Union versus union

Labour woes aren’t doing Montreal’s
film industry any favours

WHERE HAVE ALL THE SPARTANS GONE?
Made in Montreal 300

by VANESSA HERRICK

While Toronto and Vancouver are boasting an encouraging resurgence in the number of American productions that are committed to shooting there this year, Montreal’s film industry remains in a dry spell—one that has continued for over a year. And many in Montreal’s film community are attributing our ongoing dearth of American productions to a residual tension between two rival unions. Since the start of 2008, only two Hollywood films have come to shoot in town, Orphan, a thriller co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, and The Factory, with John Cusack.

The lack of American productions in Montreal last year can be attributed to a number of reasons. The 2007 writers’ strike slowed the entire industry, the then-strong Canadian dollar meant we weren’t such a bargain, the possibility of the American actors’ union strike and the increased tax credits in Ontario, B.C. and parts of the U.S. all created something of a perfect storm. But Vancouver and Toronto have also had to contend with those issues, and are thriving in spite of them, with Vancouver seeing a 30 per cent increase in production.

What some industry observers see as setting Montreal apart when it comes to luring American producers to town is a long-standing acrimonious dispute between the city’s two film labour unions. The Alliance Québécoise des techniciens de l’image et du son (AQTIS) and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) had an ongoing disagreement about which union would cover which productions, and some say this long dispute has chased wary producers away. The ugly turf war started in 2005 when IATSE arrived in Montreal and began to bid on AQTIS jobs.

Agree to disagree

“I blame the unions,” says Kathy-Ann Thomas, a Montreal assistant production coordinator. “I am sure it is because of their fighting that we do not have any productions coming. I am a member of both and I am so angry about all of this. They are supposed to be working for us, not against us!”

Thomas has been working in the Montreal film industry for 10 years and has worked on some of the city’s biggest productions such as 300, Battlefield Earth and The Spiderwick Chronicles. In the last two years, Thomas has worked on only one major film. She is one of the approximately 35,000 people in the city whose job is tied in with the film industry.

But Gaétan St-Antoine of AQTIS says the union dispute is not to blame for the lack of productions coming to town. “There was an agreement in place last year between the unions,” he says. “A lot of people blame the union dispute but it was resolved before 2008 started to go badly.”

When asked when exactly the dispute was resolved, St-Antoine was vague. “Months ago... an agreement was in place last year.”

But according to an IATSE memo to its members in August of 2008, there was still an agreement pending. “Negotiations are not finished and new propositions are regularly sent to our office...” Calls made to IATSE Montreal had not been returned by press time.

On September 30, 2008 it was announced that an agreement had been signed. Announcements of an agreement were also issued in November of 2007 and June of 2008, but both fell apart when one of the two unions backed out.

While the dispute has been officially resolved, Hans Fraikin, Quebec’s film commissioner, feels that the damage has been done. Fraikin called Quebec’s union dispute “a plague” on the industry. “There is no doubt that the dispute has had an effect.”

Toronto the peaceful

It has also given other cities possible leverage. Toronto’s Mayor David Miller gave an interview on March 4 in the National Post in which he was citing Toronto’s advantages over other regional sites with equivalent tax credits: “We have labour peace” was one of the points he made.

Officials are quick to point out that while Montreal may be down, it is not out. “There is lots of interest in the city, our phones are ringing off the hook,” says Fraikin, “but I can’t say that anything is coming for sure.”

While there may not be any Hollywood blockbusters signed on to shoot here yet, there are some positive signs that foreign production could be creeping back into the city. A television series pilot with Elle Macpherson and Mischa Barton is in town and another U.S. series, Blue Mountain State, is coming to shoot from June to September.