fall 2010 The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists Leading the See story digital (r)evolution page 8 68253-1_P2028-ACTRA-fall10.indd 1 9/7/10 1:41 PM inSide your union magazine... interACTRA PRESIDENT’S MESSaGE 3 by Ferne Downey Fall 2010, Volume 17, Issue 2 InterACTRA is the official pub- ONlINE ThEfT TakES MONEy 4 lication of ACTRA (Alliance of OuT Of all OuR POckETS Canadian Cinema, Television page 8 and Radio Artists), a Canadian canada’s new copyright bill needs to be fixed union of performers affiliated to by Yannick Bisson the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the International page 10 Federation of Actors (FIA). ThE INTERNET chaNNEl 8 InterACTRA is free of charge to all ACTRA members. leading the digital (r)evolution EdIToRIAL AdVIsoRy by Eli Goree CommITTEE: Joanne deer, Ferne downey, Brian Gromoff, Richard Hardacre, Carol Taverner, TV’s DIGITal EVOluTION 12 Theresa Tova, stephen Waddell. Republic of Doyle embraces their fans online ConTRIBuToRs: Tina Alford, by Ruth Lawrence dJ Anderson, yannick Bisson, mike Burns, marlene Cahill, nicholas Campbell, Joanne MEDIa EVOluTION 14 deer, Ferne downey, Anna Falsetta, Chris Faulkner, megan by Stephen Waddell If you’re adaptable you stay Gariepy, Raymond Guardia, page 14 Eli Goree, Allan Hawco, Alex Ivanovici, Brad Keenan, Geoff TElEPhONy facTS wITh 16 one step ahead of the game Lapaire, Ruth Lawrence, Rob BEll caNaDa’S EMIly macklin, Tyrel mcnicol, dan o’Brien, Adam Reid, Gisèle by Gisèle Rousseau Rousseau, Gary saxe, Alison stewart, marit stiles, Amanda Tapping, Theresa Tova, stephen DIGITal PERfORMaNcE IN aN awaRD- 18 Waddell, Christine Webber, wINNING RENaISSaNcE VIDEOGaME Christine Willes. by Alex Ivanovici CoVER pHoTo: Pure Pwnage stars, top: Joel Gardiner, L to R: Eli Goree, Jarett Cale and cRTc lEaVES caNcON IN ThE cOlD 21 melanie scrofano. Courtesy of showcase. by Nicholas Campbell LAyouT: Joss maclennan CEp 591 design www.joss.to page 18 MEDIa TRuThS, uNTRuThS & STEREOTyPES 24 printed in Canada by union labour at Thistle printing. women sharing lead roles All contents are copyright by Christine Willes ©2010 ACTRA. All rights are reserved and contents, in whole or in part, may not be reprinted acTRa MEMBERS wORkING TOGEThER 26 without permission.The points updates from Manitoba, Montreal, of view expressed do not neces- sarily represent those of ACTRA. Saskatchewan and Toronto please return any undelivered mail to: ACTRA, 300 – 625 aPPlauSE: acTRa members honoured 29 Church street, Toronto, ontario m4yphone 2G1 1-800-387-3516 NEwS… stuff you should know 32 faxor (416)489-1311 page 28 email (416)489-8076 @ web interactra actra.ca TREa$uRER’S REPORT 33 www.actra.ca by Theresa Tova publications mail Agreement Janesse l #40069134 eung Issn 1705-9496 Remembering Maury chaykin, 34 Maureen forrester, Brad Moore, 10% wayne Nicklas and Rod Padmos 2 InterACTRA fall 2010 Please ensure that Please insert 68253-1_P2028-ACTRA-fall10.indd 2 9/7/10 1:41 PM this is the correct union label here. FSC % recycled logo. inSide your union magazine... adaptabIlIty as an actor. as a union. By FeRne DoWney acTRa National President My brother Kevin is a very gifted architect. Recently I was also created his own sold out music festival in Toronto this sum- suffering through a home renovation inconveniently timed to mer with a who’s who of hip hop royalty showing up to support coincide with a heat wave, and he was a steady source of inspira- him. And he’s still acting – most recently voicing the video game tion. To my despair the eccentricities of my 105-year-old house Gears of War 3. began to defeat elements of our carefully planned modifications. Why am I going on about this most fortunate of men? drake is But as problems arose new solutions came to mind. Kevin was versatile and his talent for re-invention is strong. He’s in the driver’s quick to observe that, “adaptability is a great strength in design.” seat, creating new opportunities for himself and he’s using digital That phrase resonated with me – adaptability in life overall is media to his advantage. These are all things that we will need to a great strength. Those who thrive under duress are those people keep doing in this digital revolution, as performers and as a union. Ifwho areyou’re able to adapt to the changes aroundadaptable them. And we are doing you it. In this issue we readstay first-hand how one step ahead of the game Stephen Waddell And then wrote in his story in this maga - every facet of our work is changing and how we are adapting with zine about adaptability, and the chord was struck again. That’s it. aplomb. TV actors are becoming videogame heroes by donning Adapt intelligently to the curveballs the world throws and never performance capture suits and performers are taking the initia- stop adapting. The alternativeDrake is to become rigid and unyielding, tive to create their own web-based series. to get out of step, fall behind and fall by the wayside. As an actor our union is also adapting with us. We are shaping all our and union leader, I certainly don’t want that for myself or ACTRA. collective agreements from the IpA to the nCA to the Audio Code one of our members, , is for me the embodiment of to meet the new realities of our work and make certain the new the great potential of our changing times. He went from being opportunities technology offers are well covered in our jurisdic- one of the young stars of DeGrassi: The Next Generation to tion. We are also fighting tooth and nail to make sure that our being international hip hop royalty in large part because of his copyrights as performers are recognized and protected. The adaptability. He took his passion for music, posted mixtapes on IWoRKACTRA organizing campaign is in full flight and we are his myspace page, and created such a buzz that by the time he strengthening and broadening our jurisdiction. released his third mixtape it was downloaded more than 2,000 ACTRA’s national Council met in late may and discussed our times in two hours. The Grammy-nominated, Juno-winning artist membership rules in light of contemporary research and analy - sis. And it’s time for a change there too – we need to be more welcoming to young members; we need to be more welcoming to diverse members; we need to embrace those graduating from accredited universities or colleges with a performance degree. It is crystal clear that our current membership rules no longer ful- fill their purpose. Going forward our union’s membership rules need to be fair for all – and with your support they will be. If you’re adaptable you stay one step ahead of the game. Happily that’s where ACTRA and our members have been for most Inof oursolidarity, 67-year history. That’s exactly where we are now. Let’s keep Janesse l that stride together and flourish. eung acTRa and RacS member aubrey “Drake” Graham and Ferne Downey ferne Downey. ACTRA National President fall 2010 InterACTRA 3 68253-1_P2028-ACTRA-fall10.indd 3 9/7/10 1:41 PM Online ThefT takes money out of all of our pockets Day one, movie release price: one ticket Same day, online, all over the world price: free Bernard Ramos 4 InterACTRA fall 2010 68253-1_P2028-ACTRA-fall10.indd 4 9/7/10 1:42 PM Online ThefT takes money out of all of our pockets By yAnnICK bISSon The CopyrighT Bill on The hill needs To Be fixed Finally, after two previous failed efforts, Day one, We get paid royalties, residuals or laws – that’s why. our government has introduced new use fees when our work is sold, but not The problem isn’t just that we don’t copyright legislation. professional when it’s stolen. The distributor’s usual get residuals when someone downloads movie release performers who work in just about every movie release cycle for a feature film our work illegally – it’s also that the pro - area imaginable will be affected. As art- is: theatrical, dVd/Vod, ppV, pay TV, ducers don’t make any money, and when price: one ticket ists it will define how we will make our free TV. This is how we do business and they don’t, there is less money in the living. While we’re happy to finally have how everyone in our industry gets paid. system to finance the next project. an update to our sorely out-of-date laws, Illegal recording and uploading on the In short, less work. let there be no mistake, Bill C-32 is a internet of film and TV shows hugely so what do we do to make sure we Same day, online, bill on the Hill that needs urgent fixing affects you, me, producers and crew: can keep our industry viable and healthy before it actually becomes law. everyone in the entertainment industry. and keep making a living? I love acting, always have. As far as When someone can do a Google search We need copyright reform. We need all over the world I’m concerned it’s the best job in the for Murdoch Mysteries, click a link and be new laws to make it tougher to steal our world and I can’t imagine doing anything watching full episodes from seasons work and we need to make sure we are price: free else. But, I can’t live on love alone. For one through three in 10 seconds, that compensated when people make copies a start, I like to eat.