The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) sits in a position rather like the loving little sister who got the inheritance. While she wants what's best for her sibling, she's also grateful for, and feels deserving of, what she herself has garnered.
That sibling is the Screen Actors Guild. SAG touts nearly 100,000 members. The U.S. actors union has spent the last couple of years complaining about, and making inroads at attempting to discourage, runaway production. That's the term for productions conceived in the U.S. by American studios, then shipped outside of the country to take advantage of less expensive labor and tax incentives or subsidies. Most of that film and TV product has journeyed to Canada and ACTRA's 18,000 members.
That hasn't set well at all with SAG who, in the meantime, invited ACTRA down to observe the guild's major negotiations with film studios and TV networks earlier this year; and the alliance returned the compliment, hosting SAG leaders who looked on the Canadian negotiations this fall. ACTRA also backed SAG's bitter commercial contracts strike with the ad industry in 2000.
But the sisters' love-tolerate relationship has turned touchier in recent weeks. SAG has been pushing federal legislation in Congress which would provide tax breaks for producers, encouraging them to stay in the U.S. Then, in a not-so-sudden heavy blow to ACTRA's gut, the guild co-signed a petition to the U.S. Commerce Department, requesting an investigation which could lead to the fed slapping a countervailing tariff on runaway productions when they return to the U.S.
That led Back Stage to seek an exclusive interview with ACTRA brass on their view of the runaway and tariff issues. Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director, and Garry Neil, the alliance's policy adviser, both consented.
Encouraging Runaways
"We certainly encourage U.S. producers filming in Canada, and we're very pleased that they're seeking to shoot productions here," Waddell said earlier this month. "It assists the industry in this country. And it helps support the industry, so we can, in fact, create an infrastructure to produce Canadian product that's going to be of interest to Canadian citizens and the world."
With that in mind, Waddell said that ACTRA entered this fall into negotiations with U.S. producers "with the view of attempting to substantially improve the work opportunities for Canadian performers, and what we hope might be numerical parity in terms of minimum fees with SAG."
In the October negotiations involving both Canadian and U.S. film and TV producers, ACTRA was able to get the same 3% annual increase which SAG got in its negotiations earlier. But ACTRA has found it's also suffering from some of the same problems affecting the guild and U.S. production. Waddell noted that U.S. producers had sped up production in late 2000 and early 2001, hoping to warehouse product in case the Writers Guild of America or SAG might walk out of negotiations and strike, virtually stopping U.S. filmmaking. That didn't happen. Both the writers and actors reached agreements, leading to a slowdown in production due to the warehouse of films and TV shows. Then, the struggling economy dropped into a recession, followed by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which shook the world economy.
ACTRA walked into October negotiations facing all that, plus having to quell concern by U.S. producers that Canadian actors might strike, which Waddell noted has never happened in the union's history. Facing those hurdles, the alliance still came out with the 3% increases, plus Internet jurisdiction, and--as a North American first for actors' unions, according to Waddell--a guaranteed minimum hourly rate for "cash extras," or background performers. All that in a bargaining process that lasted only five days.
"All of this sent a very positive message to the U.S. industry that Canada is a stable environment with respect to labor relations, so they should be able to return to Canada and enjoy our production opportunities," Waddell added.
Tariff as Sheriff
ACTRA naturally has a strong view regarding SAG's attempt to get the U.S. government to levy a tariff on runaway production. "It's self-contradictory," Waddell said of SAG's effort. He and Neil both understand Congressional legislation offering tax incentives to help U.S. production, but see a tariff as a negative force.
ACTRA stated that position as far back as August, when SAG's national board of directors first introduced the idea of the tariff.
"To say that the Canadian subsidies offered to producers in our country are unfair is simply not true," Thor Bishopric, ACTRA's president, said in an August statement. "The reality is that the Canadian dollar exchange rate is the major reason for U.S. producers to shoot in Canada. Further, those Canadian and provincial government subsidies that are in place are in full compliance with NAFTA and WTO," meaning the major international trade organizations affecting both Canadian and U.S. commerce.
Waddell also in August referred to SAG's tariff position as disappointing and "isolationist protectionism at its worst" while the guild's push for domestic incentives is "legitimate."
ACTRA's not alone in that view. Other U.S. entertainment unions, as well as the film studios, oppose SAG's petition. And the Commerce Department has given notice it needs more time to consider the petition, and wants to survey the U.S. industry.
Encouraging Canadian Content
Meanwhile, ACTRA is pushing to take care of its creative own. Neil recently presented written testimony to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, telling the country's broadcast regulator it needed to impose higher Canadian content requirements on the country's broadcasters.
"What ACTRA said," Neil told Back Stage of his testimony, "was that over the past decade, there's been a tremendous and steady growth in foreign-service production. But in Canadian production, after growth in the last decade, between 1999 and 2000 there was a decline of almost 11%. In that same period, foreign-service production increased 15%. So, for the first time in history, in 2000 we saw $1.5 billion in foreign service and only $1.2 billion in Canadian production.
"Actors are concerned about that," Neil said of ACTRA's members. "To have a successful industry in Canada, we must be able to produce material for ourselves, and hope we'll be able to produce for global audiences, but primarily for our audience."
Neil feels the trend toward foreign-service production has continued in 2001 and probably will also in 2002.
Neil also noted, "In this runaway production debate, there's one part that doesn't seem to get out properly: A couple of years ago, estimates showed that the U.S. industry took roughly $1 billion out of the Canadian marketplace, including theatrical receipts, box-office receipts, video rental and broadcast license fees. The fact is, the U.S. industry is taking more out of the Canadian marketplace than it's putting in. That's a statement of fact; I don't know if it's criticism of anybody."
That would seem to place ACTRA in its own self-contradictory position: encouraging U.S. production in Canada while criticizing its profits. But Neil stressed that his major point in testimony was not directed at U.S. productions, "but at our government's policy and need to support our own production."
SAG might look on that as ACTRA wanting the best of both worlds. No doubt, it will add to the drama of discussions when the two sisters decide to meet again.