'This affects more than just celebrities’: Hollywood's lingering strikes threaten Canadian media

A labour disruption of historic proportions is perhaps the last thing the Canadian film and TV industry needed.

Granted, these disruptions are largely happening south of the border. But industry experts say that the dual-pronged labour action from the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA will have a discouraging ripple effect on Canadian media, especially in Toronto where the film and television production industry is ordinarily a huge driver of the local economy with thousands of jobs.

WHY ARE AMERICAN WRITERS AND ACTORS STRIKING?

The Writers Guild of America, which represents writers in film, television, radio and online media, walked off the job in April, after its members overwhelmingly voted in support of strike action.

While the union’s demands span a wide number of grievances, from the impact of streaming services to the looming threat of AI content creation, the issue ultimately comes down to compensation: writers feel they have not been adequately paid for work that is available on-demand 24/7. Much North American media compensation comes in the form of “residuals,” or payment to writers based on television re-runs and screenings – as consumers continue to pivot towards digital alternatives to cable, those residuals have failed to reflect the scope of audiences actually watching the work.

SAG-AFTRA, the union for American actors, first spoke in support of the WGA strike in April. But at midnight on July 14, the majority of the union’s 28,000 members voted in favour of strike action, citing similar concerns of AI misuse and miscalculated residuals.

Until the unions back down or major studios that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) agree to their demands, production will halt on the vast majority of media produced by North American companies. Writers are not allowed to edit or write new scripts, and actors are forbidden from engaging in any film work, including the promotion of existing films.

The AMPTP has not yet shown signs of agreeing to the unions’ demands. One source told Deadline that “the endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”

HOW WILL THE STRIKES AFFECT CANADIAN WRITERS?

Anthony Q. Farrell is a Canadian writer and showrunner with TV credits on both sides of the border. While he’s perhaps best known for his writing credits on “The Office,” his CTV sitcom “Shelved” gained critical acclaim and a devoted following in its recent first season.

For Farrell, who is a member of both the WGA and its Canadian counterpart, the WGC, these labour disruptions have made professional life complicated.

“There were Canadians pitching shows to American networks, which the WGC was fine with if it was with a Canadian production company,” he said in an interview. “But for me, I’m a WGA member, so I can’t really do that. I technically can’t talk to these American companies who are reaching out to Canadian production companies. I can sort of talk to them as a producer, kind of, but not as a writer.”

Farrell called the effect of the labour disruptions “devastating,” saying that the opportunities for Canadians in film and TV have all but dried up until these issues are resolved.

“This doesn’t just affect us,” he said. “It’s everyone on a set. There are a lot of people in Canada who should be working right now and can’t. People who would normally be working on ‘Star Trek,’ or a CW series, or a Warner Brothers series. Those have all been shut down.”

Farrell pointed out that Canadian productions are still free to continue – but that there are few Canadian opportunities for work completely absent of American actors or writers.

“Canadian shows are still happening. But there’s this really difficult squeeze,” he said. “And we’re facing the same dilemmas. We want to get to a place where we’re clear about AI’s role in this industry. We’re not trying to stop the future, but we want to be really clear that AI cannot be the writer or creator of something. It’s a tool. It’s not a creator.”

WHAT ABOUT CANADIAN ACTORS?

While ACTRA, the union that represents Canadian screen actors, has not yet called a strike of its own, it has spoken in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA, which ACTRA president Eleanor Noble called the Canadian union’s “sibling union.”

“We stand by them,” Noble said in a Friday morning media scrum. “It’s not an easy thing to go out on strike…these are important issues that they are fighting.

“Their issues are our issues.”

Tony Nappo is a Canadian actor with numerous credits across stage, film and television. Before 2023, he says he was able to count on reliable work. Now, the phone’s stopped ringing – many of the productions with roles suited for him have been American.

“I’m not a traditional Canadian actor,” he said in an interview. “I play a lot of Italians, American cops, New Yorkers. I play a lot of non-Canadian roles. Generally speaking, I’ve worked nonstop, outside that initial lockdown period. But I have not worked one single day on camera this year.” Outside of acting, Nappo is also a house painter and acting teacher.

“Most of the shows that pay good money are the American ones,” he continued. “I’m talking about ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,' and 'The Boys.' These are all shows with American writers. And now, any show with an American actor can’t be made. It’s just ground to a halt.”

Watson Rose, a Toronto-based actor and freelance script editor, says screen work started to dry up before the strike was officially called in April.

“I started seeing a decline in auditions in January,” she said. “So many major production companies were anticipating the strike, and putting things on hold.”

Like Nappo, Rose feels the most significant opportunities for actors in Canada tend to come from American production companies.

“Those sets are an amazing way to get a credit, and to get on bigger and bigger sets,” she said. “Those opportunities are going to completely disappear. To be honest, they pretty much already have. March is when I saw work starting to slow down massively.

“It’s really important we all stay strong through this,” she said. “This strike is important. This will be a complete halt in American production. It’s really, really important we stand united together on this – this doesn’t just affect the ones who are striking. It affects every single crew member on a show. This is thousands of people affected. It affects more than just celebrities.”