Canadian TV And Film Artists Are Mad As Hell, And They Aren't Going To Take It Anymore!
As of posting time, the fates of multiple feature film productions and beloved TV series—as well as Little Mosque On The Prairie and Ha!ifax Comedy Fest—hang in the balance, as ACTRA has decided to go on strike:
The union representing 21,000 of Canada's film, television and radio workers went on strike Monday in a dispute that centres on how actors should be paid for performances shown on cellphones and the Internet. [...]
"Our negotiating team has just broke off talks - there's been no resolution as of yet," Austin Schautz, the union vice-president of finance, told Toronto radio station AM640 early Monday. "I haven't heard whether or when they'll be going back to the table."
ACTRA members in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba had walked off the job at midnight, after instructions from the union not to report for work.
Sci-fi nerds and teenage girls alike can ignore these initial signs of Canadian labor Armageddon, as shows that shoot in British Columbia, like Battlestar Galactica and Smallville, aren't affected because they fall under a different union. Confusing? You bet. But more good news for those nervous about the goings on to the north: Despite all these arcane union rules, ACTRA has no power to recall Canadian-born actors back to the motherland for picketing duty, meaning that Howie Mandel's ability to emcee NBC's screaming-at-briefcases-for-dollars ratings juggernaut, Deal or No Deal, will be totally unaffected by this strife.
