challenge is to undo the very serious damage that’s been done," said Paul Bronfman, president and CEO of Comweb Group.
"It’s going to take several weeks, if not months, to get things back on track. Production is not going to start flowing back here immediately."
Actors went on strike in Ontario on Jan. 8 and later extended their protest to Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but no actual picket signs were ever seen.
ACTRA, which represents 21,000 members across Canada, said it made sure current productions such as "Deal or No Deal," "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and the upcoming season of "Canadian Idol" were not affected by the dispute by signing special deals with individual producers.
But the producers association complained that the strike significantly hurt potential projects, pointing to prospective U.S. movie deals that have been scuttled by the labour woes.
Earlier Friday, Bronfman called for an immediate end to the standoff, warning that continued strife would jeopardize the country’s film industry.
The strike cost the city of Toronto at least two feature movies and as much as $400 million in lost production, while film revenues so far this year are significantly lower than those of last year.
The country’s film industry has already been struggling in the aftermath of 9-11, SARS, the surging Canada loonie against the U.S. dollar and growing international competition.
Bronfman said news of a deal doesn’t assure him that dwindling business would be restored.
"It still doesn’t solve the problem of Canada’s lack of a competitive edge," he said. "We have completely lost many of the competitive advantages we used to have, and people are out-hustling us from other jurisdictions all the time. Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call to the film industry that we have a lot of work to do to get back to where we used to be."
Unionized actors complained of being asked to work for free on Internet and cellphone broadcasts, with "Corner Gas" star Eric Peterson, comedian Colin Mochrie and actress Wendy Crewson among the Canadian performers leading the charge.
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Headline, Industry News
ACTRA and producers reach tentative agreement
Saturday February 17th 2007TORONTO (CP) _ Canadian actors and producers reached a tentative agreement Friday to end a bitter labour dispute that some feared would bring down the country’s once-thriving film industry.
"Canadian actors are big winners in the deal we reached today," Stephen Waddell, ACTRA’s chief negotiator, said in a release late Friday.
Members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists walked off the job in January, largely over wages and a dispute over how they were to be paid for work in new media such as broadcasts for Internet and mobile phones.
Under the terms of the tentative deal, actors will get a 10 per cent wage increase over three years plus residuals on Internet use. The deal still has to be ratified.
A leading supplier of film services and equipment in Canada and abroad said he was pleased to hear of a deal but wondered what kind of legacy the labour woes would leave.
"The fact that it went on for six weeks is ridiculous, and now the challenge is to undo the very serious damage that’s been done," said Paul Bronfman, president and CEO of Comweb Group.
"It’s going to take several weeks, if not months, to get things back on track. Production is not going to start flowing back here immediately."
Actors went on strike in Ontario on Jan. 8 and later extended their protest to Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but no actual picket signs were ever seen.
ACTRA, which represents 21,000 members across Canada, said it made sure current productions such as "Deal or No Deal," "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and the upcoming season of "Canadian Idol" were not affected by the dispute by signing special deals with individual producers.
But the producers association complained that the strike significantly hurt potential projects, pointing to prospective U.S. movie deals that have been scuttled by the labour woes.
Earlier Friday, Bronfman called for an immediate end to the standoff, warning that continued strife would jeopardize the country’s film industry.
The strike cost the city of Toronto at least two feature movies and as much as $400 million in lost production, while film revenues so far this year are significantly lower than those of last year.
The country’s film industry has already been struggling in the aftermath of 9-11, SARS, the surging Canada loonie against the U.S. dollar and growing international competition.
Bronfman said news of a deal doesn’t assure him that dwindling business would be restored.
"It still doesn’t solve the problem of Canada’s lack of a competitive edge," he said. "We have completely lost many of the competitive advantages we used to have, and people are out-hustling us from other jurisdictions all the time. Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call to the film industry that we have a lot of work to do to get back to where we used to be."
Unionized actors complained of being asked to work for free on Internet and cellphone broadcasts, with "Corner Gas" star Eric Peterson, comedian Colin Mochrie and actress Wendy Crewson among the Canadian performers leading the charge.
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