B.C. film workers brace for lost wages, delayed productions as Hollywood actors' strike begins

Thousands of film and television workers in British Columbia are bracing to lose weeks if not months of work as the Hollywood actors' strike interrupts productions in the provinceand brings othersto a standstill.

The industry, which employs about 88,000 workers across B.C., is already reeling from a months-long writers' strike, which has caused many productions to be cancelled or postponed since it began in early May.

And on Thursday, the union representing more than 160,000 film and television actors in Hollywood alsovoted to strike after being unable to reach a deal with studios over streaming residual payments and protections against artificial intelligence replacing actors.

But while B.C.-based film and television writers and workers themselves aren't striking, the job actions interrupt the vast majority of their work that comes from supporting U.S.-based productions.

"Those of us who work in Vancouver in the film industry, we're hoping cooler heads will prevail and we'll come to some resolution, because it won't just be the writers, it won't just be the actors ...it'll be everyone in Vancouver who will be suffering as much as anyone," Joseph Patrick Finn, who has produced TV shows including The X-Files and CW's The Flash, told CBC's On The Coast on Thursday.

Rachael Dudley, who owns a location management company in Vancouver, says the bulk of her business relies on Hollywood productions looking to film in B.C.

It has slowed substantially since studios began to postpone and cancel productions in anticipation of the writer's strike earlier this spring.

"With the SAG [Screen Actors Guild]strike on top of that, I can only imagine it will become even more quiet," said Dudley in an interview with CBC News.

"It's not the best news for companies like our own, or for anybody working in the B.C. film industry."

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Her company is still able to pay salaries to staff for the time being, but many freelance employees who are contracted to work on individual productions are left in the lurch.

"A lot of local crews are out of work looking for alternative seasonal summer jobs to pay the bills and pay the mortgages," said Dudley. "It's really difficult."

IATSE Local 891, the union that represents more than 10,000 film workers in B.C., says about 80 per cent of its members' work is on foreign productions.

Right now members are working on just four projects in pre-production and shooting none, compared to the more-than-35 productions that are usually in production around this time of year,along with dozens more being scouted, according to the union.

Both strikes have "a deep and direct effect," IATSE 891 said in an emailed statement to CBCNews on Thursday. "This is unprecedented."

In 2021, the film and television industry generated about $3.25 billion in economic activity and created more than 40,000 full-time jobs in B.C., according toCreative B.C.

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It's still too soon to estimate the full impact of the strikes, said Leslie Wootton, executive director of the B.C. Motion Picture Production Industry Association.

"Clearly volume is going to be well down this summer and we'll be able to see what the real impact of that is going to be," she said in an interview.

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Film critic Rachel Ho and actor Jennifer Tong say any gains from the Hollywood actors' strike will affect filmmaking worldwide, but the Canadian film industry has its own unique set of requirements.

But this isn't a total shut-down of the industry, Wootton stressed.

Projects in pre-production or post-production stages in B.C. may still be able to continue without striking actors or writers, and the same goes for all-Canadian productions, she added.

Dudley says her company is still working on some non-union commercial and all-Canadian projects, but she can't afford to pay salaries forever with the majority of their income decimated.

Dudley, Wootton and Finn all expressed hope both job actions can be resolved soon, and on good terms for the "essential" actors and writers who are striking.

"We're hoping that things will ramp up again in September, but nobody really knows at this point," said Dudley.