TORONTO – Canada’s actors’ union has reached a tentative deal with the advertising industry.
ACTRA, representing around 22,000 performers, the Association of Canadian Advertisers and the Institute of Communication Agencies wrapped 17 days of bargaining with a proposed new three-year national commercial agreement.
The latest deal holds out fee hikes for actors and new flexibility for advertisers in fast-changing times.
“The advertising industry is facing some very real challenges today. I’m pleased that we have been able to come to an equitable agreement with ACTRA that recognizes the reality of commercial production in Canada and puts our members in a stronger competitive position within the industry,” said Henry Dinsdale, lead counsel for ACA/ICA, in a statement Monday.
The existing national commercial agreement expired June 30, 2014, and the quick agreement between actors and advertisers reflects an industry-wide bid to maintain labor peace to keep U.S. producers from coming across the border to shoot projects here.
ACTRA’s rank and file will vote on the terms of the new contract in the coming weeks.
And in the wake of SAG-AFTRA’s tentative three-year theatrical and TV contracts with the AMPTP, Canadian actors and film and TV producers are headed into their own contract renewals.
ACTRA and the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), representing major English-language indie producers and its Quebec counterpart, are discussing opening talks on a new Independent Production Agreement in April or May 2015, well ahead of the current contract expiring Dec. 31, 2015.
