Canada’s production industry is in danger of losing nearly $200 million worth of service production while negotiations between actra’s Performers Guild and the Canadian Film and Television Production Association continue. So says Nick Counter, president of the u.s. Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Counter is talking about u.s. productions initially scheduled to shoot on location in Canada which still have enough lead time to be moved if necessary. Until negotiations are concluded, they have been put on hold.

The two parties are talking through mid-September in an effort to avoid actra’s threat of a strike in Ontario and Quebec. The performers union called for a strike vote earlier this summer while discussing terms of a new Independent Production Agreement with the cftpa. Counter, who was in Toronto for negotiations which reconvened Sept. 5, says both sides are working hard to reach a settlement.

cftpa chair Tom Berry echoes Counter, saying the two associations have been negotiating around the clock. Yet he calls the talks ‘the most difficult anyone can remember,’ and not for reasons exclusive to the agreement.

‘It’s not just a question – although this is hard enough – of negotiating over rights of pay and work conditions and various other things that affect pay, but there are some added complications,’ says Berry. ‘I think most producers feel with (Ontario Premier) Mike Harris, we are looking at the beginning of what could be very substantial cutbacks in government for our industry.’

Along with the fiscal hardship, cutbacks effectively increase the value of the Canadian dollar, another blow to production. ‘I think we are going to be seeing the core of our industry continue to be under attack at the same time that the mechanism of attacking us makes us less competitive internationally by raising the dollar,’ says Berry.

Warren Carr, producer at Davian Entertainment in Vancouver, at one time had estimated the break-even point for shooting here to be around an 82-cent dollar, after which, factoring in additional expenses, there is no longer a financial incentive to travel to Canada. As of Sept. 4, the loonie was at us$0.74.6 and some economists expect that it may climb as high as us$0.80 by next year.

The lamentable timing of the labor dispute also coincides with the $8.2 million cut earlier this summer in the coffers of the ofdc and ofip. According to Johanna Persons, vp of productions at nbc, the funding situation is a factor in deciding where to bring a project.

‘We’ve taken pictures into Canada because of funding,’ she says. ‘If it means an extra $150,000 on a project, it has an impact. If we’re no longer getting that, now the difference between doing a picture in Canada and elsewhere is the exchange rate – $200,000 versus $35,000 for the exchange rate.’

Todd Leavitt, chairman of Alliance International, says Alliance has a television movie scheduled to begin production this week, and though no specific plans were outlined, Leavitt says anyone planning to shoot in Ontario would have to consider alternatives such as duplicating locations elsewhere.

‘If you plan for an ofip grant and it disappears, you have a business plan problem that you have to address,’ he says. ‘That means there are projects that would shoot in Ontario that may move or may not go forward.’

Carr, currently shooting a feature for Universal in Vancouver, says if American producers detour around Ontario to avoid incurring costs and production delays, some may permanently find a more suitable place to do business.

‘A significant amount of the production that has come from Hollywood is due in part to the labor unrest that went on in Hollywood in the mid 1980s,’ says Carr. ‘If people start to look at other places where they can get good production value, they might find one and then will send only about 50% of the business back.’

Carr says he has heard from many of the major u.s. studios and they are all ‘raising their eyebrows’ and keeping a close eye on the situation.

Outside factors aside, the ipa talks are muddled by conflicting perspectives, says Berry. ‘The industry has boomed and there is the perception others have done better than the (actors) have. So one side of the table sees the future as a scary thing and the other side of the table is just trying to catch up with the boom.

‘We are partly a victim of our own publicity,’ he says, referring to the increased awareness of success as more and more production companies went public in the last few years.

Results of an actra member referendum on the strike issue will be returned Sept. 12, the day before the last scheduled negotiating session. An interim agreement is available so that productions underway can continue in the event of a strike.

At press time, with less than one week to the final scheduled round of negotiations, Berry expresses guarded optimism. ‘I get a call every 20 minutes asking if there is going to be an actra strike. All I can say is that on the most complex issues, both sides are trying to understand one another’s positions and are open to finding solutions. Whether or not they will be found is another question.’