FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 6, 2022

Over the past year, the Producer members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the Canadian Media Producers Association – BC Producers Branch (CMPA – BC) engaged in a lengthy negotiation with the Directors Guild of Canada BC District Council (DGC-BC) for a new three-year collective bargaining agreement. The Producers carefully considered the Guild’s key priorities and offered a comprehensive proposal to address those demands, including across-the-board wage increases, outsized increases for the lowest-paid classifications, outsized wage increases for Location Managers, the creation of a new and higher-paid Key Background Coordinator classification and increased benefits for members working on certain high budget SVOD productions including residual payments for Directors. This generous offer contains no “rollbacks” or reductions in benefits.

Following BC Labour Relations Board-assisted mediation, the DGC BC indicated that it would accept the recommendations proposed by the Chair of the Labour Relations Board. In follow up discussions, there remained one point of difference between the parties. The DGC BC requested a “trade” of issues and the Producers agreed to that trade in an effort to close out negotiations. After being so close to reaching an agreement, the DGC BC then made additional demands and the opportunity for settlement evaporated. Now, the Guild is asking its members to authorize the calling of a strike, based on demands that were not part of the mediator’s recommendations.

The DGC BC’s strike authorization vote sends a message of labour uncertainty in the province and seriously jeopardizes British Columbia’s reputation as an attractive location for motion picture production. Considering the potential for labor instability in British Columbia, companies represented by the AMPTP and CMPA may be forced to re-evaluate their plans for basing new productions in the province.

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Media contacts:

Jarryd Gonzales:  jarryd@goodprgroup.com, AMPTP

Gamiela Fereg: gamiela.fereg@cmpa.ca, CMPA

ABOUT THE AMPTP

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is the entertainment industry’s official collective bargaining representative trade association. Since 1982, it is responsible for negotiating virtually all industry-wide guild and union contracts, including those with American Federation of Musicians (AFM); Directors Guild of America (DGA); International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE); International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); Laborers Local 724; Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA); Teamsters, Local #399; and Writers Guild of America (WGA) among others. For more information, visit www.amptp.org.

ABOUT THE CMPA

The Canadian Media Producers Association is the national advocacy organization for independent producers, representing hundreds of companies engaged in the development, production, and distribution of English-language content made for television, cinema, and digital media channels. We work to promote the continued success of the Canadian production sector and to ensure a bright future for the diverse content made by our members for both domestic and international audiences.  cmpa.ca