Actors union rallies outside Amazon, Apple headquarters in Toronto

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, better known as the actor’s union ACTRA, rallied in downtown Toronto outside Amazon and Apple headquarters Friday to demand fair wages and stand in solidarity with their U.S. counterparts.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) followed in July over ongoing labour disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Simultaneously in Canada, ACTRA has been at loggerheads with the Institute of Canadian Agencies — which represents some of the country’s largest advertising agencies — after talks to renew their collective bargaining agreement fell through. ACTRA says ever since the ICA walked away from the table, actors in the union have been “locked out” from working in commercials for high-profile ICA clients like Google and Walmart.

“We have been in a 16 month lockout — today is day 486 of the lockout,” says Eleanor Noble, ACTRA’s national president.

“Across the border, the Writers Guild of America and SAG AFTRA are also on strike and we are sibling unions. Their fight is our fight. We share the same issues.”

Among the biggest of those issues is the use of AI in the writing and acting process and getting a fair piece of the pie from streaming revenues.

“We’ll be going into negotiations in 2024 … so we’ll be watching what’s going to happen with [SAG-AFTRA]. It’s not fair that streamers are making billions off of our backs and putting more money into their pockets and less into ours,” says Noble.

“Actors and writers are the engine that runs this behemoth of a machine, of the entertainment industry. Without us, there isn’t one,” adds Canadian-American actor Lauren Holly.

“So let’s share in the profits that we all create together. This isn’t about executives getting new yachts and new planes. It’s just ridiculous. We want be able to go to the grocery store and stay in our apartments.”

Jean Yoon, renowned for playing the family matriarch in Kim’s Convenience, says she was living hand to mouth before the show gave her the big break she needed.

“The first year of ‘Kim’s convenience’ basically meant that I finally cleared my debt,” she tells CityNews. “Most of us don’t live a really glamorous life – we don’t. We just work because we love it and we need to get paid and we deserve to get paid and writers deserve to get paid.”

Ripple effects of SAG-AFTRA strike seen at Fan Expo

Not far from the ACTRA rally, the ripple effects of the SAG-AFTRA strike are being felt at Fan Expo Toronto, taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend.

One of the biggest draws for fans are the celebrity panels, photo-ops and autograph booths, which have been somewhat modified this year because of the strike.

“We’ve changed a little bit how we’re advertising the talent that’s coming in to see the show, you’ll see on our website and maybe on a little bit of signage … you’ll see that we’re not necessarily using character photos, we’re not using titles from different shows, etc.,” says Fan Expo HQ vice president Andrew Moyes.

Actor Neve Campbell signs autographs at Fan Expo. The sign above her does not bear a photograph or movie titles to be respectful of the SAG-AFTRA strike and the parametres under which actors are able to attend the convention. CITYNEWS

A planned Q&A session with Hayden Christensen of Star Wars fame had to be cancelled, with a post on the convention’s Instagram page explaining that the actor felt he wouldn’t be able to answers fans’ questions about the mega franchise due to the strike. However, he will still be attending autograph sessions and photo-ops.

Moyes says the convention is being respectful of the situation and the position in which it puts the actors and performers that attend.

“The good thing is however, conventions are carved out. So I think there’s been some recognition that they still want an opportunity to be able to meet with their fans, to celebrate at these sort of pop culture celebrations together. So if you do look at the parametres [of the strike] you will see that there is an allowance for them to be here and connect with their fans,” he says.

Other panels and Q&A sessions have been altered slightly to be mindful of the strike.

“Just the conversations will be a little bit different. So we may not be talking about the characters or the titles so much. Getting to know these celebrities more as people, getting to know what inspires them and things like that. So the silver lining is there’s brand new conversations that are happening, which has been really fun,” says Moyes.

Fans say they’re still going to make the most of meeting their favourite celebrities.

“For me it’s going to be about how are they doing, how’s everything? It is about connecting,” says one long-time attendee.

“It is too bad some [celebrities] are not feeling that they’re able to speak but it still is great to be able to interact with them,” says another fan.

“Every time I come, I try to get a photo with somebody so I have it on my wall and that’s something that no one can ever take away from me, that’s so fun.”