AMPTP Agrees to One-Year, 5 Percent Wage Hike Deal With British Columbia Entertainment Guilds

Etan Vlessing
·4 min read

In a surprise move, North American producers have secured a deal with British Columbia film guilds and unions to accept a 5 percent wage increase in return for extending their respective agreements for another year to March 31, 2025.

That agreement between the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) and its local counterpart, the B.C. branch of the Canadian Media Producers Association, and local representatives for IATSE 891, IATSE 669, Teamsters 155, the Directors Guild of Canada’s B.C. branch and UBCP/ACTRA, must now go out to ratification votes by the wider memberships.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

“As a collective, we agreed to the extension in exchange for a 5 percent matching wage increase in line with what the DGA (Directors Guild of America) established with their new agreement,” Crystal Braunwarth, a business representative for IATSE 891, told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.

The DGC’s B.C. branch is also going out to its membership after agreeing to a potential contract extension. “The DGC B.C. is entering into a consultation period with our members regarding this proposed contract extension. This is an exciting development. Our goal, as always, is labour stability and attracting production to B.C.,” the guild said in a statement sent to THR.

The proposed one-year extension deal comes as local film and TV talent and crews face a wall of worries as work on American projects in Vancouver has slowed to a trickle as SAG-AFTRA holds its own crunch talks with major Hollywood studios and streamers amid a strike by the Writers Guild of America.

Stateside, the WGA membership remain on picket lines and SAG-AFTRA has been negotiating with representatives for the major studios and streamers since June 7 and could extend those talks beyond a June 30 deadline.

The proposed one-year extension of the B.C. Master Production Agreement — which governs wage rates and workplace conditions on film and TV sets in the Canadian province — must now be ratified by the rank and file of local guilds and unions. IATSE 891 members have until July 21 to return their ballots.

IATSE 891’s Braunwarth said her union remained in solidarity with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, even as it offered U.S. producers labor peace in the province in return for a major wage increase. “We 100% stand in solidarity with the writers as they fight for their fair and equitable contract. And the Screen Actors Guild. The DGA was able to settle their agreement and they are in the same position, standing in solidarity with their kin in other unions,” she stated.

“Having five unions come to an agreement on a contract cycle is pretty historic. That’s a show of solidarity like I’ve never seen,” Braunwarth added.

B.C. is dominated by foreign location shooting, as series like Yellowjackets, Superman & Lois and The Flash were shot in Vancouver or around the province before the current labor talks in Hollywood virtually shut down big budget film and TV production locally.

The proposed 5 percent wage increase surpasses any offer ever made to renew the B.C. Master Production Agreement and matches the 5 percent first-year wage increase received by the Directors Guild of America as part of its latest contract renewal. Because of provincial labor laws, all of the film unions must accept and ratifiy the proposed contract extension for the local AMPTP affiliate and CMPA-B.C. to be successful with their bid for labor peace.

The appeal for local unions and guilds to agree to an extension of the B.C. Master Production Agreement is being more assured of work in return for offering the major studios and streamers continuing stability in the province, in contrast to the current labor uncertainty in Hollywood.

The westernmost Canadian province, whose production sector is dominated by American film and TV production, has seen labor stability since a year ago when the The Directors Guild of Canada’s local branch reached a new deal with AMPTP, representing Hollywood producers, and the CMPA B.C. that included a 3 percent wage increase for guild members.

Most film and TV productions in B.C. at that time signed safe harbor agreements and, with compliance, were protected from any labor action around the impasse in those contract renewal talks a year ago.

Record Hollywood film and TV production in B.C. — broken only by a pandemic-era industry shutdown — has been underpinned by major U.S. streaming giants joining traditional studios in shooting originals locally to engage a global base of TV subscribers.

B.C. competes against rival locales like Ontario, Georgia, New York and California to lure Hollywood producers to take advantage of tax credits and other incentives when shooting on its soundstages.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter

Click here to read the full article.