What it means for the film community in Toronto
“Cinema is alive!” “The pandemic is officially over!”
Or, so you might hear from adamant movie lovers after the success of this year’s blockbuster summer. Barbenheimer, the internet phenomenon that skyrocketed the public’s interest around Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer due to the film’s simultaneous theatrical releases, gave audiences hope for the rekindling of the movie-going experience and the future of the cinema industry.
Yet, as a result of the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes, Hollywood has come to a halt.
What is the writers’ and actors’ strike?
On July 14th, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on the picket lines. It is a historic moment in entertainment history, as it has been over 60 years since both the writers’ and actors’ unions have gone on strike simultaneously. Both unions shared labour disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) regarding residuals from streaming networks and the unregulated use of AI.
At this time, the two strikes look to have no end in sight as there is little evidence to indicate an approaching deal between SAG/WGA and AMPTP. As the strikes linger on, production studios, talk shows, and film festivals remain at a standstill.
How does this impact the film community in Toronto?
The effects of these two strikes will certainly ripple out to Canada’s film industry.
In a conversation with Professor Charlie Keil about the impact of these strikes, he warns that there is a lot of overlap between both sides of the border when it comes to film and productions.
“A lot of Canadians pick up work for American- based productions, whether they’re filming in Canada or somewhere else,” he says. “They might be directly affected by the strike when it comes to their employment as SAG-AFTRA members.”
In addition, Keil notes that most film productions operating within Canada are not Canadian-funded productions but rather American or international productions that film in Canada. “The industry is absolutely going to be affected by the strikes insofar as [US] productions that would normally be filming in Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal…they are being shut down.”
What does this mean for the film community in Toronto? Most visibly, there will be less filming across the city and a large sector of the Toronto film industry will be out of work until the strikes are resolved.
Likewise, the strikes will impact the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), scheduled for this September. Without some of Hollywood’s star-studded celebrities, there will be a possible change to this year’s list of films and the amount of media coverage surrounding the event. “A lot of the films that normally might have been released are now being pulled or bumped because they realize that they can’t rely on the stars to promote them,” Keil says.
Yet, Keil contends that TIFF has always been a “people’s festival,” and as such, he doesn’t think the lack of stars will affect the overall attendance of this year’s festival.
Diana Sanchez, the former Senior Director of Film for TIFF, commented on the question of this year’s festival, stating that it will be “interesting to see more of a focus on international actors, producers, and directors.”
Although there is uncertainty about this year’s ticket sales, Sanchez hopes that TIFF 2023 will have the chance to “highlight new faces” and let audiences “pay more attention to Canadian cinema.”
How does this affect young artists and writers?
With Hollywood at its epicentre, the writers’ and actors’ strikes may seem like an off-shore, isolated issue. Yet its effects have already started to ripple out to the Canadian industry and will soon begin to affect audience’s movie and TV experiences.
For young artists, writers, and performers these two strikes have an equal effect on their soon-to- be careers. “At the end, when the strike is over, we’ll have a lot of new parameters that speak to the changes in the industry,” Sanchez says.
“Times of change are actually great times to start in the industry. But really, I would pay close attention to the resolution of the strike. I think that’s where we’ll get the information that will help us make those informed decisions that will inform our future decisions.”
