Both sides agree, key to the new Independent Production Agreement between the Canadian Film and Television Production Association and actra’s Performers’ Guild is the introduction of the preservation of bargaining rights and a new security agreement. These two new provisions far outweigh a slight increase in fees and some changes in the terms of the agreement because they will, in future, prevent a recurrence of the severe problems faced by the two parties this summer.

As Mireille Watson, cftpa director of industrial relations and member services and a leader at the negotiating table through extremely difficult sessions, says in a letter to her membership: ‘These provisions herald a new era for our industry, and to a large extent mirror similar developments in the United States following the destructive sag (Screen Actors Guild) strike of the early 80’s.’

These changes follow an acrimonious series of negotiations that came to a head in July when actra threatened to strike. Watson admits ‘it takes time to heal that rift,’ but says she bares no grudges.

Steve Wadell, actra national executive director, says the new measures are unprecedented in the Canadian industry. ‘Labor relations are taking an appropriately higher position in the overall production process. What we hope to see in the next three years will be an environment in which labor issues can be dealt with by the associations and ourselves through a consultative and co-operative process.’

Terms of the security agreement are being negotiated now, a process which Watson says took their American counterparts – sag and the American Film Marketing Association – ‘a fair amount of time to put together so that it would make sense to all, including the bankers.’

Members of the two organizations are presently ratifying the terms of the agreement, with a deadline of Oct. 31 to respond. Wadell says he hopes the three-year pact will be in effect as of Nov. 1.

Tom Berry, chair of the cftpa, says, ‘An agreement is better than no agreement and I endorse it. On the other hand, it is clear that in some ways the agreement will increase production costs and over the next few years we will see the impact of that.’

At the heart of actra’s threat to strike was an attempt to abolish the royalties system and replace it with a system of prepayment which assesses the value of a product and, accordingly, pays performers in five-year lump sums.

The prepayment system was not adopted. Instead, the new agreement offers producers two payment options.

One is to use the existing prepayment system without the benefit of selecting markets on which the payment is based (at a rate of 105% for tv or 130% of net fees for theatrical) which now applies to a period of four years instead of five. Thereafter, payment switches to 3.6% of distributors’ gross revenues.

The second option is a payment system based on a percentage of net fees, or a non-refundable advance against distributors’ gross revenues.

Watson says the royalties system still exists ‘because quite frankly it’s the only satisfactory way of recompensing performers according to the monetary compensation to the producers. Attaching a worth to a broadcast which is going to happen five years hence, especially when very often the producer may get less than what it actually costs to make the (broadcast) tapes, simply was not a fair way to proceed.’

Wadell admits some defeat but says the progress is nonetheless significant. ‘We put into place enforcement mechanisms that satisfy us at this point that these new provisions will generate significant compensation.’

sag and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists use such a system ‘by which compensation can be readily verified, which was the problem,’ says Wadell.

In some cases, the percentages in the ipa are higher than those for sag and aftra, especially in regards to lower advances.

Wadell points out that a 50% advance can return up to 5.6% of distributors’ gross participation and a 25% advance offers up to 6.6% of the pie. ‘They are fairly significant,’ he says of the returns. A 25% advance is limited to productions with only one presale in Canada in one media at the time of shooting.

The sag and aftra agreements had a considerable influence on the negotiations, in part, as Watson points out, because of a need for some uniformity from one country to the next in a global marketplace. ‘People don’t usually reinvent the wheel,’ she says.

Also new in the agreement is an order that requires actra to formally justify the refusal of extra non-Canadian work permits for a production that is at least one-third financed by foreign money. While work permits were often granted in the past, this, as Wadell says, is a matter of ‘codifying’ the procedure.

Aside from bargaining rights, what are the triumphs for each party? For Watson it was ‘to get an agreement that we hope will work for all of our members. We were very good about our team, getting the small, big and medium producers involved to ensure that we served the whole of the membership as opposed to one area of the membership.’

Wadell says at the top of his list are the general increases ‘because they now place the ipa as the agreement with the highest minimums in Canada.’

Still under negotiation are clauses for animation dubbing, low-budget productions, daytime drama (i