#alliance of canadian cinema television and radio artists

[newsfromstolenland]

Dozens of Toronto residents are now boycotting Home Hardware due to the company's "engagement" with a specific advertising company that advocates claim "lock out unionized performers." 

In a recent post to a local community Facebook group, one Toronto resident informed other members that the home improvement retailer was one of the companies named on ACTRA's (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) boycott list.

"Did you know that Home Hardware is on a boycott list issued by ACTRA, the union of Canadian performers on TV and film? Why? Because they buy their ads from a company that has locked out unionized performers for the last year in an attempt to break the union," the post reads.

[...]

Other companies listed on the ACTRA lockout include H&R Block, Canadian Tire, Rogers, Wendy's, and Sleep Country.

Full article

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

[thcdragonprince]

How the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes affect The Dragon Prince

As a TDP content creator, I can’t stay silent about how this affects one of my favorite TV shows and entertainment in general going forward.

TL:DR the Strike

the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are on strike now meaning anyone in these unions or anyone looking to be apart of these unions will not work until their demands are met

both unions are demanding “more equitable division of the profits from movies and television” as well as arguing that AI will never be “literary material” and “is a threat to creative professionals everywhere”

How This Affects TDP

the strikers are not calling for people to cancel streaming subscriptions or stop watching content, if anything they want people to watch content so the execs can see they are needed

SO WATCH TDP S5 WHEN IT COMES OUT JULY 27TH

STREAM STREAM STREAM

Wonderstorm Inc, which creates TDP, is based out of the USA, so any changes due to the strike directly affect them

as far as I know, Jesse Inocalla (Soren) and Jack De Sena (Callum) are apart of the SAG with Jesse posting updates to his IG story and Devon Giehl (Lead Writer) has tweeted about the strikes

almost all of the TDP actors are Canadian, not American, Jack (Callum) and Erik (Aaravos) are the only solely US based cast

the Theatrical and TV sections of SAG are on strike, not animation or video games

the TDP team is still allowed to promote The Dragon Prince and TDP S5, it is NOT a Struck project, we wanna show our love to this show like crazy

TDP is a ACTRA project, which stands for Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists

ACTRA is not on strike, but stands in solidarity with SAG

TL:DR - TDP is not a struck project and can proceed as normal, but

We need to STAND with the strikers of the WGA and the SAG-AFTFA ! We need to support them !

This is the only way we will ever get entertainment that is representative of the human soul with workers who can afford to live.

[newsblogalpha]

ACTRA National – Canadian performers and independent producers secure deal on new Independent Production Agreement

ACTRA National – Canadian performers and independent producers secure deal on new Independent Production Agreement

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Canadian performers and independent producers secure deal on new Independent Production Agreement

Three-year agreement establishes terms, rates and conditions for Canadian performers and producers 

TORONTO, November 15, 2018 —Today, following productive negotiatio­­ns, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA)…

[mikemortgage]

CRTC reverses decision to slash Canadian programming requirements

TORONTO — Canadian entertainment associations are applauding the reversal of a decision that would have decreased the amount private-sector television groups are required to spend on Canadian programming.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said Thursday that it had reconsidered a decision it made last year and will now require Bell Media, Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. to spend 7.5, 8.5 and five per cent respectively of their previous year’s revenues on programs of national interest in the English-language market. The trio previously had to allocate five per cent of their revenues to such content.

The CRTC’s decision also means French-language television groups Quebecor Inc. and Groupe V Medias will have to invest 75 per cent of their original programming expenditures in original content in a year, up from 50 per cent in the prior ruling.

Groups in both the English and French market will also be required to allocate an average of $5.5 million a year to support the production of musical programs.

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), a national union representing 25,000 professional performers in the country, called the decision “a win for Canadian storytelling.”

“This was an important battle for us and our members to say it should not be a liability or a problem for broadcasters to produce Canadian stories. It should be in their interest,” said Elliott Anderson, the director of public policy and communications.

Broadcasters argued that they shouldn’t be saddled with the burden of telling Canadian stories because they are competing with U.S. streaming giant Netflix.

“I think it was nice that the CRTC did not side with the argument and (said) this is something that is worthy,” he said.

Scott Garvie, chairman of the Canadian Media Producers Association advocacy group and the senior vice president of production company Shaftesbury, was equally enthusiastic about the decision.

“Today’s CRTC decision means more jobs, more economic output, and most importantly, more of the shows that Canadians love,” he said in a press release.

“By increasing the required investment in programs of national interest, the CRTC has underscored the important role that Canada’s independent producers and other creators play in a broadcasting system that reflects the diversity of voices, perspectives and stories that make up our national culture.”

The CRTC’s change in requirements comes into effect on Saturday and will last until 2022.

The modifications were triggered by the federal cabinet asking the CRTC to re-evaluate its decision in May 2017 and rounds of consultations done in both the English and French markets.

Dimitri Gourdin, Groupe V’s executive vice-president of strategy and communications, said the company already exceeds the CRTC’s requirement, by dedicating 94 per cent of its budget to original French-language programming.

However, Gourdin said he was “not happy” that the CRTC was placing more regulations on television companies.

“Our industry is under tremendous pressure coming from the declining advertising dollar, from the competition from other platforms and from outside of Canada. The industry is really under pressure and this is a question of surviving,” he said.

Gourdin said he was also frustrated with the requirements about supporting music programming.

“What the CRTC wants from us as broadcasters is to support video clips and we all know that no one is consuming video clips on TV,” he said. “That is why I think that the CRTC is totally disconnected from reality.”

Rogers and Quebecor did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Corus spokeswoman Cheryl Fullerton told The Canadian Press the company was reviewing the decision, but had nothing further to say.

Bell refused to comment.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE, TSX:RCI.B, TSX:CJR.B, TSX:QBR.B)

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2C5KgaV via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Two unions representing actors and media professionals held a rally on Saturday outside the Toronto headquarters of Amazon and Apple, to highlight the plight of their members in long-running labour disputes. The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is seeking higher pay, protections and benefits for its members amid fractious talks to renew the National Commercial Agreement with the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA). Members of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have been striking for better pay and protection from the use of artificial intelligence (AI), among other things. ACTRA president Eleanor Noble said her union has been locked out of its commercial jurisdiction by Canadian advertisers for "an unconscionable 501 days," while SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for 58 days.  "We are in our lockout and you are in your strike because of corporate greed. Corporate greed, making billions of dollars off the backs of performers," Noble said. "We have said it time and time again — enough is enough."

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[abtec]

Overview of the Concordia Film Festival: Getting there: parity & diversity in the film industry

As part of my work I was able to attend a panel discussion at the Concordia Film Festival called “Getting there: parity & diversity in the film industry.” The event featured four panelists, Henri Pardo, actor and creator of Black Wealth Matters; Li Li, actress and council member of Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA); Karina Aktouf, actress with 15 years experience in the field; and Tracey Deer, writer, director and creator of the series Mohawk Girls.

The four panelists touched on myriad topics that affected them. All stressed that there are multiple conversations taking place in front of and behind the camera; Deer discussed the importance of producers, who often gate keep the path to shows being made. Many current gatekeepers operate along a different set of values than many young, racialized creators, in that they value content that does not challenge the viewer or expose them to authentically sovereign self-expression, instead upholding a number of expectations (misogyny, racism, colonialism) that in turn create caricatures of real people. Underlying this point is the responsiveness of studios to financial considerations and further to this, a reason why diversity is at times seen as a threat to profit, even though, as Li Li noted, franchises like Fast and the Furious prove otherwise.

All of the panelists spoke to the weight of limited representation, and ways in which the systems that enable the production of film, television, and related media limit representational diversity in their design. Aktouf discussed her rising demand in front of the camera due to the changing political climate of Quebec; though this is exciting in terms of growing representation and deeper dialogue, she also discussed her experience of having been asked to play characters of different communities. Specifically, Aktouf referenced her lived experience as a woman with a specific and personal context and history, which informs the language she speaks, her accent, her body language; in this way, she discussed the political implications of lived experience, performance, and performativity while playing characters and people whose context is different from one's own. Furthermore, Aktouf has found that, though there are more parts for her over the past few years, many of these parts have little or no dialogue, leaving her silent, silenced, or muted.

There is a parallel relationship to Li Li’s discussion of accent neutralization in acting and the double-bind that allophone, racialized actors are placed in, whereby there is a requirement to speak English/French without an accent and also the requirement whereby actors must be able to emulate other people's’ accents. She identified this as a tool through which racial exclusion occurs. Similarly, Li notes that in her experience, racialized actors often play roles that, though said to be representative of their own community, are in reality the fantasies of a show maker. This process through which actors are made to play out the projections of others reveals the power that media productions have to affect the way people are viewed by others and even by themselves. More deeply, it represents a dynamic of control insofar as behaviour and reality of others are altered to match the projections of those who create representations.

What happens behind the camera affects the material that it produces and with these realities in mind, Pardo, Li and Deer all note the importance of owning the content and means of production. Bodies like the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) were identified as ideal models, as they require Indigenous participation in all aspects of production and subject matter and thus ensure diversity in production and representation. Through this process, these organizations contribute to another important factor identified by the panelists, the need to create a new generation of show makers whose education and motivations are humanitarian and open to questions of sovereignty in self-representation. The panel identified the need for diverse writers as well, which would, in general, add to the authenticity and three-dimensionality of scripts.

Discussing his series, Black Wealth Matters, Pardo brought up the possibility of self-publishing, using platforms such as YouTube, as an option for moving forward and working around the structural inequalities present in mainstream media. Obviously, this point parallels the work of AbTeC in many ways. Similar to Pardo, who seeks to create dialogue between creators, facilitators, and consumers, AbTeC works to empower Indigenous peoples on online platforms and create Indigenously-determined online Indigenous spaces. Though the comparison may seem cumbersome given the differences in media and interaction with technology, I feel it’s important to consider if only to demonstrate the ways in which different people from diverse communities can resist power inequities together, which, in the end, represents co-implicated communities. Pardo reminded actors and showmakers of their responsibility to care for and cultivate their audience. In this way, actors and creators have a responsibility to empower their audiences through the creation of media that works against dehumanizing projections and caricaturization.

In closing, there was much material for consideration at the panel. The four panelists brought a surfeit of experience and analysis to a network of topics having to do with media, structural oppression, representation, and sovereignty.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Marit Stiles is the Ontario NDP’s candidate for the riding of Davenport. She is the current Toronto District School Board trustee for Davenport and a board member at the Toronto Foundation For Student Success. She was the President of the Federal NDP from 2016 to 2018. She previously was the Director of Public Policy and Research at the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA).

More information here:

https://maritstiles.ontariondp.ca/

The Ontario election is on June 7th, 2018.