Hollywood Producers Reach Tentative Union Deal With Canadian Actors

The new IPA calls for performers to receive a six-percent wage hike over three years on productions shooting locally.

U.S. and Canadian producers on Tuesday said they have reached a tentative deal with ACTRA, Canada's performers union, to renew their Independent Production Agreement for another three years.

The latest labor deal covering unionized actors on U.S. and Canadian film and TV shoots here follows ACTRA, the Canadian Media Producers Association and the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec negotiating since October on a new IPA.

The new agreement, once ratified by ACTRA members over the coming weeks, calls for Canadian actors to receive an annual 2 percent wage hike over each of the next three years. ACTRA said its members will also receive increased background work opportunities and increased pay for acting in new media productions.

Canadian producers negotiated on behalf of the major studios and U.S. indie producers during the latest IPA bargaining round, and top studio executives are routinely consulted before a final settlement is agreed on by both sides. American producers who shoot in Canada become signatories to the IPA.

Soundstages and streets in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are filled with Hollywood film and TV projects as the plunging Canadian dollar has added to cost savings for American producers that shoot north of the border. The new deal, once ratified, will come into effect on Jan. 1.

The IPA does not apply in British Columbia, where U.S. producers shoot under a separate labor agreement negotiated by ACTRA's local affiliate, UBCP/ACTRA.