Montreal: Both sides, producers and performers, agreed to put a little water in their wine in the latest IPA negotiations. With the prospect of a deepening recession and already reduced production levels in Canada, the negotiators for ACTRA and the producers associations kept the list of issues to a minimum, delivering a renewed Independent Production Agreement in a remarkably short five days.

‘We want to send a message to the industry in North America and worldwide that this is a stable labor environment in Canada,’ says Stephen Waddell, ACTRA national executive director. And while wage parity with U.S. performers remains a ‘core objective’ of the actors union, Waddell admits, ‘given the economic uncertainty, we recognize that that just wasn’t achievable this time around.’

The two-year deal, announced Oct. 26, gives Canadian performers the same 6% minimum pay scale increase achieved by their American counterparts this spring. Membership of IPA signatory organizations, the CFTPA and APFTQ (representing a combined 550 members), and ACTRA (representing 18,000 members), have still to ratify the agreement.

Waddell says no more than 10 key issues were on the table, and most of them were worked out over a day and a half, including a marathon 22-hour session. In the previous round, concluded in June 1999, hundreds of issues were on the table and talks extended over eight long months.

The new ACTRA day rate for principal performers is $525 (up from $510). The deal is effective Jan. 1, 2002.

New gains for ACTRA members include ACTRA jurisdiction and contract recognition for Internet productions; unprecedented jurisdiction with respect to ‘cash extras,’ specifically those background performers over and above minimum hiring levels required by the collective agreement; as well as satisfactory terms on fundamental issues related to work permit applications, a major concern for producers, and in terms of increased work opportunities, the fundamental issue for performers, says Waddell.

Permits and opportunities

Waddell says producers have pledged to ‘give Canadian performers preference of audition and engagement in respect of non-Canadian productions…and in order to give meaning to this principle, producers commit themselves to real and bona fide casting sessions for ACTRA members in a professional audition environment, consistent with good industry standards.’

In the past, Waddell says poor auditioning circumstances undermined opportunities for Canadian actors on service shoots.

ACTRA and the producers have agreed to set up a system to deal with casting requirements ‘to ensure maximum Canadian participation, especially in meaningful and challenging roles.’

As for work permits on non-Canadian productions, producers received assurances the number of foreign actor positions allowed in the past would continue. ‘In other words, we won’t institute any ‘two-only’ rule, but rather ACTRA will consider requests for work permits promptly, reasonably and in good faith,’ says Waddell.

ACTRA undertakes to manage producer requests through a single senior contact point in each of the three major production regions.

‘To that end we’ve also agreed to an expedited dispute-resolution process,’ says Waddell. If a requested work permit is denied by ACTRA, the producers have recourse to ‘a speedy resolution process’ with an arbitrator and a decision within two business days. ‘And finally, a statement the producers wanted heard, which was work permits will not be unreasonably withheld,’ adds Waddell.

Producer applications for third-party performers in treaty coproductions, essentially American actors, are subject to the same guidelines applied to non-Canadian productions. Otherwise, ACTRA has no formal agreement on minimum third-party participation in official coproductions.

With respect to low-budget production, specifically the Canadian Independent Production Incentive, ACTRA has agreed to forego discretionary authority on eligibility. Waddell says budgets will still be verified, but qualifying issues, shared with producers, will ‘become less discretionary and more automatic.’ The low-budget program range for feature films is from $138,000 to $1.8 million.

Essentially, all the other benefit issues related to SAG parity, including producer contribution to various plans, were withdrawn by the performers guild.

Although the IPA generates more than $150 million a year in member income and salaries, Waddell says performers are confronted with a substantial decline in indigenous drama series opportunities. And he says actor salaries in many instances ‘are being compressed all the way down to the minimum fees.’ As little as 15% of ACTRA members actually ‘make a living in their profession,’ while the high-end star status is limited to a couple of hundred.

All categories of independent production, from major U.S. studio shoots to locally produced corporate videos and international treaty coproductions, fall under the terms of the IPA. ACTRA, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2003, has separate agreements with Canadian broadcasters.

-www.actra.ca