As the Hollywood writers strike reaches its 100th day, the impact of the labour stoppage is keenly felt in British Columbia’s film and television industry.
Synnöve Godeseth, co-owner of Vancouver’s Location Fixer Productions, said the reach and length of the strike is “shocking,” and some predict the picketing will continue into 2024 as contract talks stall again.
“Everything’s up in the air. Basically the main union film industry in Vancouver is at a standstill,” she told Global News on Wednesday.
“It’s a super stressful time for all of us involved because we just don’t know how long it’s going to last.”
Writers hit the picket lines south of the border on May 2, after negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the major studios reached an impasse over compensation, minimum staffing of writers’ rooms, residuals related to streaming, the use of artificial intelligence, and more.
Actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild joined in on July 14, creating the first dual strike in the U.S. film and television industries since 1960.
Together, they have touched countless U.S. films and series that shoot in Canada, and employ tens of thousands of local crews and talent.
Godeseth said her business managing filming locations has had an 80-per-cent reduction since the strike began. Around this time of year, she said there would normally be up to three productions at its sites every day.
“Fortunately, the non-union commercials are still filming, so we do have a few of those at our locations, but we’re talking one or two a week if we’re lucky … so it’s definitely a big knock in business.”
While her small and mighty team is working to keep “heads above water,” Location Fixer Productions’ contractors have all taken other gigs, Godeseth added. She called it a “nerve-wracking time.”
No one from the Canadian Media Producers Association, Union of British Columbia Performers/Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists or Directors Guild of Canada B.C. branch was available for an interview Wednesday.
In an Aug. 3 statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers acknowledged, “This strike has hurt thousands of people in this industry, and we take that very seriously. Our only playbook is getting people back to work,” it said on Aug. 3, ahead of a discussion with the Writers Guild of America’s bargaining committee.”
Television networks are a month away from starting a new fall season, and broadcasters have already put contingency plans in place for programming that excludes their most popular scripted series.
Al Miro, a Vancouver-based actor with more than 15 years of experience, said “everybody in the industry” from props and catering teams, to makeup artists, to casting directors have been affected by the dual strikes. It’s “heartbreaking” to see it go on so long, he told Global News.
“It’s pretty bad. It used to be that we’d auditioned, I would say like, an average of four times a week at least, and now, you know, you go weeks and weeks without any auditions at all,” he explained. “Maybe some commercials … Canadian shows. But most of the work comes from the States.”
It’s an extra shame, he added, given that he had just gotten the correct — and expensive — paperwork approved to work as an actor in the United States. Miro said he’d like to see a “fair deal” reached quickly for all the striking members.
“I think the biggest obstacle is, I think when people negotiate, they want to get the most out of it. They want to get the contract that’s going to serve them the best. I think right now that’s kind of what’s holding the studios back.”
Shawn Williamson, a producer at Brightlight Pictures, said he’d like to see a swift resolution as well. His company has “effectively completely shutdown,” with fewer than 50 cars in his studio parking lot on Wednesday where there would normally be about 500.
Brightlight Pictures, he added, currently has four projects on hold and two green-lit.
“A hundred days wasn’t completely unexpected because I think both sides are quite embedded in their position, but we were hopeful that settlement discussions would be more active than they have been recently.”
Talks between the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers held last Friday produced no firm date for returning to the bargaining table.
— with files from The Associated Press