WINTER 2007 The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists ACTRAACTRA demandsdemands actionaction fromfrom CRTC!CRTC! Performers speak out at opening day of television hearings – See page 4 by Richard Hardacre On a wet night in late December it’s helpful to have some perspective on where things stand… or quite some time the focus of cast environment that stimulates Canadian worldwide use and that general increases FACTRA’s united energies has been production. offered to wages would have to be limited to aimed at two distinct goals. At this writing, Your negotiating team held firmly to 0%, 0% and 1% for a three-year contract we are at a critical stage in the negotiations proposals and incremental increases across a huge spectrum of the work we do. of the Independent Production Agreement designed to maintain stability. We proposed At this writing, we are entering last-ditch (IPA) – the biggest contract under which we reasonable progress on pay, insurance efforts, initiated by us, to find a fair deal at work. It’s uncertain whether a fair deal can contributions, and working conditions. the table. We go back with the strong support be achieved without using the mandate the We wanted incremental increases over five of our members and knowing full well how members have given us to call a strike. years to narrow the pay gap that exists much they are relying on the negotiating Among the bargaining dates in December between ACTRA and SAG members on the team to fight for them. What kind of stake in we were also busy arguing for the survival of same sets of big U.S. films. (ACTRA was our success this New Year holds, to a large our cultural identity. We reached a plateau aiming for numerical parity with SAG rates degree, will be determined by our commit- in this campaign with our coalition union on big-budget U.S. features shooting here ment and the strength of our solidarity. partners to convince the broadcasting regu- by the year 2011.) We entered bargaining With very best wishes for 2007, lators of the CRTC to undo the damage cognisant of the fact that the cast compo- done since 1999. They must re-work the nent of the budgets of most productions regulations shaping the television environ- in this country is around 3%. Then we were ment in order to bring scripted dramatic told we had to accept less than that to production – stories made in Canada – to allow productions to be viable. Richard Hardacre the airwaves of the big private broadcasters. During these weeks of negotiations, National President There’s more on that below. we brought the campaign to build a firmly In our negotiations with the associations grounded, Canadian television industry of Producers, you can be proud of the to its next stage. Over a one-month period, number of your colleagues who, united starting with powerful statements by promi- See page 13 for with your negotiating committee, faced nent members in Vancouver during the down the appaling demands we heard on convention of the Canadian Association STRIKE NEWS the first day of bargaining, and the unac- of Broadcasters, and continuing to ACTRA’s ceptable terms we were offered on the last. formal intervention at the hearings into the Since the opening day, many performers Broadcast TV Policy Review of the CRTC in at press time sat in on bargaining sessions in Montreal Ottawa/Hull, we drove the message home. and Toronto, introducing themselves as Now we must keep up the pressure until being there in support of our union. They Canadian drama is restored to our televi- were veterans and newcomers, they were sion screens. Letters work-a-day members, voice artists, stunt InterACTRA welcomes letters and performers, background players and actors With that we returned feedback. Submissions should be who play the leads in our industry. On our no longer than 200 words and may final day in December, some of our most to our other task… be edited for length. Please send prominent performers joined us. They were On the night of December 20, the final submissions to: [email protected] the tip of the iceberg. scheduled day of bargaining, more than Thousands returned ballots giving their thirty of the most accomplished performers Calling all scribes! mandate to support our negotiating team. in Canada joined with us to present a pack- Interested in never-ending glory? ACTRA’s members have been saying clearly age of Comprehensive Terms to Settle. It was a Want to contribute content to that they will not accept rollback demands, serious and reasonable offer demonstrating InterACTRA? Please contact or anything else that erodes our contract. our willingness to work with the producers [email protected] No one wants a strike, but strike we will if in all areas that both sides had identified as the people sent by the producers continue crucial to a deal. It was a clear opportunity to tell us we must concede that our worth for the producers to avoid what would be Want to receive has to be diminished to satisfy their corpo- the likely harvest of their demands – the InterACTRA by email? rate goals. first labour disruption in ACTRA’s history. If you’d like InterACTRA in your The approach of the representatives of They rejected our set of terms. Their e-mailbox instead of by mail, email the producers has been all the more shock- responses were that the value paid to our us at [email protected] with your ing and frustrating in view of the effort work for distribution to all new media membership number. ACTRA has been making to build a broad- (including internet) would be nil for 2 years 2 InterACTRA WINTER 2007 page 8 The Stage Mom In this issue of InterACTRA... Survival Guide PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2 by Richard Hardacre for parents of young performers in the Canadian film and television industry, by Robyne Ropell-Baruchel, published COVER STORY 4 by ACTRA. by Sonja Smits Demanding action from the CRTC The guide is free to ACTRA members (under 18), or $15 (incl. GST) for page 13 adult members and non-members. POLICY 6 by Barry Blake The Stage Mom Finance Committee Listens to ACTRA Survival Guide is available at ACTRA branches CHEERS & JEERS 6 across Canada or call 1-800- AFBS 7 387-3516 for by Ferne Downey more info. Changes to your insurance benefits BON COP, BAD COP8 by Randy Duniz A how-to for success BARGAINING: DAY ONE11 by Wendy Anderson Winter 2007 Volume 14, Issue 1 InterACTRA is the official publication of ACTRA VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY 14 (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists), a Canadian union of performers affiliated by Simon Peacock to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the International Federation of Actors (FIA). InterACTRA 16 is free of charge to all ACTRA members. ACTRA/UBCP CAB PRESS CONFERENCE EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: page 16 Richard Hardacre, Ferne Downey, Brian Gromoff, by Howard Storey David Macniven, Carol Taverner, Ken Thompson, Canadian broadcasters must invest Stephen Waddell page 19 in Canadian drama CONTRIBUTORS: D.J. Anderson, Wendy Anderson, Barry Blake, Joy Corion, Chris Cornish, Ferne Downey, Randy Duniz, Thelma Farmer, Richard BRANCH NEWS 18 Hardacre, Kim Hume, Maureen MacDonald, Micol Marotti, Patricia McCutcheon, Anny Murray, Simon Maritimes celebrates the big 4-0, Peacock, Gary Saxe, Sonja Smits, Marit Stiles, Howard Calgary takes over Edmonton administration, Storey, Gary Vermeir, Jeremy Webb Montreal bargaining solidarity, and COVER PHOTO: ACTRA front-row-centre on opening Ottawa’s new award day of the CRTC television hearings: (right to left) Barry Blake, R. H. Thomson (leaning forward), Sonja Smits, Fiona Reid and Richard Hardacre. See page 4 APPLAUSE 20 for details. Photo by Jonathan Hayward. ACTRA members honoured LAYOUT: Joss Maclennan Design www.joss.to Printed in Canada by union labour at Thistle Printing. 21 All contents are copyright ©2007 ACTRA. All rights FAREWELL are reserved and contents, in whole or in part, may not page 20 Remembering Ivor Barry, Daryl Duke, be reprinted without permission. The points of view Bill Meilen, Mavor Moore, Lister Sinclair, expressed do not necessarily represent those of ACTRA. and Leslie Yeo Please return any undelivered mail to: ACTRA, 300 - 625 Church St, Toronto ON M4Y 2G1 PHONE 1-800-387-3516 or (416 )489-1311 INTERVIEW WITH ELLEN PAGE 24 FAX (416 )489-8076 EMAIL [email protected] by Anny Murray WEB www.actra.ca Publications Mail Agreement #40069134 ISSN 1705-9496 C WINTER 2007 InterACTRA 3 Canadian stars demand ac Sonja Smits is a Gemini Award winner and the TV policy – an experiment that went wrong. 2004 recipient of Toronto’s ACTRA Award of We are not alone in our view that Canadian drama is critically Excellence. Ms. Smits is known to Canadian TV important to the future of Canadian television. Drama is the most audiences for her leading roles in The Eleventh popular genre of TV programming – Canadians continue to choose Hour, Traders and Street Legal. On December 4, drama over other types of programming. Making and watching our 2006 the Ottawa Citizen printed an edited own shows is crucial to our sense of self – our culture, our country. version of this Op-Ed. We are printing it in its TV shows we make ourselves, chronicle our national experiences, entirety so that you can read the whole story. our shared triumphs and create a sense of identity among Canadian viewers. December 4, 2006 – This week the CRTC began a long-overdue Canada’s private broadcasters are given hundreds of millions of review of the regulatory framework for Canadian over-the-air dollars worth of regulatory subsidies – subsidies that protect lucrative television.