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Hollywood studios walk away from negotiations with Screen Actors Guild leaving B.C. TV/film industry in limbo
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Workers in B.C.’s television and film industry are anxious after talks between Hollywood studios and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) broke down last week.
The studios left the negotiating table because they felt the gap between the two sides was too wide for negotiations to continue, Variety and other Hollywood trade publications have reported. The reports said SAG-AFTRA wants US$500 million a year in a new streaming residual formula, while the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are offering $20 million.
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“It is with profound disappointment that we report the industry CEOs have walked away from the bargaining table after refusing to counter our latest offer,” the union said in a statement to its members. “We have negotiated with them in good faith, despite the fact that last week they presented an offer that was, shockingly, worth less than they proposed before the strike began.”
B.C., the third-largest production centre for television and film in North America, generates around CDN$4 billion each year and employs more than 80,000 people.
Aside from a few Canadian productions and a handful of Hallmark movies, Hollywood North has been dark since the Writers Guild of America went on strike May 2 and the actors followed on July 14. The guild ended its strike on Sept. 24 and ratified a deal on Oct. 9, giving some hope a deal for the actors would follow.
“The belief was that pattern bargaining would mean many issues were already resolved and the actors would agree to similar terms already negotiated with writers and directors,” said Vancouver actor/writer/showrunner Jonathan Lloyd Walker, who has three shows in development and one in prep, in an email to Postmedia.
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While money is a big issue, Walker says there is more to the story of the breakdown in talks.
“A.I. and digital scanning is a much more significant threat to performers. SAG is really specific about the kind of protections they need in any deal with the AMPTP. It’s my understanding that these issues, in particular, are why the negotiations broke down,” said Walker. “This isn’t just a case of striking for more money. It’s actually a matter of fighting to protect actors’ rights to work and earn anything from their craft. It’s a line-in-the-sand moment, and I hope the AMPTP looks at the bigger picture here and makes fair and reasonable concessions.”
While Walker is one of the many working on the creative side of the business, Hollywood North is an industry that also requires a wide range of people behind the scenes to get the cameras rolling.
Synnove Godeseth of Location Fixer Productions, a company that manages locations for filming, is one of those people whose livelihood relies on the local TV/film industry. Godeseth and her business partner are taking less of a wage in order to keep staff on as the strikes continue.
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“The breakdown in talks at SAG-AFTRA is a real blow,” said Godeseth, who is based in Gibsons. “I’ve got many friends, both in Canada and the U.K., who are really hurting from being out of work so long. The reality is that even after the strike is resolved, productions may not get back to site for a few months. So that’s looking like 2024 now. My husband works as shoot crew and is fortunate to be on one of the very few productions in Vancouver which have a SAG Actors waiver so that should see us through until next year. But we are being incredibly cautious.”
In a further trickle down, Godeseth says her main portfolio of locations “have taken a real hit,” with one popular vacant site likely to demo earlier than planned due to taxes and utility costs outweighing the location income.
There is also another unfortunate side to the slowed cash flow.
“We pride ourselves on donating to many charitable organizations around this time of year too, and it’s really not something that we can accommodate this year, so that’s another blow to the community,” Godeseth says.
As of publication time, there was no word on when talks between the actors’ union and the studios will resume.
dgee@postmedia.com
twitter.com/dana_gee
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