ACTRA and the CFTPA have reached yet another new deal–one that should make the Hollywood studioheads happier.
This new deal provides a way out of the new terms laid out for payment for new media. After New Year’s Day, 2009, the actors and producers will revisit and renegotiate on this issue.
Post-strike, Toronto has lost up to $400 million in production revenue. It may take a while for things to bounce back. Those represening both sides are just happy that the strike is over, and that everyone can return to work.
Toronto Star/Canadian Press
Playback Daily
Just when ACTRA and the CFTPA were sealing a new Independent Production Agreement…Hollywood producers are dissatisfied. So, both unions are back at the table working on yet another new agreement.
Nick Counter, president of the AMPTP, representing U.S. studios, subsequently told ACTRA representatives that the studio heads were nervous about the clauses on Internet compensation, and most of all didn’t want a precedent-setting Canadian deal boxing them in during their own contract talks with Los Angeles unions and guilds, beginning later this year.
The studios wanted an “understanding” that would help them ratify the IPA without prejudicing their own U.S. labor negotiations.
So the chief negotiators for both sides began working out the kinks, to make sure the new deal made regarding new media residuals didn’t apply to members of AMPTP or their affiliates who film in Canada until after the big studios sort out their contract with the Screen Actors Guild.
Until a new deal is worked out, ACTRA’s strike–now in its seventh week–will continue. All sides are acting in good will and want this resolved quickly.
Playback Daily
At 2:30 pm this afternoon, ACTRA and the CFTPA reached a tentative new Independent Production Agreement.
According to a press release from ACTRA, actors will receive a ten percent pay increase over the next three years; and–with the exception of web-exclusive content (e.g., “webisodes” of a series)–residuals from productions sold over the internet will be paid from first dollar. (For web-exclusive content, there’s a six-month-long “basic declared use period” before residuals can be paid off.) There is also a provision to revist the new media issue again after the Screen Actors Guild renegotiates with US unions, in case SAG members get a better deal.
The CFTPA, when this story originally went online, did not have a press release available.
Playback Daily
ACTRA press release
Yesterday (Feb. 14), the CFTPA’s main negotiator told Playback Daily that they’re considering an offer from ACTRA to enlist a third party from the outside to determine payout methods for old media conversions.
ACTRA would also like to send the issue of new media residuals over to a joint committee, while they and the CFTPA can come to a new Independent Production Agreement on a wage increase. These are all part of their new strategy to end their month-and-a-half-long strike.
Meanwhile, the Canadian producers want to secure agreement from US producers, who want leverage when they negotiate new contracts with the Screen Actors Guild later this year and in 2008. Also, US producers are signatories to any IPA agreement, which is very important.
Playback Daily
Restoration of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s manse in Leaskdale, outside of Uxbridge, is underway. The exterior has been completed; and now the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society is working on raising funds to finish restoration to its interior. The manse is one of the towns’ biggest attractions, drawing 500 visitors a year. Uxbridge Mayor Bob Shepherd dubbed it “the best kept secret in Canada” and hopes the restoration will generate interest once it has been completed.
Also, the heritage group has acquired the Presbyterian Church where her husband, Ewan Macdonald, was minister during the time they lived in Leaskdale, from 1911 to the mid-1920s. They were loaned $160,000 CAD to do this; however, they hope to pay the money off by renting the church out for weddings and other events. In May, they will host an antique show and sale there.
Toronto Star
