After five years of rancor and disruption, Vancouver performers have voted in favor of recommendations that could end a jurisdictional dispute between actra and the Union of B.C. Performers.

The recommendations from mediator Stephen Kelleher that actra b.c. turn over its jurisdiction to the ubcp on the condition that nationally negotiated standards in collective bargaining are not undercut, has been accepted by members of actra b.c., ubcp and actra’s Performer’s Guild.

Plans are to replace actra b.c. with ubcp as the provincial affiliate of the national actra Performers Guild. ubcp would in turn end its affiliation with the Teamsters union and the largely overlapping memberships of the two unions would be merged.

Members of actra b.c. voted 95.7% in favor of the recommendations in a province-wide vote. Members of ubcp supported the recommendations by a similar margin and the Performer’s Guild voted over 85% in favor.

A new union executive will be voted in with elections likely sometime in May. In the meantime, the interim management team will be headed by Jim Dorsey and two members from each union will sit in on the team.

New Vancouver studio

Vidatron Group Inc., a Vancouver-based multimedia company, has signed an agreement to acquire an existing office/warehouse property in Vancouver for conversion into a soundstage, production office and workshop complex. The facility, expected to be completed within 60 days, is located downtown and will be available to visiting feature film, tv and mow producers. The purchase price and renovation costs are estimated at $2 million, financed by a combination of mortgage debt and internal funding.

Fox gets Intimate

Paragon Entertainment has signed a deal with Fox Searchlight for its first HandMade feature, Intimate Relations. Fox has acquired rights to the Canada/u.k. coproduction for all English-speaking territories excluding Canada and some European markets including Spain, France and Italy.

CFP is the Canadian distributor.

Atlantis inks deal

Atlantis Releasing, the distribution arm of Atlantis Communications, and Tele-munchen Gruppe have signed a three-year deal to acquire and distribute tv movies. Also contained in the deal is the intention that Tele-munchen will also invest in Atlantis movies.

Under the agreement, Atlantis will control rights in Canada, Europe (excluding German-speaking territories) and the rest of the world and Tele-munchen (which owns the tv station RTL-2) will distribute in German-speaking territories.

Atlantis Releasing president Ted Riley estimates the deal will provide the leverage for about another 10 titles to add to the company’s catalogue of about 55 programs.

Atlantis and Tele-munchen have agreed to share profits from sales.

Credit conflict

Six craft associations are siding with sardec in its drawn-out, bitter dispute over program credits with Radio-Canada.

The network has refused to comply with an arbitration ruling handed down last fall stating the writer’s credit on tv shows must be identified and broadcast under the generic heading ‘author.’ sardec claims Radio-Canada is pressuring writers to forego the credit.

In February, sardec filed a petition signed by 140 Quebec screenwriters demanding Radio-Canada comply with the ruling.

Rogers loses Watson

Effective April 2, Colin D. Watson will take over as ceo and president of Spar Aerospace, and officially end a two-decade career with Rogers Cable Systems.

Watson, Rogers’ president and ceo, joined Canadian Cable Systems in 1974, which merged with Rogers in 1979. His departure leaves a vacancy on what was a three-man team of top contenders vying to succeed president Ted Rogers. Remaining are John Tory, ceo of multimedia operations, and Stan Kabala, coo for telecommunications. Vice-chairman Phil Lind and chairman Garfield Emerson are also thought to be in the running.

Until a replacement is announced (first out of the rumor mill as replacement potential is ctv president John Cassaday), Edward S. Rogers will act as ceo of Rogers CableSystems.