Strained negotiations between the Canadian Film and Television Production Association and the actra Performers Guild for a new Independent Production Agreement are threatening to lead to a strike in September. Last month, with a number of substantive issues still on the bargaining table after five months of talks, actra took the first steps toward initiating a strike in Ontario and Quebec.

With the issue of royalties versus residuals at the heart of the impasse, actra filed for a conciliator with the Ontario Ministry of Labour and with the Commite de Reconaissance in Quebec, both measures required before a strike can be called. On Aug. 14, the guild is sending out a strike vote referendum to its 11,000 members.

actra president Sandy Crawley says, ‘The reason for the referendum is to show the producers we have the full support of our members because they have been operating as though we don’t.’

The vote will be in from members by Sept. 12, the day before the final scheduled negotiating session. actra maintains that with its members’ support, if the two organizations cannot come to an agreement, a strike will be declared.

‘We think the ipa since the early ’80s has been continually eroded by producer demands,’ says actra national executive director Stephen Waddell. ‘We were trying to make improvements but in fact the producers who are negotiating this ipa are looking for even further concessions that the membership is definitely not prepared to provide.’

actra’s timing is strategic. First, there is the consideration of a new Ontario government that may change the existing law that bans replacement workers in a strike. ‘One of the reasons we are moving ahead now is so that we can ensure if there is a strike producers won’t be able to bring in replacement workers,’ says Waddell.

If a strike does happen, actra is seeking the solidarity of the Screen Actor’s Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ‘so that they don’t allow their members to come in and take jobs away,’ he adds.

The strike threat comes at the start of the busiest season for production. ‘Everyone is feeling extremely nervous. Everyone is jittery. It is not a happy time because we were working towards what was probably going to be the busiest year yet. We are trying to think of strategies to put the industry on an even keel but we need co-operation,’ says Mireille Watson, cftpa director of industrial relations and member services.

John Morayniss, vp of business and legal affairs for Alliance Productions and chair of the cftpa negotiating committee, says backup plans are being made to shoot elsewhere, but as far as he knows, the wagons haven’t started moving.

Nonetheless, word is at least two American series, several mows and a few features that were likely to shoot in Toronto this fall have disappeared from the city’s production schedules.

In addition to the potential disruption of an otherwise bustling season, the threat of a strike arrives on the heels of a number of changes and disruptions.

‘Quite frankly, in view of what is happening with the Ontario Film Development Corporation and the changes in the Cable (Production) Fund regulations and all other funding entities, certainly it would be onerous on the industry if actra decided to strike. I would hope they would be responsible enough to think ahead,’ says Watson.

The two-year collective agreement expired at the end of December and this time around actra is seeking to abolish the royalties system (whereby performers’ compensation is based on a percentage of producers’ net receipts) in favor of the prepayment system, which assesses the value of a product and pays performers in five-year lump sums.

Common practice since the early ’80s has been to use the prepayment system for the first five years of the life of a production and then switch to royalties.

‘We were convinced (in the ’80s) by the producers that a royalty system would help to foster a striving Canadian film and television industry by pegging compensation to performers,’ says Waddell.

He now pronounces the system inadequate for performers and says with the added problems of receipt of payment and ‘producers’ creative accounting’ his membership is adamant to see it go.

The cftpa argues the tremendous rate of change in both new media and the delivery environment means establishing the value of a market for a period of five years is unrealistic.

‘We have a difficult time with residuals, and producers in the u.s. and the u.k. are having the same problems and they are moving away from residuals,’ says Morayniss.

To further aggravate the situation, he says the system is finally getting organized. ‘The industry is still relatively immature in terms of long-term series and long-term exploitation of product so a lot of companies are just now in the process of setting up a system of paying royalties to actra.’ By example, he says within the last year Alliance Communications hired someone full-time to handle payment of royalties.

Morayniss says the cftpa is looking to align payments made to actra members with other participants. ‘actra members are financial participants like investors (and) we want to set up a system that is similar to how payments are made to other financial participants like Telefilm and other provincial agencies.’

Another key proposal put forward by the cftpa is aimed at altering the long-standing agreement whereby actra oversees foreign work permits for performers working in Canada.

Waddell finds this proposal ‘particularly offensive.Producers are seeking to bring in as many non-Canadians as they wish, which means Canadian performers would be relegated to smaller and fewer roles.’

Morayniss argues producers need more flexibility in order to attract foreign investors. ‘What we are trying to address is the changing industry in Canada and a more global production perspective. More financing is coming from sources outside Canada.’

He acknowledges actra’s concerns but says ‘the reality is in order to get production financing we are dealing with a number of financiers who have their own jurisdictions, and that means bringing in foreign performers to actually get the financing.’

He says the cftpa is not suggesting the elimination of the system, but a reworking of it so it applies exclusively to agency-funded, Canadian certified productions. Where there is no government investment, Morayniss says ‘we will still use our best effort to engage Canadians, but we will also have to look to our third-party financiers.’

Other issues on the table for actra are the inclusion of stunt co-ordinators in the agreement and changes to working conditions including extending the break between workdays.

The strain of negotiations is evidently high and both sides speak of inequitable conditions.

‘I think we feel that we have tried to address all of actra’s requests,’ says Morayniss. ‘We have certainly made a lot more progress on their proposals than on ours. We’re looking for some response to our proposals so that we have some sort of package we can sell to our members to justify concessions.’

There is an inconsistency in the growth of the industry and the benefits to performers, says Waddell. ‘We see that the Canadian production industry is thriving now with public companies who are touting profits to their shareholders. Also the country is becoming quite a service industry for the u.s. producers.

‘In this environment there is more production than ever before but the performers themselves are not doing well, not only in the roles they are receiving but also in terms of the inadequate compensation they are receiving for the use and distribution of their product.’

In the meantime, the threat of a strike is hanging over the industry like a black cloud. ‘It’s not only the performers and producers who are going to lose the work, but broadcasters won’t have new programming, studios will be empty, caterers and car-hire companies are not going to work,’ says Watson.

Crawley contends a strike is unlikely to shut down the industry because producers would sign with actra members on individual productions, thereby putting the cftpa ‘out of existence.’

Morayniss is confident that while some producers may sign individual agreements in the short term, ‘the long-term view is that producers want a national agreement.’

Producers and other industry members have declined to comment on the impact a strike would have on the industry. Michael MacMillan, ceo of Atlantis Communications, says while he can’t comment on the negotiations, ‘I can’t imagine anything else to be avoided more assiduously (than a strike).’

Ira Levy of Breakthrough Productions says the long-term impact of a strike would be disastrous. ‘It takes many months and years to plan ahead and you have to have a stable environment.It has taken a long time for Ontario and Canada to attract a lot of foreign – primarily u.s. – production to Canada and build that infrastructure. If there is a gap in production, it will take many years to rebuild and people have to be aware that this is a possibility.’

At present, actra has not taken steps in other provinces, but if the ipa is a failure, expectations are the strike would move across the country.