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We are the creative professionals who produce non-fiction television and film, including reality, lifestyle, and documentary work. Many of us are independent contractors, earning our living at several companies in a year. Some of us are on staff at a single production company.
All of us are concerned about how increasingly difficult it is to build a career in this industry.
Buffy Childerhose,To battle alone is certainly noble, but it’s not necessary or even desirable. Together, we can make real change, a change that truly benefits all of us - viewers, workers, production companies and broadcasters.
Director, Writer, Editor
Together we are in a strong position to make real change. We know we have been left out of the minimum standards and union contracts that are common elsewhere in the entertainment industry. We want fair pay, rules that are understood, safe sets, portable benefits and onscreen credits. All of this will benefit the industry as a whole, by stabilizing it and protecting it from a culture in which unreasonable budgets and deadlines are all too common.
or
Otto Chung,Factual TV production in Canada is not a “cottage business” anymore. It’s a multi-million dollar industry that needs to start acting like it; that begins by productions agreeing that factual workers get at least the minimum standards of provincial labour laws. I want all of us to be able to start a new gig knowing we’re protected, and that happens when we stand together.
Editor
Fixing the big problems in our industry–sagging rates, unsafe sets, unrealistic deadlines, unpaid and arbitrary hiatuses–is only possible if we come together as a group and collectively negotiate with the company. Solutions are nearly impossible when people are left to deal with them one-on-one.
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Anna Bourque,My greatest hope is that people in this sector of the film industry will sign up for the campaign. We can effect change by adding things that every worker deserves without taking away things workers hold dear.
Story Editor