Voices From The Strike-That-Wasn't

One of the things that makes the choice of turning the comment filter on so hard is the thought of losing posts like this one, from Don. Don posts his reaction to the current ACTRA strike, and how it's being handled by both the CFTPA and ACTRA and The Government.

I would love to hear more of this. Call it "Voices of the Industry." If you've been affected by the ACTRA strike or the downturn in production in Canada, email me c/o this blog at the address at left (My Dirty Little Email Addy) and write up how. I'll run a selection as they come in.

Here's what Don says about the strike:

Soon, none of this will matter. It is most likely that there will be no production in Toronto this spring. If this goes much longer we will lose the summer. I don't know how many people can hang on for six months after a few slim years. I don't know how many crew members, writers, directors, or how many support businesses can hang on. Some people will move to Vancouver where it is busy. Some will leave the business. Some, I'm sorry to say, will land on the street. If you have children to support, if you want to save for their university eduction, if you want to save for your retirement, you will have burned through your reserves. The producers have no excuse, though I wonder how many Canadian producers still make drama. 8? 11? The strike means little or nothing to someone who makes reality based programming or documentaries. I would guess that this would describe most of the members of the CFTPA. There is almost no Canadian drama left. The actors are in a very different situation. Only a small percentage of ACTRA members make their living from their craft. It is easy to raise your fist in support of a cause if you step in front of the cameras only once or twice a year. I'm not sure how the tiny number (less than 10%, I"m sure) who rely on their ACTRA work to pay the bills might feel about all of this. It is my understanding that the Government of Ontario could force matters and legislate an end to the strike. We, the film production industry, are highly labour intensive. Domestic film and television adds to our country's culture, though I'm not sure if it generates more tax money than it uses - but that's okay, in fact, it is essential if Canada is to be a country in fact as opposed to a few lines on a map - just look at how important film and television are to Quebec. The real money spinner is production for export. The foreign production that shoots here creates lots of jobs, lots of tax dollars - much more than the money spent on tax incentives. If only our local politicians viewed film production as an essential part of the economy, like a car plant. They would not stand for this. I wonder, whose responsibility is it to inform them? Why is information on the strike buried in the entertainment section? Why isn't it front and centre in the business section? Tens of thousands of people are out of work. Isn't that a major business issue? Maybe even main stream news? Perhaps when the strike is over all of the unions and major businesses will fund Film Ontario (our lobby organization) and push our issues so hard and spin them so well that every single politician will understand how much a healthy film and television industry can add to our economy and even our culture? In B.C. they seem to get it. They do get it. Here, in Toronto, we don't get it. For example, did you know that the tax incentives are structured so that filming receives a bonus for NOT shooting in Toronto? (I worked almost exclusively in Hamilton this summer for only this reason.) We'll see. I'm scanning the want ads and trying to figure out if I can move to a career in Supply Chain Management.

Don, as I type this, I'm about to get in my car and drive forty five minutes so I'm outside "the zone" in Vancouver, too. Our offices for Blood Ties are in Maple Ridge, B.C. for the same reason. Though I appreciate the sentiment behind it -- try to spread production out of the cities and to some of the surrounding areas, the practical considerations make this stupid for domestic productions. You need those tax credits to make your budget. So all it means is that you have everybody driving all over hell's half acre to get out of the city, so you can shoot a show that's most likely set in a city. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, retarded.

We shot in Hamilton this summer too. And I can see the advantages for shooting there editorially. Unlike Toronto, Hamilton looks much more like a U.S. industrial city, mid 20th century. There's a totally different look. Parts of Hamilton can look like South Boston, or Detroit, or Cincinatti or Pittsburgh or Chicago in a way that Toronto can't. But having to go there just to make your budget is dumb, and, like everything -- is hardest on the people with the least power in the system: the hardworking crews who have to drive home after 13 hours making tv.