Actors in British Columbia have shaken hands with Canadian and U.S. producers on a new three-year performers contract.

Talks between the Union of B.C. Performers, representing 5,000 actors in the province, the Canadian affiliates of the AMPTP and the B.C. branch of the CFTPA produced a new Master Production Agreement to run from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2012.

The new deal will help shore up B.C.’s ability to lure Hollywood production after the province’s failure to match the 25% all-spend film tax credit now on offer in Quebec, which has begun to shift location shoots eastwards.

‘The new agreement reflects modest wage increases in line with the other performer unions’ contracts throughout Canada and the United States, during a period of continued financial uncertainty,’ UBCP added in a statement.

The newly inked MPA also leaves key new media provisions unchanged, and includes an expanded studio zone during the upcoming 2010 Olympics — where film and TV projects can be produced without extra payment to actors and crews for travel costs.

All three parties in the talks have recommended ratification of the new MPA, the union added.

The deal follows negotiations characterized by the B.C. actors union as ‘amicable and focused,’ an entirely different dynamic than 2007 when the MPA required a one-year extension and the intervention of a government-appointed labor mediator to secure agreement.

During the latest round of MPA talks, Mercedes Watson returned as chief negotiator for the UBCP, but sat across the table from newly installed AMPTP president Carol Lombardini after previous studio representative Nick Counter stepped down earlier this year.

Tracey Wood represented the B.C. CFTPA during talks described by UBCP as less formal ‘in an effort to be fiscally responsible during challenging financial times.’